BBSRC welcomes Environment Agency call for sustainable energy from biomass

14 April 2009

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) welcomes the Environment Agency’s call for energy from biomass that is genuinely sustainable.

BBSRC has invested almost £20 million in sustainable bioenergy research in the form of the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC). The Centre concentrates on the production of liquid fuels from biological sources that would otherwise be waste or from renewable non-food plant sources such as willow or Miscanthus. BSBEC provides a focus for ensuring sustainability of bioenergy sources.

As part of BSBEC activities, researchers are conducting life cycle analyses on a number of crops that could be used as raw material for bioenergy production. The analyses look at the whole process from crop to liquid fuel and aim to determine the environmental, social and economic impacts of the approaches BSBEC is researching and developing. Collectively these will provide a framework for assessing the sustainability of the various bioenergy routes.

In addition to the work of BSBEC, BBSRC has been involved for a number of years in projects run across research councils that look at sustainability issues for bioenergy.

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