Biomass stoves and boilers avoided the emission of 4.1 million tons of CO2 last year

The almost 300,000 heating installations with technical biomass existing in Spain avoided the emission of 4,157,319 tons of CO ₂ in 2018, according to data from the Biomass Observatory of the Spanish Association for Energy Valorization of Biomass ( Avebiom ), which has been presented the report corresponding to the end of the last financial year, coinciding with the celebration of World Environment Day.

The Avebiom Biomass Observatory monitors the evolution of biomass stoves and boilers that have been installed annually in Spain since 2009. The data it offers does not include the activity of traditional wood-fueled equipment, such as the old stoves. , barbecues and others of lower efficiency.

In the opinion of the president of Avebiom, Javier Díaz, "the biomass sector has established itself as an indispensable instrument in the national strategy for the reduction of greenhouse gases, as is also in EurOPA."

Díaz highlighted the constant growth of the sector "both in number of heating installations - whose annual rate is above 20% - and in business volume and employment, especially in rural areas."

In this sense, Díaz recalled some of the claims that Avebiom has made to recent governments, among which is the implementation of a tax on CO2 emissions, “because it has to be true that the polluter must pay for it.” , as well as “the application of a 7% VAT to solid biofuels and biomass combustion equipment or the possibility that municipalities can reduce the IBI of properties that replace their heating equipment powered by fossil fuels with clean energy. and non-polluting, like modern biomass equipment.”

Most of the more than 4.1 million tons of CO ₂ not emitted in 2018 correspond to modern boilers and equipment for industrial or community use (3.6 million tons), while stoves and boilers for residential use avoided the emission of just over half a million tons of CO ₂ .

The total number of tons of CO ₂ is equivalent to the theoretical withdrawal of around 2.8 million passenger cars from circulation; That is, similar to the pollution produced by 11.5% of those circulating in Spain.

The use of thermal biomass by the 300,000 modern stoves and boilers that were operating at the end of 2018, 22% more than the previous year, has made it possible to avoid the import of an equivalent of 1,570 million liters of diesel.

The technologically more advanced biomass sector generated in 2018 a business of 870 million euros, almost 2% more than the previous year, and employs 9,600 people, 11% more.