November 2020

WEBINAR 12: The role of Bioenergy meeting the global decarbonisation challenge

25th November 2020/in IrBEA Bioenergy Webinar Series 2020

Bioenergy is the worlds largest source of renewable energy, bioenergy provides a total of 13% of global energy supply while all other renewables provide a combined 4.8%. Across the world and Europe the use of bioenergy is expanding considerably, with installations of biomass boilers in Germany and Austria doubling in recent years, and France installing over 100,000 pellets stoves per year. Christian Rakos, President of the World Bioenergy Association discussed in this webinar the expanding use of bioenergy as a clean efficient fuel, and its importance in the future energy mix. He looked at where Ireland can further develop this sector based on our own native fuel sources, and how this expansion can effectively contribute to decarbonising our energy sector while protecting our natural environment and air quality.

View the live Presentation here

Speaker
Dr Christian Rakos
President at the World Biogas Association

Dr Rakos has spent all of his professional life working in the renewable energy sector. First at the Institute for Technology Assessment at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, then at the Austrian Energy Agency and finally as Managing Director of the Austrian Pellet Association (proPellets Austria). Early this year he was appointed President of the World Bioenergy Association. Dr Rakos was also the founding President of the European Pellet Council (EPC) which is part of Bioenergy Europe. He is active on the board of the Austrian Biomass Association (ABA) and the Umbrella Association for Renewable Energy Austria.

IRBEA Panellists
Noel Gavigan (Chair)
Technical Executive IrBEA

Seán Finan
CEO IrBEA

WEBINAR 11: Biogas – An update from a European perspective

13th November 2020/in IrBEA Bioenergy Webinar Series 2020

This webinar addressed the latest developments in the biogas sector across Europe. The Irish Bioenergy Association is a member of the European Biogas Association (EBA) and their representative, Harmen Dekker discussed in this webinar the work of the EBA including a discussion of Biomethane market developments across Europe, the latest policy developments at a Brussels level and the important role of biogas / biomethane in decarbonising heat, electricity and transport across Europe.

View the live Webinar presentation here and the Presentation slides here

Speaker
Harmen Dekker
Director at the European Biogas Association

Harmen Dekker has worked for almost 15 years within the sustainability sector and is devoted to the mitigation of climate change. He has built his career in the water and gas sector, where he has held different management positions. He joins the EBA after 5 years of service at DMT Environmental Technology. As manager for business development, he worked on the expansion of the biogas sector in new geographic regions. During those years, he also focused on the implementation of new techniques for valorising biogas, such as bio-LNG. These responsibilities included the analysis of future opportunities to produce bio-methanol and bioplastics.

IRBEA Panellists
Seán Finan
CEO IrBEA

Noel Gavigan
Technical Executive IrBEA

Webinar 10: Digestate from Biogas as a Biofertiliser

3rd November 2020/in IrBEA Bioenergy Webinar Series 2020

The circular economy is complemented by Anaerobic Digestion (AD) through the efficient recycling of valuable nutrients from organic wastes like farm manures and food waste. This recycling is vital to ensure the long term sustainability of Irish agriculture. In this webinar, we will explore how biogas plants, using AD technology in addition to producing renewable energy in the form of biogas, also recycles these resources and nutrients and produces digestate. Our guest speaker, Stephen Nolan from Green Generation outlined some of the latest developments in the recycling process and the resulting production of a biofertiliser or digestate from the AD process. Stephen completed his studies with NUIG and Teagasc researching nutrient recovery and the positive effects of AD in reducing pathogens and reducing emissions of nutrients to watercourses through the use of digestate rather than raw slurry.