News

The global bioenergy sector is growing at a steady pace, reveals the 3rd Global Bioenergy Statistics report by the World Bioenergy Association (WBA). In the year 2013, global biomass supply increased to 57.7 exajoules (EJ), accounting for 10% of the global energy supply. In terms of final energy consumption, the bioenergy use increased by 1.23 EJ – a modest increase of 0.05% over the past…
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Finnish tyre company Nokian Tyres has joined a joint venture for building the Nokianvirran Energia biomass power plant in order to ensure the supply of eco-friendly and cost-efficient energy. The plan to transition to renewable fuels and the rising operating costs of natural gas boilers were other important factors in the decision. With the new biomass power plant, renewable energy sources…
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The American Biogas Council (ABC), the trade association for the US biogas industry, supports a newly introduced bill to provide increases tax credits to biogas producers. The Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Act (HR 5489), introduced by Representatives Tom Reed (R-NY) and Ron Kind (D-WI), provides a 30% investment tax credit (ITC) for qualifying biogas and nutrient recovery systems. ABC…
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The Pee Power urinal that turns pee into electricity - designed by researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) - is taking centre stage in the Stone Circle at Glastonbury Festival for the second year running. The team of researchers from UWE Bristol, and workers from Oxfam and Dunster House shelter manufacturers, are using the festival as a field trial in advance of planned…
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Scientists from ten institutions worldwide are challenging the notion that growing bioenergy crops hinders food production, which they see as harmful to new projects Traditionally in the “food v. fuel” debate, bioenergy crops have been blamed for food shortages as the land used for growing them could have been instead harnessed for food production. But a new report, titled Reconciling…
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Finnish regional power utility Lahti Energia has received a €75 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to construct a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant. The new Kymijärvi III plant, to be located in the city of Lahti in southern Finland, will initially produce 150MW of district heat from certified forestry biomass. The facility will also include a heat recovery…
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Honduran Green Power Corp. (HGPC), has inaugurated a “one of a kind” 43MW biomass plant Honduras’ Sula Valley. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez described the $130 million (€115.4m) plant as unique on the world scale during the opening ceremony. About 11,418 acres of king grass, together with weevil affected pine wood, African palm tree rachis, and sugarcane…
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Tangshan Steel Co. (Tanggang), a subsidiary of the Chinese Hebei Iron & Steel Co., has started producing biomass fuel its northern Chinese facility. Located in the Hebei Province, the facility will according to Tanggang produce 100,000 tonnes of biomass fuel a year to boost environmental standards across the Hebei steel industry. The production line was built by Tanggang and Citic…
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Plans have been approved for an anaerobic digestion plant to be built near Grantham, UK, which will power thousands of homes using manure, according to media reports. According to the Grantham Journal, Lincolnshire County Council recently gave the green light to the scheme, which faced objections over concerns that the building would be a blot on the landscape, the increased HGV traffic in the…
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Bioenergy academia and industry representatives, who attended the European Biomass Conference & Exhibition (EUBCE), are calling on European policy makers and the media to reconsider their approach to bioenergy. The EUBCE event recently took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (6-9 June, 2016) and was attended by international bioenergy institutions and scientific organisations, among…
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Strong bioenergy demand without strong environmental policies will lead to increase pressure on forests both in and outside of Europe, according to a new study. The new study, conducted by researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and partner organisations for the European Commission (EC), explores the potential impacts, interactions, and implications for…
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The European Union (EU) has funded a project based in Brazil, which aims to harness the combined power of positioning and reflectometry technology in order to create a low-cost, unmanned aerial platform for biomass mapping of the Brazilian Amazon forest. Not only is Brazil a large country but much of it is covered by the dense Amazon rainforest. In a statement on the European Commission website,…
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Biffa, one of the UK’s leading integrated waste management companies, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Cory Environmental’s municipal, industrial and commercial collection business for £13.5 million. For the year ended 31 December, 2015 Cory Environmental reported total revenues of around £34 million. The business employs a total of 800 people. In…
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Valmet has received an order from energy firm Kotkan Energia to modernise the turbine automation and to supply a new turbine controller to the Hovinsaari biomass-fired power plant in Kotka, Finland. The new automation will be started up in September to improve turbine reliability and availability. The order was included in Valmet's first quarter 2016 orders received. The value of the order is not…
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