| English.news.cn 2010-10-23 19:00:05 |
COPENHAGEN, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Danish government plans to implement a clean energy plan that will phase out coal as the primary energy source in favor of biomass fuels.
According to Danish media reports Saturday, the five largest cities, including Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense and Esbjerg, are preparing for an energy revolution that will gradually transform power plants from coal-fueled to biomass fuel-based.
John Nordbo, climate and environment manager for the World Wildlife Fund, said in a recent interview with Danish media that the plan, which would reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 to 30,000 tons, was a very encouraging and promising initiative.
"This is an exciting initiative. We can start with Denmark and together reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Nordbo said.
Industry experts predict a successful implementation of the plan will reduce total coal consumption in Denmark by a quarter and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3 to 5 percentage points.
However, Katherine Richardson, chairman of the Danish Climate committee was skeptical.
"Short-term replacement of coal with biomass-fuel is feasible. However, in the long run, biomass fuel is too expensive," she said.
Richardson pointed out that Danish biomass-fuel power plants currently use 87 percent imported wood. Therefore she said that, in the long term, Denmark must rely on wind power and other alternative energy sources.
But Denmark's largest energy group, Dong Energy, does not agree with Richardson, and welcomes the transformation to biomass-fuel.
"In fact, there is a lot of potential material around us that can be used for biomass-fuel, for example the leftovers of the furniture industry. There is a lot of potential in biomass fuels," Don vice president Thomas Dalsgaard said.
Dong Energy is the largest energy company in the Nordic region. It is headquartered in Denmark and its core business is energy production and energy trading.
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