Many nations have embraced burning wood pellets to produce electricity — under the assumption that it is carbon neutral. But research shows this approach can boost greenhouse-gas emissions and threaten the health of local communities.
you’re missing the point a little though… if you plant a tree, let it grow, burn it, it has consumed the co2 that you release from burning it to grown the tree
so if you’re burning a tree, planting a new one, and letting it grow to the maturity of the original tree, that’s… similar-ish
the devil is in the detail because transport and a bunch of other concerns come into play, but it’s not as simple as just burning things because there’s a carbon capture step too
Totally agreed … IF you plant a tree, and let it grow, then pellitize and transport it in a green way, then burning it won’t release more hydrocarbons than it accumlated.
The key thing about this is that when you build a power plant which burns wood pellets, it takes a whole lot of mature forest, and converts it into CO2; you go from a whole bunch of mature trees to a mix of trees of varying ages. So something like half the carbon in the forest is in the atmosphere for as long as the power plant is in operation.
you’re missing the point a little though… if you plant a tree, let it grow, burn it, it has consumed the co2 that you release from burning it to grown the tree
so if you’re burning a tree, planting a new one, and letting it grow to the maturity of the original tree, that’s… similar-ish
the devil is in the detail because transport and a bunch of other concerns come into play, but it’s not as simple as just burning things because there’s a carbon capture step too
Totally agreed … IF you plant a tree, and let it grow, then pellitize and transport it in a green way, then burning it won’t release more hydrocarbons than it accumlated.
As I said downthread: