Mass. study: Wood power worse polluter than coal
By
Steve LeBlanc
Associated Press
June 10, 2010
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BOSTON — A new study has found that wood-burning
power plants using trees and other "biomass" from New England forests
releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than coal over time.
The
six-month study, commissioned by Massachusetts state environmental
officials, found biomass-fired electricity would result in a 3 percent
increase in carbon emissions compared to coal-fired electricity by 2050.
Coal is
considered one of the chief culprits of greenhouse gas emissions.
The
report, conducted by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences,
concludes that the net cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases from
replacing coal-fired plants with biomass would be 3 percent greater by
2050 than from using coal to generate electricity.
Researchers
arrived at the figure by comparing how much carbon is emitted into the
atmosphere through the burning of wood — what they termed "carbon debt" —
with the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere from the regrowth
of forests, or "carbon dividends."
The report found that
harvesting trees for biomass facilities could have "significant
localized impacts on the landscape, including aesthetic impacts of
locally heavy harvesting as well as potential impacts on recreation and
tourism."
The study has broad policy implications for states
like Massachusetts. And environmental groups called the study "a wake up
call."
"The sobering conclusion is that Massachusetts
cannot produce very much new energy from forest resources while also
protecting the health of our forests and reducing greenhouse gas
emissions," said Sue Reid, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law
Foundation.
Biomass has long been part of the state's portfolio
of renewable energy sources, along with solar, wind and geothermal
energy. The Patrick administration has already invested $1 million to
jump-start four proposed wood-burning plants in Russell, Greenfield,
Springfield and Pittsfield, as it tries to reach the state-mandated goal
of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Massachusetts
Environmental Secretary Ian Bowles said Thursday the state is now
rethinking that policy, including taxpayer incentives for wood-burning
plants.
"Now that we know that electricity from biomass
harvested from New England forests is not 'carbon neutral' in a
timeframe that makes sense given our legal mandate to cut greenhouse gas
emissions, we need to re-evaluate our incentives for biomass," he said
in a statement accompanying the report.
Biomass plant owners have long
argued that it's unfair to lump wood-burning plants in with coal
plants. They say that every megawatt of power produced by wood-burning
plants replaces a megawatt from a coal plant. But unlike coal, they
argue, trees left standing can absorb the carbon dioxide released when
wood is burned.
And trees cut down for fuel can be replanted. If
done in a sustainable way, they say, the annual growth in trees
replanted or left standing will be enough to recapture the carbon being
released.
Matthew Wolfe, an executive with Cambridge-based
Madera Energy Inc., which is developing the Greenfield plant, said the
report ignores the fact that much of the fuel used by biomass plants is
waste wood.
"By eliminating biomass as an energy option, you are
by default promoting further use of fossil fuels," he said.
The report
makes a series of recommendations, including forcing biomass facilities
to detail where they get their supply of wood and requiring them to
purchase wood from forests with approved forest management plans.
The
report also recommends additional environmental protections at locations
where trees are being cut down for biomass plants, including "requiring
enough coarse woody debris is left on the ground, particularly at
nutrient poor sites, to ensure continued soil productivity, as well as
sufficient standing dead wildlife trees remain to promote biodiversity."
Bowles
commissioned the study after environmental activists warned biomass
power plants could add to global warming. Activists are also pushing a
Massachusetts ballot question to severely restrict the amount of carbon
dioxide the power plants can emit.
Massachusetts is planning a
series of hearings on the report beginning in July.
___
Online:
Executive
Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: http://www.mass.gov/eoeea
