Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘biomass’ Category

work featured in Architecture Today

Posted in architecture, biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy, engineering, renewable energy on May 29, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Chiltern Downs visitors centre

A project I led at XCO2 is being featured in the Ecotech supplement in Architecture Today this month (no link yet). It’s a visitors centre for the National Trust in the Chiltern Downs expected to provide services to around 400,000 visitors a year. And it’s loaded with green goodness: woodchip boiler for space and water heating, rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing, and an earth coupled ventilation system that brings air into the building through a 90m long concrete pipe buried below ground. (more…)

Read Full Post »

biomass delivery

Posted in biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy, engineering, house, italy, renewable energy on May 16, 2007| 1 Comment »

pellet delivery 2
Maurizio brought round our last one-tonne bag of wood pellets a few weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to post photos since. He’s been holding the last bag for us since last autumn when we only managed to get five of the six tonnes we’d bought into the pellet store.

We’ve now got plenty of pellets. A few too many, actually, because when you buy pellets you should a) buy in the summer when pricespellet delivery 1 are lower and b) buy as much as you can so you spread the cost of transport across as many tonnes as possible. We’ve now got enough pellets to get us through to the start of the heating season, which is a problem. If we buy in the next few months we won’t be able to fit more than 3 or 4 tonnes in the store because of our leftovers. If we buy in winter, we’ll buy at a premium and have to wait in line with everyone else. As a solution I’m hoping to find storage space somewhere (like Carletti’s barn or Marco’s cantina) so we can buy maybe 10 tonnes over the summer and transfer them to the pellet store as we need them.

Read Full Post »

how far can you transport wood pellets before losing the carbon benefit?

Posted in biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy, engineering, house, renewable energy on April 19, 2007| 9 Comments »

pelletsAt least around 3000 kilometres. Here’s why:

The BRE gives a carbon intensity of 0.025kgCO2/kWh for biomass. This includes an allowance for planting, harvesting, processing, and delivery to point of use. See the 2001 emissions report and the 2003 update.

But we need to vary the emissions figure based on distance travelled. The European Environment Agency gives a figure of just over 0.12 kgCO2 per tonne per kilometre for road transport, quoted here. Even more pessimistic, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution says 0.18 – 0.27 kgCO2 per tonne per kilometre (see table 4.4). (more…)

Read Full Post »

coal drives up emissions from UK power stations

Posted in biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy, renewable energy on March 30, 2007| Leave a Comment »

WWF and IPA published a report on Wednesday showing that the carbon reduction due to the dash for gas in the 1990’s has been wiped out by increased use of coal. Here’s the press release.

It looks to me that the government hopes nuclear and CCS will save the day. This keeps the CBI and power industries happy and is the BIG, politically safe option. Renewables will continue to receive lip service and as for demand side reduction (the cheapest of all emissions reduction measures), it will be gently encouraged but never demanded. As Tony has told us before: you can’t expect people to change their lifestyles just to fight climate change.

By the way, does this mean we can stop using the unrealistic figure of 0.422 kgCO2/kWh for grid electricity? This was based on the carbon intensity falling, not rising! Someone call the BRE.

Anyway, the main points of the report can be summarised as:  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Monbiot’s 5-year biofuels ban

Posted in biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy on March 27, 2007| Leave a Comment »

In today’s Guardian. He cites many of the same sources as we did a few days ago and goes on to propose a five year ban:

“We need a moratorium on all targets and incentives for biofuels, until a second generation of fuels can be produced for less than it costs to make fuel from palm oil or sugar cane.”

This is one of those issues that requires people to think so we may be in trouble.

Read Full Post »

biofuel and orang utans

Posted in biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy on March 25, 2007| 1 Comment »

orang1.gifThere’s an article in today’s Observer on how the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia may drive orang utans to extinction by 2012. Because of increased demand for palm oil for processed food and as a biofuel, deforestation is taking place 30% faster than previously estimated.

With some friends, I went to Tanjung Puting National Park in Indonesian Borneo in 1997 to see orang utans in the wild and at the rehabilitation centre set up by Birute Galdikas. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

As our close cousins, orangs share many of our best traits and lack many of our worst. Henry might only be 5 or 6 years old when we wipe out the last of the wild orang utans – he won’t have the chance to see them like we did. That thought disgusts me and makes me indescribably sad.

Read Full Post »

biofuel not so bio

Posted in biofuel, biomass, climate change, energy, engineering, renewable energy on March 23, 2007| 1 Comment »

Biofuel is all over the news right now. The recent agreement between US and Brazil, Al Gore’s presentation at the World Biofuels Conference, and the latest UK budget are just a few examples. At first glance biofuels promise to be a key element in a sound strategy to mitigate climate change. But under the surface rages a fierce debate. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started