Biomass answers Britain's energy trilemma

The British government in recent weeks has made numbers of significant and concerning announcements, with regards to the UK's energy industry.

The politicians sure are having an incredibly difficult job in harmonizing the three competing demands.

The first one is to make sure that Britain has enough energy to meet its needs. Second, is to make sure that families and businesses will be able to afford it. And the last is, it should be environment- friendly.

This is called the energy trilemma because searching for a solution that satisfies all three can appear impossible. It is hard but still possible.

Some choices sincerely balance the demands for reliability, sustainability and cost-effective and one of them is biomass.

These are pellets made from low-grade wood sourced from commercial forestry and timber processing operations, usually in North America and Europe. It is a fuel that is developed from organic materials, a renewable and sustainable source of energy used to create electricity or other forms of power.

Such examples include scrap lumber, forest debris, certain crops, manure and some types of waste residues.

When the biomass is compared against the three legs of the energy trilemma is easy to see why it will fit.

First, using coal or gas will possibly generate electricity reliably, anytime or on demand by using existing power station and distribution network.

Second, because biomass needs very little new infrastructure and is cheaper than almost every other renewable energy source that is available to Britain. It is the energy that is generated from natural sources like the sun, wind, rain, tides and can be generated again and again as and when required.

Third, biomass has the most limited impact on the environment, not just at the global level where it is contributing to substantial reductions in carbon emissions that cause global warming, but also on a local level where areas of Britain can remain unspoilt by new developments.