Transcript The Endangered Species Act Section 4 Listing Process

Is Biomass Burning
Worse than Coal?
Kevin Bundy & Brian Nowicki
Center for Biological Diversity
www.biologicaldiversity.org
[email protected]
[email protected]
A: “It depends.”
• What exactly is “biomass”?
• Why do some people think burning
biomass is “carbon neutral”?
• What are the policy implications?
• What does the science say?
• How is this all playing out in the real
world?
What is biomass?
Major Uses of Biomass
So why do people think biomass
has no effect on the climate?
The “Natural Carbon Cycle” Theory
NASA Earth Observatory
Problems with
“Natural Carbon Cycle” Theory
• Immediate emissions to atmosphere that
may persist for centuries
• Reduced carbon stocks
• Reduced sequestration capacity
• “Carbon Debt” period: how long it takes for
new growth to resequester emissions
• Questions:
- what’s the “baseline”?
- what about “anyway” emissions?
The “Inventory” Theory
• Derived from IPCC accounting convention
• Biogenic emissions accounted in land use sector, not
energy sector:
“Note that CO2 emissions from biomass fuels are not
included in the national total but are reported as an
information item. Net emissions or removals of CO2 are
estimated in the [Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land
Use] sector and take account of these emissions.”
--2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories
IPCC Guidance Misinterpreted
"The combustion of biomass and biomass-based fuels
also emits greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide emissions
from these activities, however, are not included in
national emissions totals because biomass fuels are of
biogenic origin. It is assumed that the C released
during the consumption of biomass is recycled as U.S.
forests and crops regenerate, causing no net addition
of CO2 to the atmosphere."
--US EPA, US GHG Inventory 1990-2007, page 3-1 (energy chapter).
Problems with “Inventory” Theory
“If more trees are growing than we’re
cutting, it has to be carbon neutral,
right?”
Not necessarily:
- no domestic regulation of forest emissions
- international demand leakage
- regrowth from prior deforestation
Global Forest Loss
World Resources Institute, State of the World’s Forests (2009)
Policy Repercussions
• US:
- subsidies, tax breaks and cash grants
- regulatory exemptions
(e.g., EPA’s “deferral” of biomass CO2
regulation under Clean Air Act)
• States:
- renewable portfolio standards
- regulatory exemptions (AB 32)
California cap-and-trade rule § 95852.2. Emissions without a Compliance Obligation.
Emissions from the following source categories… count toward applicable reporting
thresholds but do not count toward a covered entity’s compliance obligation set forth in this
regulation. These source categories include:
(a) Combustion emissions from biomass-derived fuels (except biogas from digesters) from the
following sources:
(1) Solid waste materials;
(2) Waste pallets, crates, dunnage, manufacturing and construction wood wastes, tree
trimmings, mill residues, and range land maintenance residues;
(3) All agricultural crops or waste; or
(4) Wood and wood wastes identified to follow all of the following practices;
(A) Harvested pursuant to approved timber management plan prepared in accordance
with the Z’berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 or other locally or nationally approved
plan;
(B) Harvested for the purpose of forest fire fuel reduction or forest stand improvement;
and
(C) Do not transport or cause the transport of species known to harbor insect or disease
nests outside zones of infestation or quarantine zones identified by the department of
Food and Agriculture of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, unless approved
by these agencies.
What Does the Science Say?
• CO2 is CO2: atmosphere can’t tell
• Biomass produces more CO2 per unit of
energy than fossil fuels
• Time scale matters:
- What “carbon debt” periods make sense,
given that global emissions must peak by
2020 at the latest and decline sharply
thereafter?
Pathways to 2 Degrees C
UN Environment Programme, The Emissions Gap Report (2010)
Other Factors
• Feedstocks matter:
- whole trees incur longer “debt” periods
- harvest intensity affects “debt”
- “waste”: how to define it?
• Fossil fuel displaced matters:
- longer “debt” periods for natural gas
- what’s really being displaced?
→ Life cycle + forest carbon analysis
So Is Biomass Worse than Coal?
• Manomet (2010):
- Biomass: more CO2 per unit of energy
- Carbon debt relative to fossil fuels takes
decades to repay
- Debt period varies with harvest intensity
• McKechnie (2011):
- Burning pellets from standing trees instead of
coal increases emissions for 38 years
- Ethanol from standing trees does not pay back
carbon debt within 100-year period
Northern Michigan “Woodsheds”
Forest Fuels Reduction
Miller et al (2006)
US Forest Service
“Green grows the biomass, soft falls the dew
Glad was the climate when I logged you
And in the next century I hope you'll prove true
To be carbon neutral and sustainable, too.”
--Traditional
Questions/Discussion?