In the first week of June, four Victorians and a Tasmanian are attending the 2014 World Bioenergy Conference in Jönköping, Sweden, with two from the group involved in proceedings. Source: Andrew Lang World Bioenergy Association board member for Australasia-Oceania
The group from Australia includes: Andrew Lang, a Western District farmer and farm forester; Shaun Quayle and Matt Prendergast from an eco-services business based near Bendigo; Sophie Gebhardt, a Melbourne-based journalist; and Liz Smith, a Tasmanian environmental scientist and local government councillor.
Each has a different area of interest and objective in attending the conference.
The group has no common politics. Each has to find the approximately $6000 required to fund the trip from his or her own resources.
A common feature of the group is that each knows that there are better ways to develop renewable energy than is the current experience in Australia.
Sweden is recognised as a world leader in the conversion of its energy system to renewables and in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
The five Australians want to learn from Sweden’s experience, where the nation’s growth has been decoupled from the use of fossil fuels, while achieving strong growth in manufacturing and GDP and stimulating rural and regional employment.
Either side of the conference, members of the group will be spending time gathering firsthand information on renewable energy in Norway, Germany, Denmark and the UK.
The focus of the trip is to take advantage of the expertise represented at the conference, learning about a range of applications within the field of bioenergy, including bio-refining, biomass to heat and cooling, biofuels, waste-to-energy and energy efficiency.
The Expo that runs alongside the conference provides the group with access to the latest technologies and developments in bioenergy.
Currently, biomass accounts for more than 34% of Sweden’s final energy. This exceeds the energy from any other source, including oil, hydro or nuclear, and the target is to achieve 39% of energy from biomass by 2020.
The bulk of the biomass comes from Sweden’s sustainably managed forestry industry, and as a by-product of its paper and timber processing industries.
