On 10th August Greenpeace joined other environmental groups outside the Bristol City Council House to protest against the building of a £70m biofuel power plant at Avonmouth. The plant would initially use palm oil from Asia. Campaigners are sceptical that the oil would come from sustainable sources and instead be derived from cutting down and clearing protected rainforest. Bristol City councillors had already thrown out the planning application back in February but the developers W4B Ltd are appealing against the decision on the grounds that the source of the fuel and ecological issues were not material planning matters.
Developers W4B Ltd claim the plant would only use sustainable energy to save on fossil fuels and carbon emissions. This would qualify the plant for government subsidies (taxpayers money) to the tune of £34m, however a report for the Department for Energy and Climate Change says that the burning of Malaysian palm oil is worse than burning natural gas.
The main concerns surounding the building of such a plant are:
- Sustainability of sourcing the huge amounts of palm oil and other biofuels needed to run the power station. It would need around 90 million litres of oil per year. This is roughly the same as the volume of palm oil currently used for transport biodiesel across the whole of the UK. It will require the harvest from as much as 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantation in Indonesia or Malaysia. Many times the area of Bristol (14,000 hectares).
- Economic consideration and contribution to regional and national renewable energy targets
- The detrimental effect on air quality and human health.
- The plant's lack of heat recovery (only 45% efficient).
- Greenhouse Gas Balance - W4B does not take into account of carbon emissions from either direct or indirect land-use changes involved in producing biofuels.
Biofuels has become a red herring in the search for developing clean and sustainable energy. Let's make sure this proposed solution does not gain a foothold on the outskirts of Bristol.
UPDATE: PLANNING INSPECTOR RULES AGAINST COUNCIL'S OBJECTION. A real blow to local and national opposition to biofuels as an alternative to burning fossil fuels. The Planning Inspector, Trevor Cookson, ruled that the global environmental impact of biofuels could not be taken into consideration when deciding about the proposal. Developers W4B Ltd argued that the source of fuel could only be regulated by Ofgen and not by local planning laws. The Inspector also refused to entertain the idea of an adjournment so the decision could be appealed against in the High Court. The battle continues ....
Take action by writing to Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) who will ultimately decide whether the plant will go ahead. Click here to go to the Biofuelwatch website to send an online letter.
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