Renewable Energy: Europe is burning US forests for “renewable” energy. Wait, what? - by Ben Adler

If you’re driving through the South and you see a denuded field filled with stubby new plantings where lush forest once stood, the blame might lie with an unlikely culprit: the European Union and its well-intentioned clean energy rules.

In March 2007, the E.U. adopted climate and energy goals for 2010 to 2020. The 27 member countries set a goal of reducing carbon emissions 20 percent by 2020 and increasing renewables to 20 percent of their energy portfolio. Unfortunately, they underestimated the carbon intensity of burning wood (a.k.a. “biomass”) for electricity, and they categorized wood as a renewable fuel.

The result: E.U. countries with smaller renewable sectors turned to wood to replace coal. Governments provided incentives for energy utilities to make that switch. Now, with a bunch of new European wood-burning power plants having come online, Europeans need wood to feed the beast. But most European countries don’t have a lot of available forest left to cut down. So they’re importing our forests, especially from the South.


Of course, wood is in some sense renewable: Trees can be regrown. But in other ways it’s more like fossil fuels than it is like solar and wind. After all, the whole obsession with renewables isn’t just because we fear running out of fossil fuels. It’s because burning fossil fuels produces CO2 that causes global warming. The same is true of burning wood, unlike wind or solar.

Wood accounts for a majority of renewable energy generation in Poland and Finland, and nearly 40 percent in Germany. It is especially appealing to British energy utilities, because the British government offers generous subsidies for renewable energy and its solar industry is not nearly as advanced as Germany’s.
Drax, a major British utility, announced last year that they will convert three coal-burning plants to wood. This transition will bring the company up to 550 million British pounds per year ($912 million) in government subsidies for renewables.

The Economist calls this policy “environmental lunacy,” observing dryly: “After years in which European governments have boasted about their high-tech, low-carbon energy revolution, the main beneficiary seems to be the favored fuel of pre-industrial societies.”

Read more: Europe is burning our forests for “renewable” energy. Wait, what? | Grist

US Exports: Maine not optimizing opportunities in being the closest US State to Europe

In a Bangor Daily News OpEd on June 10 this year Charles Hastings noted "sadly" in his "reality check" on Maine exports, that Maine "lags behind its neighbors, even at what it does best." 

"In 2013, the port of Baltimore experienced significant growth in pulp and wood product exports, setting a record. Furthermore, the Canadian government and biomass giant Enviva, with manufacturing facilities located throughout the Southeastern U.S., are closely eyeing future opportunities with wood pellets, biomass and pulp — traditionally economic strong suits for Maine."

"But what our neighbors to the north and south are doing is quite the opposite of what we in Maine are doing. They are investing in capacity in anticipation of large growth not just domestically but in a fast-growing European market for biomass products."

"Countries such as Germany have created mandates to cut down on high-emission sources of energy such as coal. "

"They have decided to fill the void with solar, wind and also biomass. According to many of the reports I’ve read, biomass in Europe is expected to grow at nearly 20 percent a year and by 2020, Europe will be consuming nearly 35 million to 40 million tons of wood pellets per year. Similarly, reports are predicting that after Europe, Asia will follow in similar trends toward biomass-based fuels."

"To meet this overseas demand, companies like Enviva are investing in huge biomass and wood pellet plants, concentrated largely in Georgia and South Carolina. Once operational, these plants will provide a steady stream of pellets to ports such as the one in Baltimore, for a transatlantic ship routing to high-demand markets in Denmark, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Germany. In a similar fashion, New Brunswick and Western Canada are gearing up for their own expansions."

So where does this leave Maine?

"Biomassmagazine.com, a credible industry publication, published an article in January 2012 explaining how Maine was in an advantaged position to send pellets to Europe. The article says that while raw materials are much more expensive in Maine, that cost is offset by much more favorable freight costs from the Northeast to Europe. Further, Maine’s ports have invested in recent years in better infrastructure to provide better transportation options to shippers. But still, Maine has yet to move any significant amount of pellets or biomass to the growing European market."

"From what I can tell, the problem is capacity here in Maine to produce pellets. Maine does produce a significant amount of pellets. But at the same time, Maine is consuming almost as many as it is producing. This leaves a small margin for export. As a result, almost no Maine pellets reach the European market, which accounts for nearly 85 percent of global consumption."

How can Maine get a larger piece of the pie? Promotion is one of the most important in addition to many other avenues.

"Maine must build or expand existing pellet plants. That is the goal of F.E. Wood & Sons, which proposed in 2011 to build a pellet plant in West Baldwin, Maine. The plant would use the dormant and state-owned Mountain Division rail line to ship pellets to the port in Portland for export to Europe. This plant would offer a boost to a new proposal by local entrepreneur David Schwanke to revitalize freight service on this line operated by the Golden Eagle Rail Corp."

"But no funding has yet come forth for this plant, which was supposed to be completed in 2013. Further, a new proposal in the Prospect area by Maine Biomass Exports would use the newly formed Central Maine & Quebec Railway lines to bring biomass to Searsport for export to Europe."

"While the market in Europe is real, the market growth fueled by European Union policy is real, and competition from Canada and the Southeastern U.S. also is very real."

"While Maine continues to spin its wheels with things such as wood pellet exports, an offshoot of the forestry industry that Maine pioneered, our neighbors will continue to eat our lunch."

EU-Digest

Ireland - Maine: Biomas Importers from Ireland tour Estes Head terminal at Eastport Maine - by Edward French

Eastport Port Facilities

The Quoddy Tides  in Eastport, Maine, recently reported that the developers of a facility in Killybegs, Ireland, that will import the wood chips to be shipped from Eastport beginning this summer toured the bulk conveyor system at the Estes Head port terminal recently.

With the tour, they gained insights into the best means for loading and off-loading the wood biomass to and from ships.

Larry Carrier, owner of E.J. Carrier, which will coordinate bringing the chips to the port, is hoping that the first wood chips will start to be trucked into the port in a couple of weeks, with the first trial shipment to Killybegs expected by the end of July or first part of August. The first shipment will be for 16,000 tons.

While the port officials and shippers want to see how the trial shipment goes before committing to an estimated annual tonnage, Port Director Chris Gardner noted, "Our goal is to maximize our assets."

Chute observes that biomass heating in Ireland and Britain is "a nascent industry. We need to build the supply to build the demand." Conor Ronan adds that their company will have "a first mover advantage," and that there is sufficient demand with a limited supply at present.

 Ronan says that to "open the eyes of politicians at home," both parties need to be speaking with each other, with Gardner adding, "We have to help convince each other that it's the right thing to do." While the wood chip handling facility in Killybegs is being constructed by private funding, Boyle notes that any extension of the pier for the ships would require the support of the Irish government. An extension would help avoid congestion with fishing boats, as Killybegs is the largest fishing port in Ireland.

The development of a sister port relationship between Eastport and Killybegs has been mentioned, and Gardner notes, "Both ports are mirroring each other in assets and aspirations."

Ronan says that they also met with Carrier and Chute at the University of Maine's Forest Bioproducts Research Institute to see "the hard work that has gone into" developing the shipboard heat-treating system that will be used to meet European Union regulations for importing wood fiber.

The shipments from Eastport are being made possible by the development of the new method of phytosanitizing the wood chips aboard ship. Gardner notes that the researchers at UMaine have been "absolutely key" to the project, and he also points to the assistance from Senator Susan Collins' office, along with Maine Maritime Academy and others.

EU-Digest

Europe's new climate policies creating a wood pellet business boom in the US and Canada

US wood pellets reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions

The wood pellet industry is enjoying a speedy, zero-to-80 growth surge across the United States and Canada.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in factories – some of them converted from old lumber mills – in coastal plain forests from Virginia to Louisiana and Maine.

They are serving a market created, almost overnight, by new environmental policies that are driving European electric utilities to burn imported wood in their boilers instead of coal.

This came about as the European Union adopted aggressive targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. They created incentives for electric utilities to cut back on their use of coal and will require renewable sources to provide 20 percent of all energy by 2020. Wind and solar power are also a part of this equation. 

European power companies are looking to close the gap with biomass – primarily with imported wood pellets. Biomass use in Great Britain, 3 million tons last year, is expected to grow tenfold over the next five years.

Britain’s biggest carbon emitter is the Drax Group, a Yorkshire utility that operates the largest power plant in western Europe. Drax is converting half its plant from coal to wood pellets. Coal is one-third the price of pellets, but Drax CEO Dorothy Thompson said her company is responding to renewable-energy credits and a British carbon tax, introduced this year at $7 a ton, that will grow by 2020 to more than $60 a ton.

In Europe, the United Kingdom is the No. 1, importer bringing in 855,000 metric tons (mt) from Canada last year and another 475,000 mt from the U.S. While Canadian pellets dominate the U.K. market, the U.S. is the biggest supplier to the Netherlands and Belgium. Denmark and Sweden receive the most pellets from Russia.

While the EU power market has gotten much attention, the heating market comprises 40 percent of the EU pellet market, with no subsidy required, because Pellets are 30 percent cheaper than heating oil. Currently, 90 percent of Canadian exports are being shipped from western ports and going through the Panama Canal, but an effort is underway to organize the smaller pellet producers in eastern Canada to pool resources and product to develop export facilities in the east.

The bottom-line is that the consumer marketfor pellets  in the EU has grown into a very stable market, It is no longer seasonal and some people even prefer to buy pellets in the summer months.

The annual increase each year in the EU has hovered around 700,000 tons of pellets for the past few years, but is projected to exceed 1 million tons in 2013, based on the sales of boilers and stoves. Italy is showing the most rapid growth currently, having added over 1 million pellet stoves in recent years. Consumption is expected to exceed production in both Austria and Germany this year, which will add to import demand.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/17/4244134/european-climate-policy-drives.html#storylink=cpy

In the foreseeable future the US and Canada seem to be well poised to meet these European demands.

Maryland-based Enviva LP the US’s biggest pellet maker, opened its Ahoskie mill in 2011 and a second one in Northampton County this year. Together, they produce 865,000 tons of pellets annually to be shipped out of the port at Chesapeake, Va.

In 2015, Enviva expects to start exporting an additional million tons from a planned $40 million terminal at the Wilmington port. The company is scouting sites for two new pellet mills in southeastern North Carolina, one of them in Sampson County.

At the same time, California-based International Woodfuels has said it will produce 285,000 tons a year from a planned pellet mill in Wilson County and a new export terminal at the Morehead City port.

Eastport in Washington County, Maine, near the Canadian border, which is planning a $120m wood-pellet factory, is one of the areas which seems especially well positioned to benefit from this European "craving" for wood pellets.

Chris Gardner, the director of the Eastport Port Authority says, "Eastport is the closest port on the US East-Coast to the European heartland. We can get European consumers their wood pellets before anyone else in the US".

The pellet industry is a "green industry" and not harmful to the environment as it is founded on a climate-friendly, carbon-neutral rationale.

All forests use photosynthesis to soak up carbon dioxide. This stored-up carbon is released into the air when wood pellets are burned, but wood is called a renewable fuel because that carbon eventually is recaptured by new trees that grow in place of the old ones.

The wood pellet industry can certainly become a win-win proposition for everyone.

EU-Digest

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/08/17/4244134/european-climate-policy-drives.html#storylink=cpy

Belgium - alternative energy: Germany's E.ON plans to build huge biomass power plant in Antwerp

A huge biomass power plant will be built in Antwerp, Belgium in 2018. The project will be a joint-venture between the German energy concern E.ON and the Port of Antwerp.

With an investment of EUR 400 to 700 million, the plant will become one of the Port’s major projects, supplying green energy for 340.000 to 800.000 households. The Flanders-based international chemical group Solvay is also a shareholder in the ‘Antwerp Biopower’ project. The power station will be built on what is known as the Solvay site.

The Port of Antwerp sees the biomass plant as a way to make its operations more economically sustainable and further expand its international exposure. The project is also expected to generate more traffic for the port, as most of the fuels for the biomass plant – wood pellets, wood chips and other biomass – will have to be shipped in from abroad.


The new E.ON plant will not be the only innovative power station in Flanders. Electrabel’s Max Green in the Port of Ghent – rated at 180 megawatts – is currently the country’s biggest biomass plant. E.ON also has plans to transform an obsolete coal mine near Genk into a power plant.

EU-Digest

RedOrbit: Alternative Energy - Unleashing The Power In Your Beer

For the complete report from RedOrbit click on this link

Alternative Energy - Unleashing The Power In Your Beer

Wolfgang Bengel, the technical director at German biomass company BMP Biomass Project, saw a business opportunity in solving the breweries’ grain waste headache. He reasoned that the leftover grain could be used to create steam and biogas, which would provide energy for the breweries, cheapening their energy costs as well as their costs of transporting grain to farms. Bengel has successfully treated the residue from rice and sugar cane in boilers with atmospheric fluidized bed combustion systems, to produce energy in China and Thailand, and Bengel thought a similar process could be developed for the breweries’ spent wet grain. Water would first have to be removed from the wet spent grain, the grain would have to be dried and then burned to produce energy. “Beer making is energy intensive – you boil stuff, use hot water and steam and then use electric energy for cooling – so if you recover more than 50 percent of your own energy costs from the spent grain that’s a big saving,” says Bengel. BMP turned to a long-standing business partner, fellow German biogas plant specialist INNOVAS, which had worked with it in China, to help develop the method as a EUREKA project.Germany’s BISANZ, which works on engineering projects, was also enlisted, as was Slovakian partner Adato, which designs boilers.

BIOGASMAX: European Biomethane Fuel Conference in Goteborg Sweden 7-9 September

For details about the September Biomathane Conference in Sweden click on this link

European Biomethane Fuel Conference in Goteborg Sweden 7-9 September

Presentations will include best practice from Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy and beyond, insights on the gas vehicle market, on the on-coming European Commission policies and vision, expertise in the production, upgrading and distribution of biomethane, and details of assistance available for those considering biomethane projects. The conference also offers the opportunity to participate in study visits to see projects first hand, and to discuss with those having hands-on experience. Above all, the event will represent an excellent opportunity to meet and network with a wide range of stakeholders involved in the production and use of biomethane, both informally and also through our expert panel sessions.

ISRAEL21c: Fish farming goes urban thanks to Israeli ingenuity - by Karin Kloosterman

For the complete report from ISRAEL121c click on this link

Fish farming goes urban thanks to Israeli ingenuity - by Karin Kloosterman

There's nothing fishy about it. Israeli Prof. Yonathan Zohar has spent a lifetime researching fish production and has a solution that might stop the world's dramatic decline in fisheries. Hip "green" environmentalists and sushi lovers will like it too.

Using advanced concepts of microbiology, Zohar has entrained special microbes to live in symbiosis with the fish in order to digest their waste. Aerated by plastic plugs that house the microbes, the fish pools are bio-secure and contaminant free, according to Zohar. In addition, part of the solid waste that is created by uneaten food or microbial byproducts is converted into methane and used as biofuel, says Zohar. This is significant. Zohar was one of the original team to develop the technology of fish farming in floating cages at sea in Israel. These cages have become deeply controversial because the waste created by the farmed fish pollutes the surrounding seawater. In addition, the waters where the fish are raised are often heavily polluted with heavy metals such as mercury, leading to problems such as the recent toxic sushi scare in the US. "I am trying to develop the next generation technology, to address cages and nets in light of environmental concerns," he says. "It is clear we are over-harvesting the ocean and running out of fish. We've focused on an alternative land-based method that can be used in the urban environment."

The Sault Star - Biomass fuel creates jobs; nuclear exports them

For the complete report from The Sault Star click on this link

Biomass fuel creates jobs; nuclear exports them

The Finns have researched, developed, and implemented methods for cost-effective utilization of biomass fuels. Their procurement is not that expensive. For example, the delivered cost for harvesting of renewable peat and forest wastes, their only indigenous fuel, is now below $14 Can per megawatt (one megawatt equals 1,000 kilowatts). Canada's natural gas costs range from $35 to $40 per megawatt. Can cost for generating electricity via the nuclear technology compare with this? Nuclear energy is definitely not without pollution. There may not be atmospheric pollution on a continuing basis similar to that in coal-fired power plants where effective flue-gas cleaning techniques have not been installed. With nuclear there already exists pollution and serious health problems associated with mining, notwithstanding what could happen with the plants themselves.With biomass fuelled power plants, we not only have more control, but more importantly, we can create continuing employment opportunities in the harvesting, processing and proper management of our natural resources.

Amber Waves: The Future of Biofuels: A Global Perspective - biofuel production tripled between 2000 and 2007- by William Coyle

For the complete report from Amber Waves click on this link

The Future of Biofuels: A Global Perspective -biofuel production tripled between 2000 and 2007- by William Coyle

With near record oil prices, the future of biofuel—made from plant material—is of keen interest worldwide. Global biofuel production has tripled from 4.8 billion gallons in 2000 to about 16.0 billion in 2007, but still accounts for less than 3 percent of the global transportation fuel supply. About 90 percent of production is concentrated in the United States, Brazil, and the European Union (EU). Production could become more dispersed if development programs in other countries, such as Malaysia and China, are successful. The leading raw materials, or feedstocks, for producing biofuels are corn, sugar, and vegetable oils.

EU-Digest: Cow dung can smell sweet when it cuts your energy costs

A methane gas powered generator producing electricity

Click on this link for additional information

Rick Morren, president of Morren Mondial Associates, Inc., (MMA), an International Business Development Corporation with offices in Maine and Florida has been tirelessly promoting the use of alternative energy resources around the US, the Caribbean and Turkey. Most recently his focus has been on methods which collect methane gas and keep it out of the atmosphere, by using the gas to produce energy. Morren who is a Dutch citizen says, "Cow dung mixed with other organic materials,like logging trims, agricultural or fish industry leftovers can be turned into energy at a relative low cost. It is being done in many areas of Europe and there is no reason why it can not be done elsewhere. "An added benefit to producing this energy", he says,"is that it also stops the methane created by decaying waste from escaping into the atmosphere and warming the planet.

"A single farm with an average number of live-stock could supply electricity to about 15 to 20 homes throughout the year. On a large scale this might seem like a drop in the bucket", said Morren, "but on a small scale, it does make a difference."

MMA has several exclusive turn-key agreements with alternative energy technology companies in Europe including; Germany (this agreement in partnership with Euro Trust Investments, USA, Inc.); Austria (MMA agreement); Netherlands (MMA agreement) and Switzerland (MMA agreement). "All these companies", says Morren, "can provide MMA clients with the technology and expertise to implement bio-mass generating capabilities anywhere in the world. This technology cuts the cost on the use of energy, reduces green-house gas emissions and dependency on fossil fuels. Cow dung can smell sweet when it cuts your energy costs."
For additional information contact: mma@europehouse.com

NovaNews: Denhaan's goes green, everybody wins - by Heather Killen

Denhaan's goes green, everybody wins - by Heather Killen

Denhaan’s operation in Lawrencetown is giving a new meaning to green tomatoes. Luke Denhaan, operational manager, said a new biomass heating system installed two years ago at the Fitch Rd. greenhouse is not just paying for itself, but is paying dividends to the local economy, and the environment.

The operation employs between 25 and 50 people throughout the year, and produces nearly two million pounds of tomatoes that are sold throughout Atlantic Canada. With oil prices so unstable, it was no longer feasible to continue heating the operation using fossil fuels. Denhaan said that the new state of the art biomass system guarantees the facility’s future. "It came down to shut the doors, or invest in green energy," he said. "With the old system we were using about 65,000 to 100,000 litres of propane, it’s dropped to about 4,000."

Denhaan said before they made the move to the wood burning system, they compared several alternative energy heating systems, and looked at what was working well in Holland greenhouses. The $750,000 biomass system, shipped from Ontario, promised a cheaper and more readily available fuel alternative. "It burns about 3000 cord a year," he said. "We buy waste wood from local people, and then run the logs through a chipper." They investigated the possibility of using geothermal energy, but found that the high cost of installing the system prohibitive. Some greenhouses in Holland rely on this type of energy, which uses deep pipes to draw energy form the earth. He added that eventually they might shift to this type of energy in the future.