Tag: climate

  • Biofuels and Biomass Lose Favor: Investors Beware!

    Biofuels and Biomass Lose Favor: Investors Beware! – by Rachel Smolker, Biofuelwatch Having spent the past eight years or so of my life fighting back against large-scale commercial and industrial bioenergy, it feels good to finally see the tides turning, albeit slowly, maybe not always for the right reasons, and perhaps too little too late.…

  • Tree plantations and bioenergy with carbon capture: far from “safe” geoengineering

    Tree plantations and bioenergy with carbon capture: far from “safe” geoengineering J June 11, 2013. Source: Almuth Ernsting, Hands Off Mother Earth.  Amongst geoengineering methods, ‘afforestation’, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and biochar are commonly promoted as ‘safe’, benign’ or ‘soft’ options – unlike, say, shooting sulphur particles into the stratosphere. According to a 2011…

  • A Biomassacre Down Under

    A Biomassacre Down Under  A new report out of Australia, Biomassacre: How Logging Australia’s Native Forests for Bioenergy Harms the Climate, Wildlife and People, by Markets for Change, highlights the harm to forests, climate, wildlife and human health from logging native forests for industrial-scale bioenergy. Instead of being a clean, green solution to wean Australia off of…

  • Biomass Incinerator is Vermont’s Biggest Polluter

    Facing climate change: Vermont’s biggest polluters May 29, 2013. Source: Audrey Clark, VT Digger Vermont’s reputation as a green state was upheld this year when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an interactive map of the biggest point sources of greenhouse gases in the country. In spite of, or thanks to, these facilities, Vermont has…

  • Report: Tree Plantations in the South to Generate Energy in the North

    Report: Tree Plantations in the South to Generate Energy in the North -by Rachel Smolker It is always helpful to hear the perspective of people in the “global south,” especially when it is their land in the tropics that is so often targeted as a source of biomass energy for the “north.” World Rainforest Movement (WRM) has…

  • Report: “Unintended Consequences” from Biomass Boom

    Report: “Unintended Consequences” from Biomass Boom   – by Josh Schlossberg Add another one to the stack of studies shattering the biomass industry’s illusion of carbon neutrality. One would assume that the scientific community’s repeated debunking of the alleged climate benefits of biomass would already have knocked the polluting energy source off its “green” pedestal.…

  • Cellulosic Ethanol: A Bio-Fool’s Errand?

    Cellulosic Ethanol: A Bio-Fool’s Errand? The good news is that the cellulosic ethanol industry—turning trees and woody plants into liquid fuels—has yet to take off. And without an endless stream of taxpayer handouts to develop this polluting and environmentally destructive energy source, it probably never will. Under the guise of taking action on climate change,…

  • Burlington, Vermont Ignores Biomass Emissions

    It’s good news that IBM is helping Burlington, Vermont lower its impact on the climate. [“IBM Wants to Help Burlington Reduce Its Carbon Footprint,” Seven Days, March 27]. Unfortunately, the city’s refusal to fix glaring errors in its Climate Action Plan prevents an honest look at Burlington’s actual contributions to runaway global climate change. The Burlington…

  • Study: Permanent Increase in Atmospheric CO2 from Biomass Energy

    A new study out of Norway demonstrates what opponents of biomass energy have been saying for years: logging forests for bioenergy leads to a permanent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Bjart Holtsmark’s study, “The outcome is in the assumptions: analyzing the effects on atmospheric CO2 levels of increased use of bioenergy from forest biomass,” published…

  • Green Group Appeals California Biomass Proposal

    Green Group Appeals California Biomass Proposal Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit environmental organization based in Arizona, is appealing a December 2012 Placer County Planning Commission decision to adopt a conditional use permit and certify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Cabin Creek Biomass Energy Facility. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) alleges that the EIR for…