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Mixed externalities - the green credentials of wood pellets

Graham Watson

11th January 2022

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The complexity of environmental policy is laid bare in this investigation into the green credentials of burning wood pellets as an a energy source.

This BBC article reveals that the production of biomass generates air pollution, its classification as renewable is open to question and it's also less efficient that burning gas for example.

"Yet biomass is actually even more polluting than coal. Burning wood for energy produces at least as much carbon dioxide as burning coal per unit of energy produced and usually more"

End-to-end, do they deliver less carbon or are they another exercise in greenwashing?

Mixed Externalities and Market Failure I A Level and IB Economics
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Graham Watson

Graham Watson has taught Economics for over twenty years. He contributes to tutor2u, reads voraciously and is interested in all aspects of Teaching and Learning.

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