New US regulation may discourage biomass projects
ESI-Africa.com
Washington DC — 13 December 2010 – The burning of biomass generates more electricity in the United States than wind, solar and geothermal energy combined, but a new regulation scheduled for implementation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2 January 2011 may discourage new biomass projects, including those proposing to convert from coal to biomass.
Although the environmental neutrality of burning biomass as a fuel has long been acknowledged by the EPA, biomass will be treated the same as fossil fuels when new greenhouse gas permitting regulations come into play in the New Year.
The new regulation provides extra incentive to American biomass fuel companies planning to export biomass pellets to the United Kingdom and other European countries, where biomass-fueled power production is encouraged by governments.
