Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Eighth Report

1  Overview

"The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit … weeds, sawdust—almost anything…" Henry Ford

1. Climate change is a long-term concern but action is needed today. Bioenergy is only one part of a many-faceted solution to the problem of climate change, but we must make use of all the measures available to us. If the UK is to be a credible leader, setting the global agenda for tackling climate change, the Government must take every opportunity to reduce domestic carbon emissions. Bioenergy represents one of the most significant such opportunities available today.

2. In undertaking this inquiry we did not set out simply to make an assessment of Government policy on bioenergy in relation to the current state of the bioenergy industry in the UK, although we do present a progress report on the UK's bioenergy output and a summary of the main components of the Government's policy. We also aimed to engage directly with a complex area of agri-environmental science at a crucial stage in its development, and to set out the relevant issues and the range of options available to the Government as it comes to decisions on the role bioenergy should play in reducing carbon emissions, and on how to support that role.

3. Biomass—as a source of heat and electricity—holds significant potential for carbon saving. Of all the available sources of bioenergy it offers the greatest carbon savings per hectare of land cultivated for these crops. The Government must exploit to the full the potential of biomass, particularly if it fails to establish second generation biofuels in the transport fuel market.

4. Carbon emissions from transport are increasing, and we recognise that biofuels represent one of the means of tackling this problem. However, in their current state of development and with the limitations on land capacity in the UK, these fuels do not present the most effective or efficient way of making a significant difference to the UK's carbon emissions in the long term. A clear path must be marked out for a move from first generation to advanced 'second generation' biofuels.

5. Whilst we urge the Government to exploit to the full the potential of a range of biofuels and biomass, we recognise that there are limits to this potential, given the availability of land for energy crops and the other demands on it—namely food production and the promotion of biodiversity. We highlight the difficulties associated with drawing definitive conclusions on the UK's potential as a generator and user of bioenergy. This position results from the dearth of quantifiable evidence of the best climate change mitigation strategies in terms of the cost per tonne of carbon. Such data are essential to informed policy-making; we look forward to the conclusions of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change as a step towards addressing this problem.

6. We were disappointed to find that—even after the Energy Review—current Government policy on bioenergy is piecemeal and so lacking in ambition as to raise questions about the extent of the Government's commitment to its domestic climate change agenda. If it is to lead by example, the Government must renew and redouble its efforts to exploit the potential of bioenergy in the most effective way.

Definitions

Bioenergy is an inclusive term for all forms of biomass and biofuels.

In the context of this inquiry:

• Biofuels are renewable transport fuels:
  • Bioethanol is an alcohol-based fuel resulting from the fermentation of either sugar or starch crops that have been converted into simple sugars. Common feedstocks include sugar cane and beet, wheat, barley and maize. Bioethanol is blended with petrol.
  • Biodiesel is manufactured from virgin or waste vegetable oils—commonly palm oil and rapeseed, or from animal fats. It acts as a substitute for conventional diesel.
  • Biogas is made from landfill gas and other organic material.
  • Bioethanol and biodiesel, as defined above, represent 'first generation' biofuels. More advanced transport fuels—such as ligno-cellulosic ethanol and synthetic fuels produced using the Fischer-Tropsch process—are currently in various stages of pre-commercial development. These are described in further detail in the report (see page 26).
• Biomass is any biological mass derived from plant or animal matter (e.g. timber crops, miscanthus, straw, chicken litter and other waste material) used as a source of renewable heat or electricity.

Units and terminology

Comparison of energy sources

One litre of bioethanol contains less energy than one litre of petrol. Similarly, one tonne of wood does not contain the same amount of energy as one tonne of coal.

In order to be able to compare different energy sources, the unit Mtoe is often used.

·  Mtoe = Mega tonnes of oil equivalent = 1,000,000 tonnes of oil equivalent.

This represents the amount of oil required to release the same amount of energy as another energy source, such as coal or bioethanol.

Emissions[1]

Carbon dioxide emissions are usually measured in kg or tonnes (1 tonne = 1000 kg).

• 1 megatonne (Mt) = 1,000,000 tonnes
• 1 gigatonne (Gt) = 1000 Mt

CO₂ emissions may also be expressed in tonnes of carbon equivalent (Ceq). Many policy discussions take place in terms of tonnes of carbon equivalent in order to compare different greenhouse gases, such as methane (CH₄) and CO₂.

3.7 tonnes of CO₂ is roughly equivalent to 1 tonne of carbon.

A typical (1GW) coal-fired power station emits around 7 Mt CO₂ per year.

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Throughout this report we have used 'carbon' as a non-specific term. We use CO₂ only when citing written or oral evidence which contains the term, or when referring to the Government's domestic climate change targets, which are set specifically in terms of CO₂. We refer to 'greenhouse gases' in the context of the Kyoto Protocol, where the term is defined (see paragraph 7). Elsewhere, we use 'greenhouse gases' only where this reflects terminology used in evidence.

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1   House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, First Report of Session 2005-06, Meeting UK Energy and Climate Needs: The Role of Carbon Capture and Storage, HC 578, February 2006 Back

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Prepared 18 September 2006