Bioenergy association wins awards

“The Bioenergy Association of New Zealand is pleased to see that Bioenergy has been recognised as a mainstream source of energy for business and as a transport fuel.” Rob Mallinson, the Chair of the Bioenergy Association said today as the 2010 ECCA Awards were announced. Bioenergy cleaned up 14 out of the 32 projects shortlisted in the awards.

The EECA Awards celebrate organisations and individuals who have demonstrated excellence and innovation in energy efficiency or renewable energy. This year, nearly 100 entries were received across the nine categories. Entrants ranged from small businesses to large corporates to outstanding individuals, spanning public and private sectors and community-based organisations.

Mr Mallinson said that “While it is great to see so many adopters and innovators getting the recognition they deserve we are just scratching the surface of the NZ potential. The association through its Bioenergy Strategy has identified that we could achieve a quarter of our total energy supply from Bioenergy.”

“The Bioenergy Association has been leading development of a NZ Bioenergy Strategy which has been endorsed by the major representatives of the sector ”

Mr Mallinson also congratulated EECA for the number of projects that it had assisted. “However we need more schemes to encourage the broader uptake of these technologies and utilize the untapped potential. The bioenergy sector is strongly linked to the economic growth and employment that can be achieved if we start using our currently wasted forest harvest residues as a bioenergy or biochemicals feedstock. It is a travesty that we currently waste around 20% of tree that is grown and processed in New Zealand. Utilising this waste is an opportunity for economic growth and employment that we should be aiming to capture. If the Government was serious about wanting to achieve economic growth they would be encouraging forest and land owners to look to Bioenergy as one of our keep opportunities. It uses proven technology and NZ is a world leader in growing softwoods which make an ideal wood energy feedstock.”


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