Mercury isone of themost hazardous substancesto human healthand also forthe environment. For thisreason, theEuropean Union hasdecided toimplementthe new rulesso that you canget tosignificantly reduceexposureto mercury forhumans, plants and animalsand thus offera better future forour children andthe planet inwhich we live.
The European Unionhasdecided toreduce the time oftemporary storage ofmetallic mercury, whichcan only bestoredup to amaximum of5 years. As forpermanent storagehave not yet beenmadefinal decisionsbecause it isfirstnecessary to try tounderstand howdangerousit can bea practice ofthis type.
The storageof metallic mercurycanbe performed inunderground storageinundergrounddeposits aredepositsif they arecertifiedby the European Union. All depositsmustin fact beone hundred percentsafeand shouldspecificallybe wellinsulated from the groundsothat there is nolossof mercury, must allowthe reversibilityof the storage andmustthenavoid the development ofemissionsof mercury vapor.
TheEU member stateswill have to adaptto the newguidelinesby the end ofMarch2013.
The EUintends to implementall possible measuresto reducethe risk ofmercury exposurefor humansand the environment. Member States shall, in accordancewith the Commission Communicationto the Council andEuropean Parliament onCommunity Strategyon Mercury, have untilMarch 15, 2013to complywith best available techniquesfor the temporary storage(1 to 5 years) of metallic mercury(indicationsof thesecondDirective2011/97/Ue).
Thelatest directiveauthorizesthe temporary storage(more than one year) and permanentdischargeof metallic mercury, notwithstanding the general prohibitionof admissibility'of liquid waste. Formoststocks'short' butneed permission fromordinary. The new criteriaestablishedby the EUhavethe intentionto introducesomerestrictionslimitingthe maximum durationofstorage at5 years, neededto conductfurtherassessmentson the effects ofpermanent storage. To ensuresafe storagefor human healthand the environment, and 'appropriate for the safety assessmentfor theunderground storageiscomplemented by specific requirementsand should also beapplicable tonon-undergroundstoragedepots.
While theabove-ground storageconditionsshouldnotably meet theprinciplesofreversibility'of storage, protection of mercuryagainst meteoric water, impermeability' with respect tosoils and preventionof emissionsof mercury vapor. The measuresadopted at Community levelisseen as part ofa global effort toreduce therisk of exposureto mercuryin particular within theMercury Programmeofthe United Nations programfor the environment.
This
rapid proliferation of facilities including large size, favored by the
regime of incentives, on the one hand contributes to the goals of
producing renewable energy and CO2 savings that our country must achieve
in order to meet European commitments and the Kyoto Protocol On
the other hand highlights the criticality due to a lack of planning and
coordination at national level and limits of the forest sector, which
suffers the backwardness due to years of disregard.One
of the risks to which they can more easily meet is related to incorrect
or approximate assessments regarding the availability of real biomass:
theoretical evaluations often at the local level do not take due account
of the real difficulties of supply caused by a number of factors such
as scarcity
of forest companies equipped, the fragmentation of ownership, the
difficulty in cutting and skidding to a lack of adequate forest roads,
the demand for wood products and any pre-existing proximity to other
plants with the same water supply.If
so we want to avoid use is made of raw materials from abroad with the
cancellation of the environmental benefit, it is hoped that these
considerations together with other environmental and economic are placed
at the base of each decision-making that relates to the installation of
forest biomass.
In
the period considered, the production of energy has risen from 587 to
2,828 GWh (for an average annual increase of 17%), while the evolution
of its generation facilities fueled by solid biomass was characterized
by an increase in size: the size in 1999 average is 7.9 MW, 8.9 MW in 2009 to arrive.
The
estimates on the availability of woody biomass at the national level
varies in a range from 15 to 25 million tons of dry matter in relation
to the methodology adopted and sources of the initial data. The potential energy contribution is estimated to be 4 mtoe (million tons oil equivalent). In
fact, though there are numerous studies and researches in the field of
bio-energy forest, they are generally aimed at territorial limited
contexts. That lacks an overview of the geographic distribution of demand and supply of wood fuel.The statistics produced by the GSE S.p.A. note
that in the time period between 1999 and 2009, the number of plants
using solid biomass (mainly wood chips) is increased according to an
average annual rate of 7.8%. From 25 plants in 1999 to get up to 53 plants in Italy in 2009.Evolution of installed capacity and number of plants using solid biomassItaly from 1999 to 2009
The last decade has seen a marked turnaround, due to the increase in prices of oil and LPG, increased consumption by some specific sectors (eg food) and the availability of technologies that increase yields in domestic heating and allow the use of plant biomass in the medium-large highly automated and policy incentives implemented by the state and regions.
The
woody biomass for their localization in disadvantaged rural areas are a
resource that requires a close link between their use and development
policies of the marginal areas.In
Italy it is estimated that the potential availability of woody
material, whether in the form of raw material (the Italian forest area
is about 10 million hectares representing 35% of the country) that the
activity of forestry residues and wood processing , is very high and adequate to respond to decentralized energy needs with non-negative environmental impacts.Since
the advent of methane, the use of wood as the main form of energy for
heating has declined drastically and with it the development of an
industry that was estimated to be marginal because the firewood was
considered an obsolete product, to inelastic
demand with respect to income, then destined to be marginalized from
the market by the spread of other forms of energy. The
use of wood energy from forests has been neglected by the forest policy
also did not consider that the presence and development of a demand for
firewood could be a powerful stimulus to the development of
interventions to improve culture of many degraded forests ,
by, for example, start-up costs of coppice to altofusti, in addition to
supporting forest economy, especially in the Apennine areas and
foothills, was and remains fundamentally linked to forms of government
to coppice, and thus the production of small assortments.
The
term "biomass" is indicated mainly vegetable organic matter, both
spontaneous and cultivated by man, land and sea, produced by the
processes of photosynthesis with the help of the energy of solar
radiation, water and various nutrients.The most abundant types of biomass energy use may be due to the following categories:•
the forest biomass and wood industry, resulting from cutting operations
and maintenance of the forest, the work of the sawmills, the wood
product processing;• agricultural byproducts such as straw, stalks, vine shoots, pruning branches, etc..;• agro-industrial residues, consisting of husks, grape, hazelnut, rice husks, etc.. from the food industry (rice mills, distilleries, oil mills);•
energy crops toward the production of herbaceous or woody biomass for
direct use (combustion) or for the production of biofuels (short
rotation forestry, oil and sugar).• the organic fraction of municipal waste, from the collection from which biogas can be produced.The
potential energy contained in biomass can be released directly as heat
in the combustion process (using the traditional and dominant), or
concentrated in a variety of solid, liquid or gaseous fuels, such as to
make it easier to transport and end use through biochemical or thermochemical processes.The
solutions vary by type of plant biomass, technology used and the final
product (only electricity, combined with heat, only thermal energy). For
example, are proven technologies to the direct combustion of biomass in
suspension in special furnaces, the grid of fixed or mobile bed of
fluidized bed, gasification, pyrolysis and carbonization, which could
achieve intermediate solid fuels, liquid and gaseous biogas production
by fermentation anaerobic. Scheme of plant for the generation of electricity-powered solid biomassAlthough
the energy produced from renewable biomass is generally considered to
be due to the fact that the CO2 cycle is closed (the CO2 released during
combustion is equal to that fixed by photosynthesis during growth), in
reality the supply chain of any type of biomass requires
the consumption of fossil energy (embodied energy) is directly
proportional to the number of steps required for the preparation of the
product (growing, harvesting, processing, transport, etc..). In
general, taking into account the whole chain, with the energy obtained
from biomass may result in a savings of 50% to 80% CO2 compared to
fossil fuels.Assuming
that the development of renewable energy, lowering of CO2 emissions
perspective, it is essential that a goal should stretch the policies of
all nations, sectors and individual citizens with the adoption of
responsible behavior and a
major rethink on lifestyle, it is however considered that in addition
to the positive effects there are critical issues that must be carefully
evaluated and that any intervention that involves consumption of
environmental resources while renewable, requires a careful evaluation
of potential territorial.The
current role of energy from biomass in meeting the overall demand for
energy is an issue entered the political and economic debate by
investing environmental and social issues, as well as economic, such as
competition between biofuels and food production for the use of soil,
environmental sustainability in relation to biodiversity, deforestation
and emissions from the installation of large size plants for energy
production, speculation and distortion of international markets that are
likely to further weaken already fragile economies of third countries. You can then give rise to a truly sustainable only if a global and local level will be a balance between critical and drivers. The
production of heat or electricity and heat cogeneration systems for
decentralized small-medium sized and whose supply chain is linked to a
maximum radius of 50 km seems to be, at present, a viable way to
increase renewable energy production while minimizing environmental impacts and local resources.