A new report published today by Biofuelwatch has revealed that bioenergy has played a smaller role in the UK’s coal phase out than solar and wind energy, or reductions in electricity demand.
In the ten years between 2011 and 2020 the UK almost entirely phased out the use of coal for electricity generation. While bioenergy in the UK has grown during that time period, it has been a far smaller factor in the UK’s coal phase out than either wind and solar or demand reduction. This is despite the UK burning more wood and importing more wood pellets to be burnt than any other country on the planet, and spending billions of pounds of bill-payers’ money on subsidies for the biomass industry.
Other countries would benefit from learning lessons from the UK’s experience. In particular, they should not invest huge amounts of time and resources into this dirty and destructive technology, when the return they will see in terms of energy generated is so small.