Biomass Kool-Aid at REV2016 Conference
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Peter Duval
Oct 31, 2016, 1:56:19 PM10/31/16
to underhillene...@gmail.com (Google Groups)
A recent article (http://www.bna.com/converting-oregon-coal-n57982082007/) about a thermal generating station in Oregon highlights the legislated presumption of biomass carbon neutrality, and prompts me to report on the REV2016 conference.
I talked with Jeff Biomass about the McNeil plant. It was as if he was reading Upton Sinclair to me. There was no possibility in his mind that biomass is environmentally risky. Floating on the ills of fossil fuels, he had created a false dichotomy, "opposed to biomass for electrical generation.” He then used that as a prop for supporting the current proposal for district heating from McNeil. When I challenged him with detrimental effects of the medium temperature district heating system on the electrical side of the plant (reduced output and inflexible dispatch), he brushed it aside as a non-issue, as if the RECs from McNeil would be recognized forever.
Even if we had the time, our discussion wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near prudent anticipation, or a life-cycle comparison of alternative investments in, say, regenerative buildings. This was very sad, as Vermont’s integrated resource planning sage, Michael Dworkin, held a high position in the conference program.
We live in an age of competing states of denial.
-Peter Duval
I talked with Jeff Biomass about the McNeil plant. It was as if he was reading Upton Sinclair to me. There was no possibility in his mind that biomass is environmentally risky. Floating on the ills of fossil fuels, he had created a false dichotomy, "opposed to biomass for electrical generation.” He then used that as a prop for supporting the current proposal for district heating from McNeil. When I challenged him with detrimental effects of the medium temperature district heating system on the electrical side of the plant (reduced output and inflexible dispatch), he brushed it aside as a non-issue, as if the RECs from McNeil would be recognized forever.
Even if we had the time, our discussion wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near prudent anticipation, or a life-cycle comparison of alternative investments in, say, regenerative buildings. This was very sad, as Vermont’s integrated resource planning sage, Michael Dworkin, held a high position in the conference program.
We live in an age of competing states of denial.
-Peter Duval
Peter Duval
Oct 31, 2016, 3:13:55 PM10/31/16
to underhillene...@gmail.com (Google Groups)
Electrical generation versus heating with biomass is perhaps more of a straw man in this case, or maybe both false dichotomy and straw man. -Peter
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