Leith Biomass: More carbon emissions than coal for 270 years?
August 3, 2011 by Ally 
The developers proposing to build a giant biomass fueled power station on Leith docks will probably not enjoy this graph.
It is taken from a new report into the issues surrounding the use of woody biomass for electricity generation that has been produced by a coalition of European NGOs including Friends of the Earth Scotland and Birdlife International. It provides more evidence to back up our call to the Scottish Government to cut renewable energy subsidies for large, inefficient biomass plants like the one proposed by Forth Energy on Leith docks.
The report raises a host of environmental concerns over the growth in the use of biomass for electricity generation, but the graph that stood out is the one above which shows that a biomass plant that burns woody biomass from existing 'managed forests' for electricity - which is pretty much equivalent to the Leith Biomass proposals - could take almost 300 years to generate any carbon saving at all.
As climate science shows we need to cut our carbon emissions quickly, and the Scottish Government seeks carbon savings of 80% by 2050, it is difficult to see how anyone can claim that the Leith Biomass plant will justify the hundreds of millions of pounds worth of public subsidy for "renewable energy" it may qualify for in its first twenty years of operation if it gets the go ahead in its current form.
Forth Energy may not be saying much in public about the Leith Biomass plant at present, and the City of Edinburgh council is not set to formally consider the Leith Biomass application until December for reasons we can only guess at.
In the meantime, you can read the full report below.
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