 |
||
|
There has been plenty of talk recently about the Government’s plans for decarbonising our power sector and its ongoing efforts to stimulate the green economy in the process. So it’s heartening to be reminded of the centres of excellence we already have here in the Midlands, where our world-class universities are leading the way in many areas of “green technology”. A good example of how we are leveraging that expertise in research and development is to be found at Aston University. The University has set up the European Bioenergy Research Institute (EBRI), headed by Professor Dr. Andreas Hornung, which is pursuing a variety of collaboration agreements with local governments and industry across Europe. The aim is to establish world-class research facilities in all aspects of bio-energy and crucially to deploy the resulting innovative technologies. Bio-energy is commonly used to describe energy – in the form of power and heat – produced from biological material, or biomass, typically food waste and plant matter. However, it is also synonymous with transport fuel derived from biomass, in other words biofuel. The Midlands is relatively flat and urbanised and as a result not the best place to site large wind-farm developments. Nor is it going to see wave and tidal energy projects any time soon - although some of the more doom-laden climate projections for the end of this century might change that. For these reasons, it is hoped that a good proportion of our future power needs might come from bio-energy. The problem with bio-energy tends to be the logistics of sourcing the biomass and the need for the facility to be relatively close to that source. One of the EBRI’s initiatives is the establishment of a ‘belt’ of bio-energy facilities surrounding Birmingham, converting locally sourced biomass into heat and power for the city. Through the EBRI, Aston University plans to develop innovative technologies to enable these facilities to make use of a wide range of biomass sources. More information can be found at http://www.ebri.org.uk Given the well-known planning difficulties here in the UK which often prove fatal to schemes such as these, it will be interesting to see how quickly this initiative gets off the ground, relative to similar projects elsewhere. The University is already well underway with a similar initiative in Germany, where it has joined forces with local industry in the Odenwaldkreis region to establish a bio-energy facility. Crucially, the project has the full support of the local authorities. Collaboration and in particular the ability to share lessons learned, is often key to success in the speedy deployment of new technologies and Aston University intends to apply their experiences in Germany to the Birmingham initiative. For further information please contact: Andrew Whitehead, Partner
|
||