The light and dark of Bio-energy

The above captioned letter by Parakrama Jayasinghe in your newspaper was interesting, especially to environmentalists and those in the power sector. What caught my attention was his statement “But it is a matter of concern to us why Bio-energy which has none of the impediments of solar and wind, but has multiple spin benefits, and has all the attributes of a source of firm power available 24/7 throughout the year, continues to be ignored”.

Not to dampen the enthusiasm of Parakrama Jayasinghe, he seems to have ignored certain disadvantages a small Island like ours will have to face, with a population of nearly 21.5 million and a land area of 65.610 Sq. Km, to open up large areas for planting trees. At the same time cutting down trees would mean deforestation, animals and plants peculiar to the country will be lost forever. The cost factor too should be considered, which includes, maintaining the plantation, felling, collecting from scattered areas and transport. I am not aware of the extent of land required for planting trees, to produce 1 Kw. I believe it will be to a large extent. What about the emissions? It is said that a biogas plant emits 150% CO2, while a coal plant 300-400%. Incidentally, there is good news China has developed a supercritical technology for clean coal. In a news item, Pakistan has installed one such, where it says of measures taken to minimize the emission of NOx and SOx and water pollution.

In passing there was loud noise in setting up a biogas plant in Colombo using garbage. What happened to this project? Hope the present enthusiastic Minister for Renewable Sources of Energy will look into this and expedite, removing any administrative obstacles.

Finally, authorities should weigh the advantages and disadvantages to our small country with an ever-increasing population, and decide whether to go ahead or not. This letter is only bringing about awareness, and not to sabotage.

G. A. D. SIRIMAL

Boralesgamuwa