Biomass and Other Transition Fuels are a False Solution

Bio­mass and Oth­er Tran­si­tion Fuels are a False Solution

- by Karen Orr, Ener­gy Jus­tice Network

Clean, tru­ly renew­able ener­gy could ful­ly pow­er a large elec­tric grid 99.9 per­cent of the time by 2030, accord­ing to recent research pub­lished by the Jour­nal of Pow­er Sources.

This can be done eco­nom­i­cal­ly and with­out gov­ern­ment sub­si­dies if a well-designed com­bi­na­tion of solar pow­er, wind pow­er and stor­age in bat­ter­ies and fuel cells is implemented.

Biomass/incineration, ethanol, nuclear pow­er and oth­er false solu­tions have been pro­mot­ed as “tran­si­tion” fuels or tech­nolo­gies, yet the cap­i­tal-inten­sive nature of these tech­nolo­gies make tran­si­tion impossible. 

When pub­lic or pri­vate finan­cial resources are invest­ed in infra­struc­ture for bio­mass incin­er­a­tion, bio­fu­els, etc., it takes us fur­ther from the goal of meet­ing our ener­gy needs with con­ser­va­tion, effi­cien­cy, ener­gy stor­age and clean, tru­ly renew­able energy.

Invest­ments in pol­lut­ing, false tran­si­tion tech­nolo­gies make it hard­er to reach our clean ener­gy goals because:

The eco­nom­ic resources could be spent by invest­ing in effi­cien­cy mea­sures, solar, wind and ener­gy stor­age. There’s no need to wait.

They are an invest­ment dead-end. Build­ing bio­mass incin­er­a­tors, cel­lu­losic ethanol plants or oth­er cap­i­tal-inten­sive, false solu­tions takes mon­ey that should be spent on real solu­tions and wastes them on projects that need to be paid off over 10 to 30 years. No project own­er is going to run a plant for five to 10 years, tear it down and then build a con­cen­trat­ed solar pow­er facil­i­ty in its place.

They cre­ate new con­stituen­cies of investors opposed to the move to clean ener­gy. Those who invest in “tran­si­tion” projects have an eco­nom­ic incen­tive to keep their pol­lut­ing facil­i­ties run­ning for decades, seek­ing sub­si­dies and pre­vent­ing the tran­si­tion to con­ser­va­tion, effi­cien­cy and clean, tru­ly renew­able energy.

As we build the new ener­gy econ­o­my, it’s bet­ter to con­tin­ue using exist­ing infra­struc­ture to build the new clean one than to build expen­sive new infra­struc­ture that will take much longer to break away from.

New infra­struc­ture for pol­lut­ing tech­nolo­gies cre­ates more enti­ties with eco­nom­ic imper­a­tives that will keep their oper­a­tions going as long as pos­si­ble, mak­ing it even hard­er to shift reliance to the clean tech­nolo­gies we need.

There’s no need for invest­ment in false, pol­lut­ing “tran­si­tion” tech­nolo­gies that divert us from clean ener­gy gen­er­a­tion. Con­ser­va­tion, effi­cien­cy mea­sures and clean, renew­able tech­nol­o­gy is avail­able right now.

Vis­it http://www.energyjusticenetwork.org/solutions for more information.