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Letter: Just say no to growing stuff to burn for energy

Published 23 June 2021

From Paul Dabinett, Oxford, UK

Any trees or other biomass used for “bioenergy with carbon capture and storage” have already captured carbon from the atmosphere (5 June, p 13). To burn such crops and apply an energy-intensive process to sequester the carbon dioxide and store it, which carries the risk of future release of the gas, is either foolish or an attempt to continue business as usual.

We need to increase the use of farmed timber and faster-growing crops like bamboo and hemp as materials in construction and consumer goods. This would lock up more carbon, while meeting human need. Using land to grow biomass for combustion, when we need massive rewilding, reforestation and restoration of peatlands, is extremely irrational.

Issue no. 3340 published 26 June 2021

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