News - IEA Bioenergy Task 29 - Socio-Economic Drivers in Implementing Bioenergy Projects: Education and Promotion

Newbury Mayor Peter Greenhalgh at the IEA Bioenergy Task 29 Event, Streatley

IEA task leaders from seven countries met at Streatley, Berkshire for a two day bioenergy workshop. This was followed by an evening's entertainment with a Thames river cruise to Wallingford and dinner at the Swan Hotel, Streatley where mayor of Newbury, Peter Greenhalgh gave a local welcome to the international guests. 

Task 29 members met at The Swan Hotel, Streatley, Berkshire for a two day bioenergy workshop. The conference was part of a series of meetings designed to promote the use of biomass for energy over fossil based fuels by achieving a better understanding of the social and economic impacts of bioenergy systems at local, regional, national and international levels. Participating countries now include Canada, Croatia, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This particular event marks the first meeting of a new three year task. For more detailed information about the task, its objectives and previous workshops, see www.iea-bioenergy-task29.hr

The workshop was divided into two parts with the first day dedicated to reviewing activities of the first three year programme, mapping the future programme and agreeing future workshop locations.

In the previous three years task members have set out to analyse data for their selected regions with the aim to link countries and respective community actions through a series of booklets and proceedings from workshops that take place. During the next three years the task will continue work formulating methodologies for best practice by providing specialist sociological input to modelling and practical implementation. Deliverables include position papers outlining the benefits of bioenergy, posters, educational web and Task 29 web with the possibility of producing a book about frequently asked questions on biomass and bioenergy.

2005 LATEST: The bioenergy educational website is almost operational and can be seen at www.aboutbioenergy.info. It is designed to be an easy to apply socio-economic tool, aimed at a wide audience and it is therefore as user friendly as possible. Questions about biomass and bioenergy are stored in a data base to be answered by the webmaster or if more complex by a panel of experts. It is interactive and would be a good educational tool for secondary school children upwards.

During the afternoon of the first day the group took an excursion to Elvendon Priory where they saw the Thames Valley's only bio-heat project. Sean Absolom of Elvendon gave a very informative talk about the history and workings of the project which was a welcome interlude from the rigors of the day's proceedings. The task group then reconvened in the afternoon to brainstorm inclusions into the new website under the headings of Economics, Social Benefits, and Implementation.

The second day of the workshop was a technical seminar with invited task papers from participating countries. The Task group were joined by invited guests Sue Finlay (DEFRA), Graham Tubb (SEEDA), Prof. Roberto Franzosi and Keming Yang (University of Reading). The session commenced with a welcoming address from SEEDA Sustainability Officer, Graham Tubb who talked about the economic development of the South East of England, emphasising the importance of sustainability and green energy development in the region. Anders Lunnan from Norway gave the first paper and spoke about the contribution that bioenergy has made to economic development in the country demonstrating work that has been carried out in the Haddeland region. This was followed by Sarah Nilsson whose presentation focused on the role of local politicians in Växjö, a fossil free city in the South of Sweden. She outlined how important continued dialogue and information knowledge were to achieve political commitment and explained how this had been carried out by collaborative arrangements with local NGO's and The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. Ralph Sims from New Zealand gave an informative paper about socio-economic analysis of energy use in a rural community, evaluating options to produce heat and power demand from local sources. This was followed by two papers reporting results from household surveys, the first by Deborah Støer and Keming Yang from the UK (see "Who's for Renewable Energy and Why?" for the complete paper) and the second by Julije Domac and Velimir Segon from Croatia. Both surveys revealed a void in knowledge of biomass and bioenergy from the general public, indicating the need for more education and information dissemination to reach this wider audience. The last paper in the morning session was given by Michael Beech, Gabriel Berry and Keith Richards who talked about the launch of a new initiative called 'SEE-Stats' (South East England Renewable Energy Statistics), which in partnership with Regional Government will track and monitor renewable energy projects in the region. Socio-economic data will be recorded on a project-by-project basis and as far as it is know, this is the first system of its kind. For more information go to the website www.tvenergy.org/see-stats.

Task 29, Streatley Workshop - Elvendon Priory

The afternoon presentations began with Tatsuo Yagishita, who reported on the recent expansion of bioenergy utilisation in Japan, this was followed by Clifford Guest's presentation from the Tipperary Institute, on bioenergy training courses and education in Ireland. A third survey report came from Bill White on public reactions and market influences for residential woodfuel, after the Canadian and North US Ice Storm of 1998 and the final paper for the day was given by Ole Veiby from Norway who talked about the growing European bioenergy market and its extension programme in Russia. After a long day, the IEA delegates enjoyed a pleasant evening with a boat excursion on the Thames with guest speaker Peter Greenhalgh (Mayor of Newbury).

On Friday, the Task group were taken on technical site tours to Friars Court farm, which included a tour of TV Energy's coppice plantation. During the afternoon the IEA group continued to Slough Heat and Power where Mark Candlish, Business Development Manager, gave a short presentation on the realities of operating a power generation facility using wood fuel in the UK.