From the NoTricksZone
By P Gosselin
By Klimanachrichten
(Translated/edited by P. Gosselin)
German public broadcasting present SWR3-Wissen had a podcast about burning wooden in Europe. In Germany’s forests, much less wooden is taken than what grows again, however in Europe it’s completely different. Right here, the forest is shedding complete space, which additionally signifies that carbon sinks are disappearing. However deforestation shouldn’t be the one downside; forests additionally retailer water and launch it with a delay. These “sponges” are misplaced after clear-cutting. Apparently, the EU’s plans to substitute wooden for coal name for increasing that as properly.
In the UK, the previous Drax coal-fired energy plant burns important quantities of wooden.
Europe massively subsidizing a forest-destroying power supply
“Practically 9 million tons of pellets per 12 months are burned by the Drax energy plant. That’s thrice Germany’s pellet manufacturing and one and a half occasions the UK’s wooden manufacturing. With this enormous quantity of wooden, the facility plant generates seven p.c of the UK’s electrical energy wants and will get loads of subsidies for it: 3.5 million euros per day. Just like the British, the EU can be selling the conversion of coal-fired energy crops to wooden – with its Renewable Energies Directive adopted in 2009. Taxes on CO2 emissions from fossil power are rising, however wood-burning is exempt.
Coal crops throughout Europe are changing to wooden pellets
A number of energy crops within the Netherlands and Denmark have already transformed from coal to wooden. French energy plant operator Veolia has simply introduced that it’s changing a coal-fired energy plant in Hungary over to biomass. German energy plant operators are at the moment nonetheless hesitant. The operators of the Onyx coal-fired energy plant in Wilhelmshaven are contemplating burning 2.9 million tons of pellets yearly. Vattenfall’s energy plant in Berlin’s Moabit district is to be transformed; and the East German power firm LEAG has already purchased two pelleting corporations.”
US forests being reduce down largescale to make Europe “inexperienced”
Wooden pellets come to half from the USA. On this context, as soon as once more the reference to the US documentary Burned. It’s about forest loss within the southwestern United States. A evaluate of the movie has already been introduced on this weblog 2020. The documentary has misplaced none of its topicality.