An interesting commentary in the Forest Products Journal gives us new perspectives on woody biomass use.
Joshua VanBrackle is a wood products utilisation and marketing specialist for the Watershed Agricultural Council in New York. His comments in the June 2011 Journal of Forestry were titled “Manomet: Time to Turn Up the Heat on Woody Biomass”. His comments were based on a study carried out by the Mamomet Center for Conservation Sciences (2010) for the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
His comments discuss the findings that biomass is not favourable compared to coal for electricity production. He notes that biomass releases more carbon dioxide per Btu (a unit of energy equal to about 1,055 joules) than coal, and depending on site productivity, it can take up to 90 years for forest regrowth to make up the carbon debt. Questions are also raised over the quantities available to supply even one power plant.
However, it does not all seems like doom and gloom. VanBrackle indicates that biomass used for heat production, or combined heat and power (CHP) compare favourably to fossil fuels. The study showed that when biomass is used for CHP, the carbon debt could be as short as five years. Many smaller heating plants could be sustained that use biomass. VanBranckle concludes that biomass is inefficient to supply large electricity plants, but is renewable, sustainable and carbon friendly for heating and CHP.
Please access the Journal of Forestry for a more complete account of the article. Source: http://saf.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/saf/jof/2011/00000109/00000004;jsessionid=14l03ak6feoet.victoria