By Rubina Obaid
In order to put U.S. on the path of net zero emission, The House of Representatives Special Select Committee on the Climate Crisis recently released a roadmap to emphasize big solutions to decarbonize the economy by midcentury such as investing in energy efficient resources which include exploring renewable sources which are safe for our environment.
For the production of environment-friendly sources of energy, biomass is considered as one of the key matters to produce electricity. Energy which is obtained through any of the plant or organic matter is known as biomass. Energy generation through biomass is greatly incentivized by the state, who are dedicatedly striving to switch towards a more decarbonized economy for a carbon-free environment. In some cases old coal plants have been converted to the biomass plants and also some dedicated power plants are built to meet the demand of biomass energy. However, the fuel demand of these plants is so huge that, wood is considered as the only source through which this demand is met.
In order to put the U.S. on the path of net zero-emission, The House of Representatives Special Select Committee on the Climate Crisis recently released a roadmap to emphasize big solutions to decarbonize the economy by midcentury such as investing in energy-efficient resources which include exploring renewable sources which are safe for our environment. On the flip side, some studies reflect that burning biomass from the forest for the sake of achieving renewable energy is not constructive for addressing climate neutrality goals. It further criticized E.U for having flawed policies to become climate neutral through wood biomass. The plan of the committee states that the impact of any biomass system is variable and depends upon several factors, they further added that, ” Depending on the sources of biomass, the methods of converting it into energy, and the time horizon considered, the climate impacts of biomass can vary, and burning woody biomass is not always carbon neutral.”
The committee’s report further recommended that Congress should invest in accurately accounting for the climate impacts of biomass. It stressed upon extensive research to explore accurate biomass accounting to precisely determine the biomass use. Assessment of the climate impacts of biomass energy generation system should have to be compared to a business bioenergy production against the lost carbon sequestration because of the trees which have been used for the fuel consumption of the biomass power plants. Hence, the committee drew a firm conclusion with a scientific consensus and science-driven policymaking on the key issue to debate around the climate impacts of biomass. “This emphasizes that analysis of negative and positive emissions in a time frame relevant to what the IPCC identified for meeting the atmospheric carbon reductions needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put out its report that described to take necessary climate action in the given timeframe to keep the global warming and rising temperature in control. This means countries will have to cut carbon emissions such as from power plants to achieve net-zero emission by 2050. To achieve the goal of climate neutrality, carbon emission should start dropping well before 2030 and continue to fall roughly by 45% by 2030 to attain a significant difference. The time frame plays a pivotal role in the climate impact of various renewable sources specifically biomass. Over the years new trees will be replanted, which will contribute to carbon sequestration, while older trees will be burned as fuel for energy. In the coming decade, industrial wastes will be used for energy production and moving towards reduced forest degradation for the energy production.
Sources:
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/sasha-stashwick/house-climate-crisis-action-plan-gets-lot-right-biomass
