By Paul Homewood
h/t Joe Public
From PEI:
More than one million homes in the UK are now supplied with green gas, according to new data.
Statistics from the Green Gas Certification Scheme show that since 2017 there has been a 13-fold increase in the number of customers now being supplied with green gas in Britain, hitting the one million homes mark for the first time this year.
UK Energy Minister Claire Perry said: “Using food and farm waste to create greener gas means millions of people can continue to heat their homes and cook meals while cutting harmful emissions. Reducing our dependence on natural gas will help to tackle climate change, which is exactly why we have invested £656m in biomethane to scale up green gas.”
Green gas is biomethane and is created from biodegradable material such as farm and food waste. The gas is injected into the grid and then used in the same way as natural gas for cooking and heating.
Dr Kiara Zennaro, head of Biogas at UK trade group the Renewable Energy Association, said green gas “has a crucial role to play in the decarbonization of heat and transport in the UK. Government support schemes have stimulated between £400m and £800m of investment in this low-carbon sector to date, facilitating the development of competitive supply chains, improving soil health, increasing farm productivity and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.”
Green gas is recognized as having a vital role to play helping the UK meet its decarbonization targets and figures show that it has the potential to supply 10 million homes by 2050.
This story is based on a highly misleading press release from the Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS).
Business Green, who also carry the story, note that there has been a 13-fold increase in the number of customers since 2017, yet only a fourfold rise in production since 2015, which all sounds a bit suspicious!
The reality is that most suppliers of green gas to households only include a very small proportion in their supply. For instance, Good Energy, who are listed amongst the Green Gas Certification Scheme’s list of suppliers, only sources 6% of the gas it sells from biogas. To offset the rest, it operates carbon offsets elsewhere in the world.
Very worthy, no doubt, but not much use if you want to heat your home in Birmingham.
https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/our-energy/green-gas/
As for the claim about 1 million customers, they may not all be eco warriors. I plead guilty to recently signing up with one such green energy supplier.
And the reason? I could have got competitive deals from all the major energy companies, but they all insisted on installing smart meters. Smaller outfits, such as Good Energy, have no obligation to do so, and of course avoid the massive costs involved as well.
A million customers gives the impression that green gas is now a substantial player, but because each only receives a tiny proportion of green gas, the reality is much less impressive.
According to the Business Green article, biogas production has now reached 2.5 TWh a year. However BEIS figures show that total demand for gas last year was 876 TWh. Biogas, therefore, only accounts for 0.3% of overall gas supply.
And even then this biogas is not of much use, as GGCS admit:
The raw gas is upgraded to pipeline quality by adding propane to increase the calorific value (CV), removing water vapour to safeguard pipelines and adding odorant for safety.
I have no particular objection to biogas in principle, but recall what Claire Perry says:
Reducing our dependence on natural gas will help to tackle climate change, which is exactly why we have invested £656m in biomethane to scale up green gas.”
When she talks of investing, she actually means subsidising. And £656m is a huge sum of money for such a tiny amount of energy.
Don’t fall for the crap about scaling up either. There is no evidence that the cost of producing and upgrading biogas will come down significantly in years to come.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
April 26, 2019 at 09:06AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 