www.greenearthenergy.com.au
Greenearth Energy (ASX: GER) is a diversified Australian renewable energy company that has interests in conventional geothermal resources in Australia, Indonesia and the wider Pacific Rim as well as technology opportunities and project applications in the waste heat recovery, energy efficiency, combined heat and power solar and CO2 to fuel conversion markets.
Greenearth Energy's projects and technologies are designed to deliver energy security outcomes in a carbon constrained world.
The company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on the 4 February 2008.
Greenearth Energy establishes a beachhead in fast growth biomass market
Greenearth Energy (ASX:GER) has established a new subsidiary company to evaluate opportunities in the biomass market.
Greenearth Biomass Energy Pty Ltd will look specifically into opportunities in the biomass and waste-to-energy gasification arena.
The global biomass manufacturing market is projected to increase in 2010-2015 from $572.9 billion to $693.7 billion, according to a report from EL Insights. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% during this time period.
The costs associated with waste collection, increasingly limited landfill sites, the environmental impacts of landfilling and the difficulties associated with incineration are significant.
Greenearth Biomass Energy will assess a unique biomass waste-to-energy gasification technology and market opportunity in Indonesia, the unique technology solution is universal in its application potential.
Managing director of Greenearth Energy, Mark Miller said, “With the challenges Governments and communities face in dealing with waste and the need to deliver economically attractive renewable energy solutions, we see a potential opportunity for our shareholders in this new growth category.
"Gasification has the ability to convert municipal and other wastes into electric power or other valuable products such as fertilizers and Syngas. Gasifying biomass and other waste streams generates positive economic and environmental outcomes for Governments, participating communities and investors alike.
"Greenearth Biomass Energy perfectly complements our suite of aligned renewable and energy efficiency technologies. We hope to finalise our technology and market assessment in the coming months and provide further details of this exciting project opportunity at that time."
Worldwide, governments are spending billions of dollars each year disposing of solid waste that by its very nature contains valuable unused energy.
According to the EL Insights report, biomass will grow within the biopower, biofuels, and bioproduct sectors.
The market value of electricity generated from biomass in the U.S. was $45 billion in 2010 and will increase to $53 billion by 2020. According to the BPA (Biomass Power Association), the biomass industry produces 5 million megawatt-hours of electricity every year, provides 18,000 jobs nationwide, and removes more than 68.8 million tons of forest debris every year.
According to the report, here’s what we can expect:
- Government subsidies for research and development of renewable transportation fuels will reduce the United State’s dependence on foreign oil significantly by 2020.
- 30 to 40 million hectares of crop will be needed in the EU to meet the demand for biofuel, and half will be in developing countries which is expected to push the price of staple foods in these countries by 15 percent by 2020.
- Plant waste and municipal trash converted into biofuel has the potential to reduce emitted CO2 by more than 90 percent over gasoline.
