Discursive shifts in energy from biomass: A 30 year European overview

This study aims to provide a long term overview of developments in energy from biomass in Western Europe by analyzing the discourse in RD&D and related policy. To this end, the discourse in Western Europe between 1980 and 2010 has been studied by the literature study of open literature and articles of the European Biomass Conference. In addition, a quantitative content analysis of titles of the conference has been performed. This shows the dynamics with respect to considered feedstock, conversion technology, application as well as supporting arguments for this – a dynamics that will not show in a technology or country oriented study. We distinguish four different discourses based on differentiation to scale and knowledge intensity – but that also relates to feedstock and conversion technology. This way, the complex developments can be structured and understood as shift between and within discourses. This is especially relevant as each discourse involves a different policy arena and different actors. With a still growing interest in energy from biomass, the multiple discourses seem to keep co-existing. Emphasis continues to be given to large scale and knowledge intensive processes, which will further increase the importance of the supra-national level for future developments.