Committee on Climate Change

Angela is also Deputy Head of the Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division at Rothamsted Research. She is a geneticist by training. Her research focuses on optimising the sustainable yield and composition of perennial biomass crops (especially willows) for bioenergy and biofuel production. She currently leads the Perennial Bioenergy Crops Programme (BSBEC-BioMASS), which is one of six research hubs making up the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre. In 2007, Dr Karp received the Royal Agricultural Society of England Research Medal for her work on bioenergy crops and in 2008 was awarded the Alfred-Toepfer prize for Agriculture, Forestry and Nature Protection for her research achievements in willow.
 

Q1/ How did you come to work on bioenergy crops?
When I was relocated from Rothamsted to Long Ashton Research Station in 1990 I was shown the National Willow Collection. Being a geneticist, the huge diversity of willows impressed me and the development of this crop as a renewable source of fuel to help mitigate climate change seemed to me an important endeavour.

Q2/ What is the aim of the perennial bioenergy crops programme?
To optimise biomass production from Miscanthus and willow (both commercially grown in the Europe, as well as worldwide), whilst maximising energy savings and minimising GHG emissions by:

1. Optimising biomass yield- investigating ways of capturing more energy by extending the growing season and improving architecture, and also by changing how carbon is partitioned into different parts of the plant. 
2. Optimising the biomass composition- assessing how biomass composition varies naturally in Miscanthus and willow and how this affects the processibility of the biomass, and also identifying genes that affect cell wall composition. 

Q3/ How can sustainable bioenergy crops help mitigate climate change and improve future energy security?
The carbon stored in the cell walls of plant stems following seasonal growth can be used as renewable source of heat/electricity (bioenergy) or transport fuels (biofuels).  Willows and Miscanthus grow very quickly and, unlike other bioenergy crops like wheat (UK) or maize (USA), require little nitrogen fertiliser or agrochemicals and they sequester carbon in soils.  Consequently, bioenergy from willow and Miscanthus is associated with high energy savings and GHG reductions. They can also grow on marginal land which is not viable for food crops.


Q4/ What is the potential for growing sustainable bioenergy crops in the UK?
We focus on willows and Miscanthus which are both suitable for the UK climate but different in their optimal geographic requirements. Unlike willow, Miscanthus is non-native and although less temperature sensitive than maize it generally does not yield well in cooler or wetter regions where willows can do well. We have been involved in suitability mapping to identify areas in the UK where biomass crops could be grown without competing significantly with food or encroaching on areas delivering special biodiversity or cultural services. This showed that up to 3 million hectares could be used for biomass crops in the UK.


Q5/ What challenges do bioenergy crops face?
We need to improve the efficiency, economics, logistics and sustainability of the whole chain for bioenergy and biofuels to work at large scales. For biofuels there is the specific challenge that the sugars are locked up in the cell walls and cost-effective processes of breaking the cell walls down are required. In addition to improving yields and composition to improve supply we are investigating ways of increasing the value of biomass through additional products.  Perennial biomass crops require an initial investment of two-four years before any economic return. Farmers are unlikely to take them up in an unstable political environment. 


Q6/ How does/do you see your research influencing Government policy?
We have been invited to contribute to strategy documents, working parties and other discussion groups. The Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) project biodiversity study contributed to revisions of the Energy Crops Scheme and to new policy development by Natural England and Defra. The National Farmers’ Union used our results as evidence for including willow in the Campaign for the Farmed Environment.  The Geographical Information System (GIS) suitability mapping was used by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the National Centre for Biorenewable Energy, Fuels and Materials, Natural England, East Midlands Regional Assembly, Thames Gateway Sustainable Development Team, Rural Development Initiatives Ltd. and the Devon Wildlife Trust.