Fields of swaying giant grass and patchwork patterns of willow plantations could become common sights in Britain as the country turns to crops for heating and electricity to tackle the effects of global warming.

"The main difference is the height (compared with conventional crops)," said Angela Karp, deputy head of the plant and invertebrate ecology division at Rothamsted Research Centre.

"People are used to looking at certain landscapes, such as fields of cereals, and this will change," she said.

The impact on the English landscape which has an almost mythical status in the nation's literature and psyche could be similar to the change after rapeseed acreage expanded in the 1970s and 1980s, covering the countryside with fields full of distinctive bright yellow flowers.

The use of crops to generate electricity is touted by some experts as one of the best ways to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, blamed by many scientists for global warming.

Biomass products from forestry, energy crops and a variety of other materials which might otherwise be treated as waste generates about 1 per cent of Britain's electricity and provides a similar proportion of heat generation.

Miscanthus, or elephant grass, and short rotation coppice willow, are already helping fire up power stations, heat schools, hospitals and factories.

Karp said research is being carried out on how best to blend energy crops into the landscape, noting in some areas they could eventually account for 10 per cent of agricultural land.

In late April, the government announced measures to promote biomass as it seeks to rapidly expand the proportion of Britain's energy needs derived from renewable resources.

"We are going to need everything we can lay our hands on if we are going to reduce our carbon footprint in the world," said Ben Gill, a former president of the National Farmers' Union who leads the British government's Biomass Task Force.

'Watch the money grow'

Britain is seeking to produce 10 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources such as biomass by 2010 and to double that proportion by 2020.

A government-commissioned task force last year said biomass could reduce Britain's carbon emissions by almost 3 million tons a year if used for heating the equivalent of taking 3.25 million cars off the road, according to the government.

Miscanthus is a woody grass which originated in Asia and has very high growth rates. It can reach about 3.5 metres in height and can be harvested each year.

Short rotation coppice (SRC) are densely planted varieties of either poplar or most commonly willow. They grow to about 4 metres and are normally harvested every 3 years.

"Short rotation coppice could rise 5 to 10 times from the current area of 3,000 to 5,000 hectares by 2010," said biomass trader Willie McGhee of fuel company Greenergy.

Greenergy said in May it had started taking deliveries of SRC willow wood chips for a 30 megawatt biomass power station in northeast England, expected to come online next year.

One megawatt is roughly enough power for 1,000 homes.

As well as providing cleaner electricity, biomass crops require less care and maintenance, giving farmers the chance to either semi-retire to spend time on other ventures.

"You just stare out of the window and watch the money growing," Greenergy trader McGhee said.

Source:China Daily