At the end of October 2011, at the closing of the Baltic Development Forum summit in Gdansk, the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) announced that the bioenergy cooperation in the Nordic-Baltic region had a lot of potential. Furthermore, the Council declared its intention to further explore the possibilities to push the bioenergy agenda along with the European Commission. Even though the Commission is promoting biomass as a renewable source of energy and sustainable investment companies in Europe are making use of biomass resources, the Nordic countries' experience in the field can be beneficial for the further development of the bioenergy sector in the EU.
Although the potential of the broader Baltic region in terms of bioenergy cooperation is yet to be explored, the Nordic attention toward bioenergy is in no way a new tendency. The Nordic countries have always led the way in relation to renewable energy and sustainable investment enterprises and the field of bioenergy is no exception. According to the website of the Nordic Bioenergy Project developed by the Nordic Council, bioenergy provides 37 percent of gross heat production in the Nordic countries. Moreover, it represents the primary renewable energy source in the production of heat in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Iceland, however, is the Nordic exception in terms of biomass energy; the extreme Icelandic nature is hardly favourable for the forestry and agricultural sectors, which happen to be among the major sources of biomass.
In short, bioenergy is a type of renewable energy, which uses materials derived from organic sources, such as wood, straw, manure, etc. The use of biomass has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, however, that depends on the cultivation methods and the fuel production processes used. Therefore, the European Commission, for instance, has conducted a study, in order to develop biomass sustainability criteria. The purpose of the criteria is to help those involved in the bioenergy field to avoid unsustainable biomass production, which in turn will reduce or eliminate the environmental advantages of bioenergy. In addition, companies considering sustainable investment options in relation to bioenergy should be aware that not all types of biomass are "green".
It is therefore evident, that there are some challenges for the effective and sustainable use of biomass as a renewable energy source. Nevertheless, the renewable energy targets set by the EU are quite ambitious and would require the utilisation of renewable energy from every possible source, including biomass. The EU goals set for 2020 are reducing emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels and increasing the share of renewable energy sources to 20 percent in the total of energy sources used. In addition, in the EU's Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050, sustainable biofuels are proposed as an alternative fuel, especially with regards to aviation and heavy duty trucks.
Yet, bioenergy as a sustainable investment option seems to remain in the background to a certain extent, especially in comparison to solar and wind energy and their growing popularity. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Nordic countries are trying to bring it into the spotlight. The general approach of the NCM outlined at the Gdansk summit is promoting the cross-sectoral cooperation across the Nordic-Baltic region to explore possible synergies between sectors like forestry, agriculture, energy and waste management. Due to their long traditions in the field of bioheat, biogas and fuel for transport, the Nordic countries have the potential for a significant input into the bioenergy field on a European level. In addition, their experience could prove to be helpful for the application of biomass sustainability criteria in the EU Member States. The next step of the NCM will be to bring the issue of bioenergy up at a workshop in March 2012 at the European Environment Agency (EEA) in Copenhagen.
Bioenergy will be of particular importance in the transport sector. According to a new report, "Laying the foundations of greener transport", published by the EEA on November 10th 2011, even though emissions from the transport sector fell in 2009, it was probably an effect of the economic recession and a more fundamental shift in Europe's transport system was required. In the meantime, in 2009, in Sweden, construction started on the first plant in the world for the production of environmentally optimised biofuel from black liquor, a by-product of the pulp and paper industry. The project, which is expected to be completed in 2012, is supported by the Swedish Energy Agency and the 7th Framework Programme for Research of the European Commission.
It is therefore safe to say that the Nordic countries' knowhow has the potential to increase the sustainable investment options in the bioenergy sector and to contribute to the eco-friendly biomass production on a European level.
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