DLG - German Agricultural Society
Deutsche Bank and BP Germany highlight potential for bioenergy to become a leading business of the 21st century
Frankfurt (ots)
Dynamic growth forecast for European bioenergy sector
At a bioenergy conference held last week at EuroTier, an international livestock exhibition in Hanover, top speakers from investment banking, oil and agriculture stressed the important role of agriculture in generating bioenergy, particularly biomass.
Dr. Norbert Walter, Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank and Dr. Uwe Franke, Head of BP Germany, forecast that bioenergy, and supporting biomass production, will become a significant growth business during this century.
Dr. Uwe Franke, BP, predicted that in ten years time the pricing of CO2 would be a major market factor. "Large scale CO2 emissions reduction and substitution of fossil fuels can only be achieved with advanced bio-fuels. Advancing bio-fuels has to be done on the European level in a common effort by the EU, governments, the car industry, agriculture and the oil industry." Franke added that BP itself is planning a 500 million US dollar Bioenergy Research and Development centre for bio-fuels.
Biomass is much more important for the energy mix in Germany than is often assumed, according to Dr. Norbert Walter of Deutsche Bank. In 2005 biomass supplied almost 70 percent of energy generated from renewable sources and he stated that the competitiveness of biomass would become a decisive factor when evaluating energy supply sources.
"Europe in general, and Germany in particular, are technology leaders in this dynamic business area due to various government schemes," Walter added. Walter stressed that European investment in bioenergy could be lucrative, through technology exports to energy-hungry countries like China and India and by direct overseas investment which he encouraged German manufacturers and producers to actively pursue.
To download speaker notes: www.eurotier.de
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