ENERGY : BIOMASS: EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY SOUNDS WARNING.

As the European Commission works on its long awaited communication, due to be presented next autumn, on sustainability criteria for the biomass energy sector, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) has just come out with a report warning against large-scale and non-rational use of this energy source.

Although it is not highly mediatised, bioenergy - produced essentially from waste wood - accounted for 7.5% of total EU energy consumption in 2010. According to member states' renewable energy plans, this share is expected to rise to 10% in 2020 and to account for more than half of projected renewable energy output.

The EEA report insists on the need to set European targets to ensure more efficient use of these resources. That means reducing the land and other resources needed to produce each unit of bioenergy. Building on that logic, the EEA places at the bottom of the efficiency scale the use of first-generation biofuels for transport, while giving priority to the far more resource-efficient use of biomass for heating and electricity, as well as the use of second-generation biofuels. More specifically, the report gives top priority to heat production, which is generally 85% efficient, compared with 35% for generating electricity. It also recommends the use of waste wood or waste products from timber and paper production...