The Envy-post of the engineer

#Energycuriosity

After seeing the documentary 'Planet of the Humans', I'd like to share a comment from an independent environmental engineer, as I am.

Energy and environmental experts know very well that it does not make sense to install mega bio-fuel power plants (wood, corn oil, rapeseed oil, etc.), using biomass of various nature and shape that comes from several kilometers away (hundreds or even thousands).

I would like to explain why, using a language that everyone can understand, simplifying, but maintaining rigorous content from a technical-scientific point of view.

The electricity that can be obtained from a fuel is proportional to the temperature at which the fuel itself burns. A fossil hydrocarbon (oil, natural gas, coal) burning provides heat at higher temperature than any biomass.

This determines the fact that, while it makes sense to transport a hydrocarbon for many kilometers (thousands) to use it in large thermal power plants to generate electricity (the energy obtained is higher than that used for transportation), it does not make any sense to use biomass produced thousands of kilometres away, because there is a risk that the energy needed for transport is higher than that which is generated and used at the end of the production chain.

A biomass plant that produces electricity is therefore sustainable only if it uses fuel produced locally (possibly from waste/by-product) and this determines that the plants must be relatively small, as they must not consume more biomass than can be produced within a few dozen / a few hundred kilometers.

The question is: why are these plants built?

The answer: only thanks to incentives that are addressed in a completely wrong way from a technical and energy point of view (and I would even dare to say economically), following private interests (to obtain funding) disguised as ethical reasons.