"Green" energy transition in China may cost Russia taiga

Today, the most popular trend is undoubtedly the "greening" of the world economics... The so-called renewable energy sources (RES) are proclaimed the main saviors of the Earth from climate change and global warming. Allegedly, a massive transition to solar panels, wind turbines and biofuels should reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the planet's atmosphere and stop or slow down the rise in its temperature. However, for all the positiveness of the green agenda, there is also a great deal of guile in it.

As has been said many times, renewable energy sources have a lot of disadvantages compared to traditional generation methods. So, wind generators cannot work without wind, and solar power plants - in cloudy weather. Solar panels can be covered with sand or snow, damaged by fine sand particles, which will require replacement. In their production, by the way, not very environmentally friendly materials and elements are used. Storing green kilowatts requires a huge amount of batteries that must be replaced, stored and disposed of on a regular basis. Thus, this beautiful showcase of "alternative" energy has its own not very attractive "kitchen". Separately, I would like to talk about such a type of renewable energy as biofuels, and specifically, about pellets, which in the future can create more problems than bring benefits.



Pellets are fuel pellets made from peat, agricultural waste and wood waste. These are small cylindrical granules obtained by crushing and compressing sunflower husks, waste corn and straw, bark, sawdust, wood chips, as well as low-quality (pulp) wood. Pellets have a relatively low moisture content compared to wood, high combustion temperature and low ash content. It would seem that this is it, the optimal solution to the problem with the efficient use of waste and with the transition to renewable energy sources. It is enough to transfer the TPP from environmentally harmful coal to pellets, and that's it, the kilowatts are "greened up". Unlike depleted reserves of coal, oil or gas, sunflowers, grass and trees can regrow. Co-firing of pellets with conventional fuel has long been practiced in the European Union, which allows them to talk about an energy transition, and in the UK the largest TPP Drax, which previously operated on coal, has been converted to pellets.

Alas, everything is not so simple, and the devil always remains in the details.

At first, pellets are really superior to ordinary firewood, but at the same time they are qualitatively inferior to fossil fuels. When coal is burned, about 2,5 times more heat is released than from granules, and from fuel oil, diesel fuel or gas - almost 3 times more. This means that the efficiency of pellet thermal power plants will always be inferior to more traditional ones, which means that they will need more and more raw materials. Let's remember this moment.

SecondlyDespite the assurances of the "greenness" of fuel pellets, when they burn, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere even more than from fossil fuels. It would be appropriate here to cite the data of the US EPA cited in a report titled "Carbon emissions from burning biomass for energy":


Thirdly, as we noted above, in the event of a massive transition of coal-fired thermal power plants to pellet fuel, it will be necessary to dramatically increase the volume of raw materials procurement for the production of pellets. And then the question arises, from what to make pellets in ever increasing volumes? Using agricultural and woodworking waste is a great idea in itself, but what if there isn't enough waste as such? Where to get so much extra straw or husk of the same sunflower? Allocate agricultural land for this to the detriment of other useful agricultural crops?

Judging by the already established market relations, the main stake is made on wood as a raw material for the production of fuel pellets, and this can create a very big problem. Large-scale deforestation is disrupting established ecosystems, leading to the release of stored soil carbon into the atmosphere. It should be borne in mind that trees in themselves are a source of carbon. After their natural death, they begin to rot and gradually go into sedimentary layers, where someday they will turn into brown coal or some other mineral. Now, instead of going underground, still living trees will be cut down, processed, and carbon will be released into the atmosphere when burned in pellet boilers. This means that due to the "green" activities of mankind, a qualitative shift is outlined in the ecosystem itself.

Now it is worth saying a few words about what a large-scale transition to the so-called biofuel threatens our country. If you look at the statistics, the largest pellet importer today is the UK, followed by Denmark, Italy, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands and France. The most developed use of fuel pellets is in the USA and Canada, but thanks to their huge forests, they are able to fully meet their own needs and even export. Russia is also a notable player, where there are production facilities for the production of wood pellets, while there is practically no domestic consumption. And this can become a big problem for us in the future.

One of the most promising markets for pellets is China, which plans to transfer its TPPs from coal and fuel oil to "green" energy sources. At the same time, the cutting down of their own forests in the Celestial Empire is strictly prohibited. Traditionally, the Russian taiga is one of the main donors to meet China's timber needs. However, for some time now, the export of unprocessed round timber to China has been banned. What kind of thoughts does this suggest?

It can be assumed that with the growing demand for biofuels in neighboring China in the Russian Far East, like mushrooms after rain, new logging enterprises will begin to appear, which will process not only production waste, such as bark or wood chips, but also quite suitable trees into pellets. Formally, the requirement to increase the level of woodworking will be met, but will it be easier for us if the taiga goes to Chinese furnaces in the form of pellets? You can imagine what the demand for "green" energy will be in China, which has announced a large-scale energy transition program by 2060, and how many people will be willing to satisfy it.