The green credentials of biomass have been called into question by a new report.
The discussion paper, commissioned by the Association for Environment Conscious Building, argues that wood should be used for structural timber and insulation rather than burnt. It also says increasing biomass use will push timber prices up to the extent that brick and steel will be specified in place of timber in construction.
It says it was “fundamentally wrong” to define biomass burning as low-carbon as burning biomass leads to similar carbon dioxide emissions per unit of heat as burning coal.
“While it is true that trees do take up carbon dioxide when they grow, this does not mean that the best use for biomass is to burn it,” it said.
The paper comes at a time of increasing use of biomass for small, medium and large-scale energy generation because of its perceived green advantages over traditional fuels.
It argues that the UK could not sequester its way out of climate change by planting trees and stimulating wood product industries alone.
“There is a risk that the timber price is pushed so high by the competition from a growing number of biomass burners, that concrete, bricks and steel have to be created, at very high energy and carbon costs, to make building components that could otherwise have been made from wood,” the report says.
