New DEFRA GHG conversion factors show biomass in a very positive light

Defra and DECC have released an update to the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, one of the major changes being the expansion of lifecycle emission factors for waste, biofuels and biomass.

The report indicates that total emissions (direct and indirect) from woodchip usage compares very favourably against natural gas, fuel oil and coal.  In fact, natural gas emits 11.9 times more greenhouse gases (0.22554 kgCO2e/kWh) than woodchip (0.01895 kgCO2e/kWh); fuel oil 17.5 times more (0.33093 kgCO2e/kWh) and coal a massive 20.8 times more (0.39465 kgCO2e/kWh).

This clearly indicates that users of fossil fuels can go a long way to satisfying their Carbon Reduction Commitments (CRC) by switching some, or all, of their energy usage to biomass.

See the Defra website for further information.

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