We found a Facebook page that supports the ‘Stop Burning Our Trees’ campaign and it has some good photographs of all the activity that’s been going on this week in London.
It looks like the giant Jenga went down well in Victoria Station. It certainly looks more fun than taking the wood straight to a power station to burn – hope nobody was late for their train because of it!
More mysterious labels?
More details are slowly emerging about the mysterious tree labels that have been tied to trees in central London.
It seems its a campaign backed by The Wood Panel Industries Federation to put pressure on the government to change the subsidy regime for electricity generators and stop the UK’s wood resources being burned for biomass energy.
Other strange labels have also been attached to street furniture like benches and tables, which thank passersby for not burning the tree and making something with the wood instead. Also there was a giant game of Jenga in Victoria Station and there is supposed to be a pledge tree in Spitalfields from Friday to Sunday (November 11-13).
If you see any of this activity going on we would love to know what you think… The message ‘Stop Burning Our Trees’ certainly makes sense to us!
Mysterious labels appearing on trees and benches...
It seems that London trees are fighting back against being burned for power generation by the biomass industry.
Mysterious labels have been appearing on trees in Westminster that read ‘Please don’t burn me!’. Also, a number of bus and tube adverts have been spotted that support the strange messages.
If you want to know more then it seems people are being sent to a website called Stop Burning Our Trees.
The Guardian (Sunday September 11, 2011)
Check out The Guardian on-line on Sunday September 11, 2011, which has finally run a story about the concerns of wood companies and green campaigners about subsidies to power companies that threaten both jobs and rainforests.
The article says that big wood companies are trying to halt Drax, RWE and others pressing ahead with a raft of lower-carbon energy schemes which would see large power stations switch from burning coal to timber.
The wood industry fears thousands of jobs in its factories will be threatened by the “green” power plans and wants government to remove the subsidies facilitating them.
Wildlife and environmental groups are also alarmed that the new biomass schemes could trigger a huge escalation in wood imports and threaten rainforests.
Check out the full story by Terry Macalister.
Get the full story at Energy & Environmental Management
According to a new report from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), increasing demand for woodfuel worldwide, including in the UK, is helping to increase the number of foreign-owned plantations in developing countries, at the cost of food security.
At the same time, the amount of waste wood being exported from the UK to the continent for fuel is expanding “very rapidly” and could account for up to 500,000 tonnes of material by the end of the year, says Toby Beadle, technical advisor for the Wood Recyclers’ Association.
You can check out the full story at Energy & Environmental Management but interesting information includes:
Let Them Eat Carbon
A new book – ‘Let them eat carbon’ from TaxPayers’ Alliance Director Matthew Sinclair – looks at the record and cost of climate change policies, and the special interests that profit.
It is said to provide new insights into the cost of major regulations driving up energy prices, particularly the Renewables Obligation and the EU Emissions Trading System.
In 2009-10 the Renewables Obligation cost over £1.1 billion, equivalent to an additional £40 a family (up from under £900 million in 2007-08). The figure includes the subsidies paid to the biomass industry to burn wood, which are funded by rises in energy prices and are said to directly threaten 2.4 million jobs across the UK’s and European wood associated industries.
Matthew Sinclair says: “Regulations that are supposed to cut greenhouse gas emissions are adding to energy bills, and making it much harder for a lot of people to make ends meet. At the same time manufacturers are finding it harder to compete and jobs are being lost as industrial capacity relocates to other countries not placing the same burden on industry. The only ones who benefit are a handful of big businesses that can make billions in profits at the expense of ordinary consumers. With the dismal failure of these policies, and the cost mounting, it is vital that we scrap them.”
You can read more about the book and Matthew’s views in the TPA’s press release.
burning recycled wood threatens UK jobs
A new report from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), says that recycling companies are cutting their gate prices to attract waste wood from the construction sector to sell it on to the woody biomass industry.
Subsidies for generating electricity using biomass are distorting the domestic wood market. Energy companies, supported by the Renewables Obligation (RO), are using their enhanced purchasing power to bid for the same recycled wood used by the wood panel industry.
The report also found there has been a significant increase in demand for waste wood to be used as fuel, with UK biomass facilities’ demand for recovered wood more than doubling between 2007 and 2010 to reach 0.55 million tonnes – nearly a quarter of total recovered wood demand!
WRAP has predicted gate fees will continue to fall in line with growth in the biomass market. A recent report from John Clegg Consulting suggests that demand for recovered wood from biomass plants could rise to more than four million tonnes by 2015, which is more than the UK’s entire supply of waste wood.
It is more evidence that if this situation does not change the future of the wood panel industry and wood-based manufacturing in Britain is threatened because they cannot compete in the same market as the energy companies, who are being subsidised to buy wood.
Read the full story at businessGreen…
Construction Enquirer highlights biomass issue
Today’s Construction Enquirer has reported that the price of wood panels could double because of the Government subsidy programme to the ‘woody biomass’ industry.
The subsidies are pushing up the cost of timber causing a 60% jump in wood panel prices already with further rises of up to 100% in the pipeline.
For the full story click on this: Construction Enquirer – Wood panel prices sent soaring by carbon subsidy.
All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Wood Panel Industry
The AGM of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Wood Panel Industry will take place on Tuesday 5th July at 3pm.
For more details go to the Make Wood Work news section.
The AGM will be followed by a discussion of the meeting with Greg Barker and meeting with the Renewables Obligation (RO) team at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Members of the Wood Panel Industries Federation will also provide an update on the Make Wood Workcampaign.
‘It’s barking up the wrong tree’, says Wood Panel Industries Federation
An industry group whose business and commerce relies on UK wood says the Government is barking up the wrong tree with its proposed renewable energy plans, especially those concerned with the use of biomass, as part of the commitment to carbon emission reduction targets.
New legislation will bind the UK into an agreement to meet a carbon emissions cut of 80% of 1990 output by 2050 (60% by 2030). The agreement relies on increased use of, and investment in, renewable electricity and/or heat from wind, wave and tidal sources as well as biomass.
Alastair Kerr, Director General of the Wood Panel Industries Federation (WPIF) which is spearheading a ‘Make Wood Work’ campaign, warns that the plans could cause the exact opposite of the Government’s vision – a drastic increase in carbon emissions, the diversion of UK wood supply into inefficient electricity generation, larger household bills for consumers, and the potential death in the UK of industries that currently contribute positively to the UK both financially and environmentally.
Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has already stated that renewables will be absolutely crucial to securing energy supplies and reducing carbon emissions in the decades ahead, and that the Government are reforming the electricity market to help bring forward a surge of investment in renewables1.
Kerr says, “Until the mass capacity required of wind, wave and tidal energy is reached, and additional biomass capacity from short-rotation and energy crops occurs, one of the most widely available supplies of renewable energy will come from subsidised and notoriously inefficient electricity-only biomass plants burning UK wood.
“This is being actively encouraged through the Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme and the energy suppliers have been quick to respond. Currently, there are an estimated 16 UK biomass fired electricity power stations in operation, under construction or awaiting approval3. Their demand, coupled with RO subsidies, will distort the UK wood market and it threatens our industries’ future viability.”
The UK has current capacity to produce between 10-11 million tonnes of harvested green wood (wood that has recently been cut from a living tree) per year, and around 4-4.5 million tonnes of waste wood arisings.
Currently demand for small forest roundwood and recycled wood by existing users is broadly in balance, but there are supply strains starting to appear and any significant increase in demand by the subsidised electricity sector will seriously distort the market.
A report2 produced by John Clegg Consulting for the Wood Panel Industries Federation and CONFOR estimated that the demand for biomass from wood, wood chips and pellets, and wood waste by 2017 would be 50 million green tonnes. One proposed plant, RWE npower’s Tilbury B coal-fired power stations is requesting planning permission to adapt to burn wood – this alone would require 6+ million tonnes a year.
Kerr continues, “The consequence of redirecting, through subsidy, the wood we use today into energy generation would result in a net increase in CO2 emissions totalling six million tonnes per annum – which is bad news for the environment and the taxpayer. It will drive industries and jobs abroad and once the UK wood and wood waste supply dries up, wood will have to be imported, leading to increased costs passed to consumers, and additional carbon emissions through transportation.”
“The message is simple”, says Kerr. “There is not enough wood available in the UK to support the number and scale of biomass electricity plants that are being proposed for development. The RO subsidies promote the burning of wood rather than locking up the carbon through use, re-use, recycling and only then burning it for energy. This goes against the grain of our own industry practice and the Government’s previously stated support for the waste hierarchy.
“If left unchecked, the subsidy regime could displace existing wood processors and those who rely on UK wood for product manufacture. It is putting at unnecessary risk many thousands of jobs, hitting the pockets of already stretched consumers through increased energy bills and the knock-on effect that increased wood prices will have on the products we produce.
“Most shockingly, the reality behind the climate change deal and the Renewables Obligation policy is that unless rewards to those burning wood for electricity are stopped immediately, in one fell swoop it will actually increase carbon emissions over the next 20 or so years – the exact opposite of the stated goal.”
Wood Perfected 