> >>First major grass-burning power station planned
> for Britain this year
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>1 hour, 26 minutes ago
> >>Work will start this year on Britain's first major
> power station fuelled 
> >>by grass, as Prime Minister Tony Blair tries to
> make his country more 
> >>environmentally friendly.
> >>The 6.5-million-pound (12-million-dollar,
> 9.4-million-euro) bio-energy 
> >>power station in Staffordshire, central England,
> would be run on elephant 
> >>grass and supply 2,000 homes with electricity, the
> Guardian daily said Monday.
> >>Amanda Gray, director of Eccleshall Biomass, the
> company behind the 
> >>project, said the power station was vital to the
> rural industry in 
> >>Staffordshire, and gave the government a further
> tool to meet its 
> >>international obligations to reduce carbon dioxide
> emissions.
> >>Burning elephant grass would only release the
> carbon dioxide that the 
> >>plants soaked up anyway while they were growing,
> she told the broadsheet.
> >>The Guardian said the plant could be a key element
> in the quest to tackle 
> >>climate change -- one of Blair's priorities this
> year as Britain holds 
> >>the presidency of the Group of Eight powers and
> prepares to take on that 
> >>of the European Union from July 1.
> >>Britain generates three percent of the world's
> greenhouse gas emissions 
> >>despite only comprising one percent of its
> population, according to the 
> >>left-leaning newspaper.
> >>Power stations were a prominent culprit, pumping
> out around one third of 
> >>the country's carbon dioxide quota, it said,
> noting that the government 
> >>hoped to reduce Britain's carbon emissions by 60
> percent by 2050.
> >>Regional development agency Advantage West
> Midlands (AWM) has approved a 
> >>grant to Eccleshall Biomass to help fund the
> plant's construction, which 
> >>will begin later this year.
> >>"It is the first major electricity plant of its
> kind in the country and 
> >>we're very proud to have it here in our region and
> to be involved in 
> >>making it possible," said an AWM spokesman.
> >>
> >>The plant will operate for 8,000 hours a year on a
> 24-hour basis and save 
> >>one tonne per hour of carbon dioxide, which would
> otherwise have been 
> >>emitted using fossil fuels to generate
> electricity.
> >>About 170 local farmers are diversifying into
> growing the grass crop to 
> >>feed the steam-turbine generator.
> >>Copyright © 2005 
> 

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