1. Faculty of Science,Engineering and
Computing Schoolof Mechanical and
AerospaceEngineering
Setter: Dr Cliff Dansoh
Course: Automotive Engineering Msc
Name: Shih-Cheng Tung
KU ID: K1617281
ME7725 Green Engineering & Energy Efficiency
Assignment 1:
Biomass, Biofuel and
Solar Energy Technology
Section A

2. 1
Table of contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………... 2
2. Methodology………………………………………………………………………………. 3
3. Literature review.....................................................................................
 Basic concept of carbon cycle
 Solution of Bioenergy
 Facts of Conference of the Parties and perspective of the EU
 Renewable Heat Incentive in the UK
 Renewable Fuel Standard in the US
4
4. Results and Discussion………………………………………………………………. 10
5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 11
6. Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….. 12

3. 2
1. Introduction
In recent generation, the high growth rate of industrial development and
population causes significant environmental change. The global warming is
one of well-known phenomenon, which is led to by greenhouse gases.
Moreover, the natural resources limitation urges humans need to develop
sustainable solutions for energy using. Thus, several growing green
technologies aim to improve the situation. It is important to raise the public
awareness of sustainable energy as well.
A renewable energy with low carbon economy is essential, which could
generate an efficient carbon cycle (Dansoh, 2017). There are several types of
renewable energy which could be replenished naturally such as bioenergy,
hydro, wind, solar and tidal. However, each government of the UK and US
promote the policy to encourage public approaching green economy. Since
2011, Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is introduced in England, Scotland and
Wales, that helps both domestics and non-domestic to install renewable
heating systems (The Domestic RHI Scheme, 2012). In America, the
programme of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is launched from 2005
which could ensure that transportation fuels contain the minimum volume of
renewable fuel (Alternative Fuels Data Center, n.d.). Certainly, there are not
only two nations which promote the importance of green economy but also
most countries in the world. Therefore, 194 representative countries arranged
the Paris climate conference which dealt with the 2020’s targets of
greenhouse gases mitigation (United Nations Treaty Collection, 2017).
Aim to develop a high efficiency renewable energy, biomass and biofuel are
expected to be the beneficial choice. Bioenergy is generated by materials
derived from biological sources which are based on biomass and biofuel
(Dansoh, 2017). According to the report from the UK government, the chart of
renewable electricity generation shows that bioenergy occupies a great part
since 2013 (Energy Trends section 6: renewables, 2017). In addition, the UK
contributed 20% of bioenergy capacity for electricity generation which was 35
GW by 2010 (Energy Trends section 5: electricity, 2017). As can be expected,

4. 3
the trend of bioenergy growing would be continuous. A depth of
understanding and comparison of RHI and RFS would be demonstrated in
this report from perspective of the European Union.
2. Methodology
Climate change continues to ravage the planet while using natural resources
and generating the pollutions. Every countries have started investigating the
sustainable solution to avoid greenhouse effect becoming worst. In order to
increase the in-depth comprehension, it is essential to take further research.
The methodology includes mainly secondary research. First of all, the lecture
note of Green Engineering & Energy Efficiency module provides fundamental
conception. It could be helpful to start finding secondary resources of the main
topics. Secondly, the recommended books from reading list and journals from
iCat offers credible and reliable information. Moreover, some electronic
documents such as PDFs could be found in official websites, which are
convenient to collect the data. Finally, obtaining a clear of understanding while
most of studies focus on qualitative research. The studies are based on three
main topics which are the Paris climate conference (COP21), Renewable
Heat Incentive (RHI) and Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). According to
literature review, result and discussion would be conducted by analysing the
advantages and disadvantages form aspect of European Union (EU).
3. LiteratureReview
Basic concept of carbon cycle
Essentially, Earth is a close system based on continuous biogeochemical
cycles. The carbon cycle is one of the cycles which provides a pathway to
transform the patterns of carbon (BBC, 2017). Carbon is the basic element of
organism, which could assist regulate the temperature in atmosphere by
carbon dioxide (CO2). The carbon cycle could be divided into two parts,
leaving from and back to atmosphere. CO2 is released through respiration of
animals and plants, microbial decomposition and burning fossil fuels, while it
is removed by photosynthesis of plants and the process of fossil fuel

5. 4
generating. Certainly, It is difficult to chase on the pace that the massive of
fossil fuel reservoir which are been used. Thus, the amount of CO2 emission
far exceed the amount of absorption. Human influence becomes a significant
issue for carbon cycle since industrial revolution. That is the main factor which
impacts the global climate increasingly need to be concerned about. The
global warming could become more serious because the trapped carbon
dioxide in permafrost is released through the ice melting. The huge amount of
carbon dioxide are came out to atmosphere and worsens the environment.
According to the report from NASA (2011), the Northern Hemisphere holds
approximate 1,672 billion tons of organic carbon. The temperature could be
increased extra 0.7 degrees Celsius if 10% of permafrost were defrosted
(Riebeek, 2011).
Solution of Bioenergy
However, there are varied sustainable innovations which could deal with the
current situation gradually. One of the effective solutions is came up with, the
bioenergy. The bioenergy is efficient affordable, environmentally friendly, and
technically mature. For example, electricity can be produced using biomass
that means organic waste would be reused. In addition, the supply of
bioenergy can be traded and stored as biomass and biofuel which is a key to
the sustainable energy mix (Rosillo-Calle et al., 2015). The bioenergy has
great potential not just in Europe but all over the world. At the same time, it
helps local economies and gentrify the area. Bioenergy brings many
advantages for private and commercial consumers for the environment and
our climate. Consequently, European Union has supported the development
of bioenergy in order to decrease the consumptions of oil, gas, fossil fuels and
nuclear power. (European Commission, 2015). Currently, the bioenergy has
higher contribution than other sustainables. A research states that the saving
CO2 emission by bioenergy is equal to the combined savings created by
wind, solar and hydro power (Energy Trends section 5: electricity, 2017).
Moreover, the bioenergy produces most of renewable electricity, over 5 TWh
since 2015 (Energy Trends section 6: renewables, 2017).

6. 5
Facts of Conference of the Parties and perspective of the EU
In 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference was conducted at Le
Bourget, the suburbs of Paris. The conference also was known as the 21st
session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) or the 11th Conference of
the Parties (CMP11). Parties to United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiated the Paris agreement to plan the
policies and actions of global climate change in the future in the 13 days. With
cooperation of advocates, inventors and environmental scientists, 194
countries reached a consensus that public should treat climate change as an
issue of global priority (United Nations Treaty Collection, 2017). However,
more often the narrative is about the shortcoming rather than success. The
Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP) has been held every year
since 1992. There are a lot of cases of climate policy fails which are affected
by different factors. For example, the US famously avoided the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol and at the 2009 Copenhagen conference due to the economic threat.
In addition, the reduction of carbon emission could be different which depends
on the level developed.
Therefore, unlike the conferences in the past, Paris’ COP21 reformed a more
proper agreement. The Paris agreement dealt with diverse strategies that
could be achieved for different situations of countries. The Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions (INDCs) could be set as own goals by each country
for fighting deforestation, limiting or slowing carbon emissions, maintaining
transparency and identifying the adverse effects in climate issues. Although
standards of each country are different, they are all based on the commitment
in the 2010 Cancun’s COP in which supposed to keep Earth under the
temperature increased 2 degree Celsius.
It is necessary to take further actions for the national policy. This could be ‘the
best chance we have to save the one planet we have.’ said by president of
the US Obama in the COP21’s speech that after agreement was signed,
(BBC, 2015). The European Union (EU) has formed the agreement before the
Paris’ COP21, which presented the ambition of reducing climate change.
Compare to the other countries, the EU obviously have a more progressive

7. 6
perspective. The EU’s INDC commits to decrease greenhouse gas emissions
into 40% below the level of 1990 by 2030 (Erbach, 2015). Certainly, to focus
on the academic research and analysis of climate change expressed that the
EU has higher possibility to take the European leadership in international
climate negotiations (Erbach, 2015).
To aim for the Paris climate conference, the US Administration and the UK
government organised several regulations, incentives and policy instruments
to advocate the renewable sources such as bioenergy. To deal with the strict
global warming targets and carbon reduction goal, the Renewable Heat
Incentive (RHI) and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are came up with in
the UK and the US.
Renewable Heat Incentive in the UK
In 2011, the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) in the UK
formed the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme to replace the Low
Carbon Building Programme. ‘The RHI is a government environmental
programme that provides financial incentives to increase the uptake of
renewable heat.’ (Ofgem.gov.uk, n.d.). In order to achieve the target of
reducing carbon emissions, 12% heating systems should be substituted for
renewable technology (Eco-biomass.co.uk, n.d.). There are two types RHI
scheme for different consumers, which are domestic RHI and non-domestic
RHI.
In terms of domestic RHI, the government promote to general families with
appropriate regulations. It is not difficult to apply the domestic RHI if the steps
are followed exactly. For example, the details of property have to be verified,
technical survey of property should be carried out, the cost shared and agreed
have to be evaluated. Afterward, it is available to consider the heating
systems which should be one of the 4 types, ground or water source heat
pump, air source heat pump, biomass heating system or solar thermal system
(Factsheet: An introduction to the Domestic RHI, 2016). The ground or water

8. 7
source heat pump extracts heat from the ground or water which could be used
to provide heating and hot water. The second type eligible for the domestic
RHI is the air source heat pump which works by absorbing heat from the
external air. The qualified biomass heating system is a biomass boiler which
only produces heat by biomass. The biomass pellet stoves burn organic fuel
such as wood pellets chips or logs to provide central heating and hot water.
For solar thermal system, there are two types that up to standard for the
domestic RHI. As solar thermal heating panels, both evacuated tubes and flat
collectors could be fixed onto roof tiles or integrated into the roof. To be
eligible for the domestic RHI, the installation should be certified under the
Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and meet the relevant required
standards for each technology (Microgenerationcertification.org, n.d.).
However, the subsidy of domestic RHI adds an extra income for the users
under the scheme. The domestic RHI tariff depends on the scale of
generation and types of heating system used
(Microgenerationcertification.org, n.d.). According to the domestic RHI tariff
table in ICAX (2017), for the first seven years of the equipment used the
generators could be paid up to 20.06 pence per kilowatt hour with solar
thermal heating system, 19.86 pence per kilowatt hour with ground heat
source heat pump, 10.18 pence per kilowatt hour with air source heat pump
and 6.48 pence per kilowatt hour with biomass heating system. For non-
domestic RHI, there are more eligible technologies could be selected such as
geothermal, biogas combustion and biomethane injection (Ofgem, 2016).
Compare to the domestic RHI, non-domestic RHI has longer period to receive
a cashback subsidy. Even though the pence per kilowatt hour of non-domestic
RHI is lower than domestic RHI’s, the tariff is offered an approximate 12%
rate of return (Icax.co.uk, 2017).

9. 8
Renewable Fuel Standard in the US
In order to decrease the oil consumption and greenhouse gases emission, the
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is formed by the US Environment Protection
Agency (EPA) in 2006. The RFS program requires a minimum volume of
renewable fuels to be blended into transportation fuel, which met the 7.5
billion gallons by 2012 (Renewable fuel standard, 2011). Nevertheless, the
EPA corrected the RFS into second edition through the Energy Independence
and Security Act (EISA) in 2007. That was usually known as RFS2 which
broadened the plan of renewable sources. There are several strategies to be
targeted. First of all, the required range was extended from petrol to diesel.
The legislation increase necessitation of bio-diesel based on bioethanol.
Secondly, the requirement of renewable fuels was increased from 9 billion
gallons by 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022 (Renewable fuel standard,
2011). In order to achieve the target, the EPA raised the proportion of biofuels
and increased the usage volume of biofuels. Thirdly, four categories of
sustainable biofuels were introduced which included cellulosic and agricultural
waste-based biofuel, biomass-based biodiesel (BBD), advanced biofuels and
total renewable fuels in the RFS2. There are different volume demands and
greenhouse gases reduction (GHG) in four biofuel categories by 2022, which
has shown as following table and chart:
RFS categories GHGs
reduction (%)
Mandate volume (Bgals)
2010 2022
Total renewable
fuels
20 13 36
Advanced biofuels 50 0.95 21
Cellulosic and
agricultural waste-
based biofuel
60 0.1 16
Biomass-based
biodiesel (BBD)
50 0.5
(2009)
1
(2012)
(https://www.ifdaonline.org/IFDA/media/IFDA/GR/CRS-RFS-Overview-Issues.pdf)

10. 9
(https://www.ifdaonline.org/IFDA/media/IFDA/GR/CRS-RFS-Overview-Issues.pdf)
Under the RSF2 renewable fuels could be separated into two part, the cap on
corn starch ethanol and non-corn-starch biofuels. In addition, biomass-based,
cellulosic, diesel and other biofuels are combined into non-corn-starch
biofuels which could be in proportion of advanced biofuels category. To
consider the demands of feedstocks, it is necessary to manage the maximum
volume of corn-based biofuel. Thus, the RSF2 has a limitation of biofuel
mandate on corn-starch ethanol, which also urges other developments of non-
corn-based biofuels. As the result, the requirement of corn-starch ethanol was
fixed to 15 billion gallons under the RSF2 while the requirement of cellulosic
biofuel could increase gradually (Schnepf and Yacobucci, 2013).
0
10
20
30
40
50
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Billiongallons
Year
EISA 2007 Expansion of the Renewable Fuel Standard
RFS1 biofuel mandate
Cap on corn starch-derived ethanol
Cellulosic
Biomass-based diesel

11. 10
4. Results and Discussion
To achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate with a name
of keeping global warming below 2 degree centigrade, the EU played a
leading role in the global gathering. The EU has committed to reduced
greenhouse gas emissions into 40% below the level of 1990 by 2030 (Erbach,
2015). However, the EU and developing countries would face to a difficult
question as to whether carbon emissions could be more aggressively reduced
without further slowing global economic growth. The European energy
industry should be prepared to adapt to the new standards which may emerge
from the meeting. The impact of COP21 discussed the changes currently
underway in the European energy sector including the potential for alternative
and renewable sources as it prepares for future environmental requirements.
As a result, an analysis is summarised from the angle of the EU. In terms of
RHI scheme of the UK, it could create a lot of benefits. For example, people
could get subsidy to replace a more efficient heating system and that also
boost the local economy. Although government has to pay an extra bill, the
renewable technologies are becoming more popular and that is helpful for
achieving the target of decreasing the carbon emissions. Moreover, there are
more than one option could be choose for heat system types and no stringent
regulation to force it. While RFS programme of the US made a strong push on
bioenergy development, most of fossil fuel suppliers could be affected directly.
Although RFS could reduce the reliability on fossil fuel effectively, some of
people are concerned about the sudden growth of progress and the
proportion of biofuel contained. Also it would influence the economy of fossil
fuel significantly. Both of policies could improve the greenhouse effect and
focus the target of COP21 agreement. However, compare to RFS, RHI obtain
a more appropriate map for the EU and match the goal of evolving variety of
sustainable technologies.

12. 11
5. Conclusion
The development of bioenergy is set to play a key role in this new era of
energy production, which offers an affordable and efficient solution. Through
the collaboration of technology and policy, bioenergy remains a major
contender with considerable potential both now and in the future. Due to the
RHI and RFS, both the UK and the US are benefit from bioenergy which
brings us a step closer to breaking free from our dependence on fossil fuels
while facilitating on-demand use. Nevertheless, bioenergy creates a chance to
protect the climate, provide jobs and boost local economies. So that the target
of COP21 becomes more reachable. The 2 degree Celsius could still cause
great effects on Earth. Although, the Paris agreement has processed on the
way, as a global citizen, to keep the eye on the policies and to raise the
awareness of environmental protection are necessary all the time.

13. 12
6. Bibliography
Alternative Fuels Data Center. (n.d.). Renewable Fuel Standard. [online]
Available at: http://www.afdc.energy.gov/laws/RFS [Accessed 1 Mar.
2017].
BBC. (2015). COP21: Paris climate deal is 'best chance to save planet'.
[online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-
35086346 [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017].
BBC. (2017). The carbon and nitrogen cycles. [online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway_pre_20
11/greenworld/recyclingrev1.shtml [Accessed 6 Mar. 2017].
BP Statistical Review of World Energy. (2016). 1st ed. [ebook] Pureprint
Group Limited. Available at:
https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-
review-2016/bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2016-full-report.pdf
[Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].
Dansoh, C. (2017). Biomass and biofuels [lecture note]. Green Engineering &
Energy Efficiency [Accessed 17 Mar. 2017].
Eco-biomass.co.uk. (n.d.). RHI – Eco-Biomass. [online] Available at:
http://www.eco-biomass.co.uk/scotland/renewable-heat-incentive
[Accessed 17 Mar. 2017].
Energy Trends section 5: electricity. (2017). 1st ed. [ebook] Department for
Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data
/file/604090/Electricity.pdf [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].
Energy Trends section 6: renewables. (2017). 1st ed. [ebook] Department for
Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data
/file/579527/Renewables.pdf [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].
Erbach, G. (2015). EU position for COP 21 climate change conference. 1st
ed. [ebook] European Parliamentary Research Service. Available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2015/572787/EPRS
_BRI(2015)572787_EN.pdf [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017].

14. 13
European Commission. (2015). EU SUPPORT FOR BIOENERGY. [online]
Available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/eu/index_en.cfm?pg=research-
bioenergy-support [Accessed 4 Mar. 2017].
Factsheet: An introduction to the Domestic RHI. (2016). 1st ed. [ebook]
Ofgem. Available at:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/04/drhi_factsheet_anint
rotothescheme_v3_0_mar_2016_web.pdf [Accessed 1 Mar. 2017].
Icax.co.uk. (2017). Renewable Heat Incentive – Domestic RHI. [online]
Available at: http://www.icax.co.uk/RHI_Domestic.html [Accessed 7 Mar.
2017].
Icax.co.uk. (2017). Renewable Heat Incentive rates. [online] Available at:
http://www.icax.co.uk/Renewable_Heat_Incentive_tariff_tables.html
[Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].
Lacasta, N., Dessai, S. and Powroslo, E. (2002). Consensus Among Many
Voices: Articulating the European Union's Position on Climate Change.
Golden Gate University Law Review, 32 [Accessed 5 Mar. 2017]..
Microgenerationcertification.org. (n.d.). Microgeneration Certification Scheme
- Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). [online] Available at:
http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/consumers/finance-
incentives/rhi [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017].
Ofgem, (2016). Eligible technologies for the Non-Domestic RHI. 1st ed.
[ebook] Ofgem. Available at:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/06/eligible_technologie
s_in_the_non-domestic_rhi.pdf [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017].
Ofgem. (n.d.). Environmental Programmes. [online] Available at:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes [Accessed 3 Mar.
2017].
Riebeek, H. (2011). The Carbon Cycle : Feature Articles. [online] Earth
observatory. Available at:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/ [Accessed 3
Mar. 2017].

15. 14
Rosillo-Calle, F., Groot, P., Hemstock, S. and Woods, J. (2015). The Biomass
Assessment Handbook. 1st ed. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. [Accessed
2 Mar. 2017].
Schnepf, R. and Yacobucci, B. (2013). Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS):
Overview and Issues. 1st ed. [ebook] CRS Report for Congress. Available
at: https://www.ifdaonline.org/IFDA/media/IFDA/GR/CRS-RFS-Overview-
Issues.pdf [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].
The Domestic RHI Scheme. (2012). 1st ed. [ebook] Department of energy and
climate change. Available at: http://www.woodco-
energy.com/uploads/pdf/5850e18db181a656a5ea08e83f42c41d1e41dec
a.pdf [Accessed 16 Mar. 2017].
The renewable energy centre. (n.d.). Biomass and Biofuel. [online] Available
at: http://www.therenewableenergycentre.co.uk/biomass-and-biofuel/
[Accessed 4 Mar. 2017].
United Nations Treaty Collection. (2017). Paris Agreement. [online] Available
at:
https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=XXVI
I-7-d&chapter=27&clang=_en [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017].