Transcript The Biomass Dilemma

The Biomass Dilemma
Bill Moomaw
Renewable Energy’s Future in New England
Raab Associates 9.17.10
There are several critical issues
• Biomass electricity and heat is not carbon neutral, but what is it?
• What is the source of wood and other biomass for power
generation?
• What is the capacity of New England forests to sustainably produce
biofuels?
• What level of biomass energy production might be sustained, and
how does that compare with scale of projects being proposed?
• What are the implications of European imports of American wood
and wood pellets for biomass production on New England goals for
biomass production?
• Where should energy production rank among the forest ecosystem
services of New England forests?
Issue 1: Carbon Neutrality
• Recent science does not support the notion that
biomass is carbon neutral.
• This is a matter of accounting and of recognizing
the difference between stocks and flows
• Some comprehensive analyses suggest that
biomass for electric power generation may be
more carbon intensive than coal because
generation efficiencies are so low because of low
temperature and the need to evaporate water
from wet wood
Science of Carbon Neutrality
• Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error, Timothy D. Searchinger
et al Science, 326, pp 526-527 2009
• The accounting now used for assessing compliance with carbon
limits …. contains a far-reaching but fixable flaw that will severely
undermine greenhouse gas reduction goals.
• It does not count CO2 emitted from tailpipes and smokestacks
when bioenergy is being used, but it also does not count changes in
emissions from land use when biomass for energy is harvested or
grown.
• This accounting erroneously treats all bioenergy as carbon neutral
regardless of the source of the biomass, which may cause large
differences in net emissions. For example, the clearing of longestablished forests to burn wood or to grow energy crops is
counted as a 100% reduction in energy emissions despite causing
large releases of carbon.
Issue 2: What is source of fuel?
• The forest products industry successfully utilized
wood and other forest wastes to produce heat
and power starting in the 1970s so much of this
material is already in use
• The industry talks about waste lumber and forest
waste from thinnings and some foresters argue
that this would “improve forests for timber
production
• Information from many companies suggest that
they are really counting on whole tree harvesting
Issue 3: What is the Capacity of New
England Forests to Sustainably
Produce Biofuels?
• Because growth is slow in New England, there is a very
large carbon debt as the Manoment study points out that
takes many years to repay.
• The result is that at any given level of forest harvest, there
will be a remaining forest area to provide other forest
ecosystem services that is smaller than if harvesting is not
done.
• Foresters argue that management practices can increase
the yields of biomass production
• Not all agree
• There needs to be further study
Carbon recovery after one year
Forest regrowth with and without biomass
Issue 4: What is NE forest capacity
relative to scale of proposed projects?
• There are quite a few projects proposed for
New England as a whole, and many of these
biomass plants will draw from across borders
• Is it possible to match the sustainable
production of biomass to the scale of this
demand?
Issue 5: The Role of European Exports
• Wood pellets are already being exported to
Europe for co-firing in coal power plants
• Europe has very aggressive biomass plans in
its energy and climate programs
• Will market price alone dictate where the
biofuel will go?
• What are the implications for NE forests and
the regional biomass industry?
Issue 6: Where should biomass
production from forests rank among
forest ecosystem services?
• Forests supply a range of ecosystem services including
carbon storage, biodiversity, water quality and quantity
management, air quality, wood products and scientific,
recreational and spiritual values
• Massachusetts has adopted a program for managing
state forest lands based upon the sustainable delivery
of multiple ecosystem services
• Where should biomass production from forest lands
rank relative to these other services?