"Paris objectives only attainable with bioenergy"

"Between 2005 and 2012, the share of green electricity in Austria doubled. However, hardly any growth has been observed since then", university professor Hermann Hofbauer from the Technical University of Vienna lamented at the 5th International Biomass Conference in Graz. A possible explanation for this is that the heavily subsidized cogeneration plants and wind farms nowadays are not met with feed-in tariffs that enable an economical operation any more, according to Hofbauer.

Still, the path of the energy revolution has to be followed with determination since renewable energies play a pivotal role in achieving the objectives drafted at the climate conference in Paris, Günter Liebel, head of the division for environment and climate protection at the BMLFUW, the Austiran Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, emphasizes. "The Paris objectives can only be realized with bioenergy", he pointed out.

Funds that are available for bioenergy research do not suffice, and competition concerning those funds has reached "obscene proportions", as Walter Haslinger, managing director of research institute Bioenergy 2020+. Only one of seven submitted bioenergy projects is currently subsidized. This is a devastating signal, the expert emphasized.