Millions of trees
are shipped from
around the world
to Europe ...
to be burned as
“green coal”.
They buy
wood pellets
made from
cut down trees,
and burn them
in power plants
for electricity.
Sometimes with
old car tires and/or
chemical soaked
old wood railroad ties.
Climate organizations,
such as 350.org,
have given their
blessing to this type
of power generation.
The controversial
film Planet of
the Humans,
by Michael Moore,
denounces
burning wood
( aka biomass ).
Burning trees
converts those
CO2 sinks
instantly
into lots of
atmospheric
CO2 emissions.
A tree that takes
30 to 100 years
to become
fully grown,
and is then
burned in minutes,
is worse than coal
for CO2 emissions.
A German coal plant
is to be converted
to burn trees !
The online daily
Weserkurier reports
on a coal-fired power
station in Wilhelmshaven
(North Germany) to be
converted to burn wood.
Hundreds of scientists
are warning against
burning wood, as a
'climate killer'.
But German
politicians
want to convert
coal-fired power
plants to "green
coal".
They call
wood pellets
"green coal" !
How can wood be
'green' if it emits
more CO2 than
black coal ?
Wood in houses
and other buildings
does lock up CO2
for a long time.
But not burning wood !
Wood chip debris
from cutting trees
into lumber for
construction
can be used
to make many
engineered wood
products, such as
oriented strand
board (OSB).
Using real wood veneers,
covering engineered wood,
makes construction pieces
that can be very beautiful.
The Netherlands
government
has subsidy
contracts to pay
11 billion EUR
in subsidies
for power plants
to burn wood
( instead of coal ).
But a debate
is heating up
about whether
the country
should burn
imported trees
(wood pellets
from the US,
Canada and
Baltic states)
to reach its
CO2 target.
The UK government
has committed £13 billion
to support wood-burning
power stations.
Drax in North Yorkshire
is one of the two large
biomass power plants
that were converted
from coal.
Biomass power plants,
which burn wood,
receive direct subsidies
of more than £1 billion
a year, according to
an analysis published
by Ember, a climate-change
think tank.
Next year the three
large "biomass" plants
operating in Britain
will also benefit from
an annual carbon tax
break forecast at
about £333 million.
The growth of new forest
should eventually absorb
as much carbon
as was emitted.
That would take
30 to 100 years !
it takes at least
30 years for a
tree to fully grow,
and 30 minutes
to burn it.
How can that
be honestly called
"sustainable" ?
There are always
CO2 emissions
whether you release
CO2 sequestered
by trees 30 to 100
years ago, when
you burn "biomass"
... or CO2 that was
sequestered by trees
300 million years ago,
when you burn coal.
The issue is simply
how much CO2
is being released
when burning
the fuel in 2020.
Wood has
a lower calorific
value than coal,
so you need
far more wood
to produce
each unit
of electricity.
Burning wood
from trees
will release
far more CO2
than does
burning coal,
to create the
same amount
of heat.