Review of the Potential Impact on Air Quality from Increased Wood Fuelled Biomass Use in London

European, national and regional policies are encouraging the use of renewable fuel sources for energy generation to combat climate change. Many new developments across London are now considering installing wood-fuelled biomass burners to meet these new requirements. Wood-based fuel is generally "carbon neutral" as the carbon dioxide (CO₂) released from the fuel when burnt is equal to the amount taken up by the tree during its life.

Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs)

Due to these new polices, there has been increasing concern recently amongst London's local authorities about the potential impact on local air quality from burning biomass fuels such as wood. All 33 of London's local authorities have declared Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs), since part or all of their authority does not meet air quality objectives that have been set by the Government.

AEA Technology plc assessment of the potential impact

London Councils therefore recently commissioned AEA Technology plc to assess the potential impact of widespread wood-fuelled biomass use across London and to provide guidance for dealing with applications from developers etc. to install biomass burners. One specific concern to boroughs has been that although many biomass burners will meet Clean Air Act requirements, the switch to gas over the last few decades has meant from an air quality perspective, boiler emissions have been significantly lower than the Act's requirements. Therefore although biomass boilers meet Clean Air Act standards, in many circumstances they still have the potential to produce emissions that are worse than the current gas equivalent.

Results of study

The results of this study show that the widespread use of wood fuel to replace gas for heating and power generation across London has the potential to have a significantly detrimental effect on air quality in London unless measures are taken to prevent this. Further work is underway to develop and define best practice for London to attempt to avoid any negative impacts on London's air quality from the take up of this technology.

Attachment

The report by AEA Technology is attached as a pdf document. If you have any queries regarding this report, please contact Jared Boow (Principal Environment Policy Officer) on phone number: 020 7934 9951 or email:jared.boow@londoncouncils.gov.uk

View all pages

---

Page: View page 1 | View page 2 | View page 3 |