ADAGE's false and misleading claims.

A letter from Attorney Margaret Sheehan to ADAGE

Dear Sir/Madam:

Your website contains false information about the carbon neutrality of biomass combustion used to generate electricity. It states,

“Biopower to the People

The ADAGE biopower process uses wood debris from forest operations to generate electricity. This green electricity is carbon-neutral energy that reduces our reliance on fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gases. Click on the image above to learn more about how our process works and positively affects local communities and the environment. http://www.adagebiopower.com/process.php”

The claim of the carbon neutrality of biomass burning is unsubstantiated by science, and has been debunked by a team of leading scientists,  writing in Science, 325:529, October 23, 2009, who state,

“However, exempting emissions from bio-energy use is improper for greenhouse gas regulations.  Replacing fossil fuels with bio- energy does not by itself reduce carbon emissions, because the CO 2 released by tail- pipes and smokestacks is roughly the same per unit of energy regardless of the source ”

“Thus, maintaining the exemption for CO 2 emitted by bioenergy use under the protocol (IPCC) wrongly treats bioenergy from all biomass sources as carbon neutral. For example, the clearing of long-established forests to burn wood or to grow energy crops is counted as a 100% reduction in energy emissions despite causing large releases of carbon.”

“However, harvesting existing forests for electricity adds net carbon to the air. That remains true even if limited harvest rates leave the carbon stocks of regrowing forests unchanged, because those stocks would otherwise increase and contribute to the terrestrial carbon sink.”

It has come to our attention that ADAGE is using false claims of the carbon neutrality of biomass burning to promote its power plants including the plant in Gretna, Florida, and to seek and obtain federal subsidies.  Please provide a response to this email that explains in full the scientific basis for ADAGE’s claims that biomass burning reduces “our reliance on fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gases.”  Please include in your analysis the fossil fuels used to harvest, store, process and chip the wood fuel supply for the Gretna power plant, and the volume of carbon dioxide emissions from the smokestack of the plant.

The Biomass Accountability Project, Inc.

Margaret E. Sheehan, Attorney at Law

cc:  Floridians Against Incinerators in Disguise