Moorlands and hills targeted to grow crops for biomass and biofuels

[BAJR Host]

Moorlands and hills targeted to grow crops for biomass and biofuels

Countryside protection groups warn of damage to wildlife
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One tenth of Britain, including moorlands and hillsides, could be used to grow crops for biomass and biofuels. Countryside protection groups warned that this would turn large swaths of the countryside into monocultural landscapes and pose a threat to wildlife.
The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a ?1bn public-private investment body, said it was launching a project to map all the "under-utilised" land in Britain to find out how much could be turned over to growing bioenergy crops.
Research funded by the Natural Environment Research Council estimates that in England alone almost five million hectares could be used. David Clarke, chief executive of the ETI, said that the body had made the conservative estimate that 2.4m hectares could be used in Britain to grow bioenergy crops, used as substitutes for fossil fuels such as petrol and coal to reduce carbon emissions.......

read more here. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/...mass-crops

What struck me was the archaeological damage that could be created on areas that have not seen any real disturbance... we know so little of what lies beneath... and now? :face-huh: Better have a strategy ready to deal with it... Thats a lot or moorland and upland!

[Sith]

I thought that the government was trying to persuade us all to create less CO2, not provide a new source of stuff to burn?

I'd like to think that by the time this new QuANGO has established that this land is 'under utilised' because it's either ecologically, archaeologically or otherwise protected, and impossible to reach by biofuel powered tractor; that we will all be driving around in fresh-air powered hover-cars.

[Sparky]

Hmm. Not to mention the loss of carbon locked up in peat that would be erroded once the moors are tilled.

[mpoole]

Would it be more acceptable to establish wind farms on such sites instead?

I'm amazed that with the interest in such things as solar/wind/wave power that anyone would even consider using these areas this way. It promotes a continued reliance on IC machines instead of looking at alternative, non-polluting vehicles such as electric cars powered by solar/wave/wind-generated energy.