Skip to main content
Sustainable Living

Return to Question

Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackSustain/status/459310184675164162
deleted 3 characters in body; edited title
Source Link
Earthliŋ
Earthliŋ
  • 6k
  • 2
  • 32
  • 51

How much wood can I burn sustainiblysustainably, carbon neutral and in an ecologicalecologically responsible way from a forest?

While wood can - in theory - be a carbon neutral fuel, in practice burning wood creates a huge carbon debt and it may take a long time for all the carbon released by logging, soil degradation and so on to be reabsorbed. Additionally, one has to take into account how fast the wood will regrow (though the absolute regrowth will probably be faster than forming of new soil etc. for any given forest) and habitat destruction.

My question is, say I have a healthy forest of x size (I don't) in a temperate climate zone, how much wood can I log and burn so that ...

  • I don't release $CO_2$CO₂ faster than my forest can reabsorb it
  • I don't burn wood faster than it regrows
  • The carrying capacity of my forest for the various animals and so on stays roughly constant, there's no long term decline in habitats.

The background of the question is the following: Biomass is sometimes heralded as a green energy source, a claim that is highly dubious given the prevalent industry practices. So I wonder: How much energy could we actually gain from biomass from a given forest size if it was actually green?

How much wood can I burn sustainibly, carbon neutral and in an ecological responsible way from a forest?

While wood can - in theory - be a carbon neutral fuel, in practice burning wood creates a huge carbon debt and it may take a long time for all the carbon released by logging, soil degradation and so on to be reabsorbed. Additionally, one has to take into account how fast the wood will regrow (though the absolute regrowth will probably be faster than forming of new soil etc. for any given forest) and habitat destruction.

My question is, say I have a healthy forest of x size (I don't) in a temperate climate zone, how much wood can I log and burn so that ...

  • I don't release $CO_2$ faster than my forest can reabsorb it
  • I don't burn wood faster than it regrows
  • The carrying capacity of my forest for the various animals and so on stays roughly constant, there's no long term decline in habitats.

The background of the question is the following: Biomass is sometimes heralded as a green energy source, a claim that is highly dubious given the prevalent industry practices. So I wonder: How much energy could we actually gain from biomass from a given forest size if it was actually green?

How much wood can I burn sustainably, carbon neutral and in an ecologically responsible way from a forest?

While wood can - in theory - be a carbon neutral fuel, in practice burning wood creates a huge carbon debt and it may take a long time for all the carbon released by logging, soil degradation and so on to be reabsorbed. Additionally, one has to take into account how fast the wood will regrow (though the absolute regrowth will probably be faster than forming of new soil etc. for any given forest) and habitat destruction.

My question is, say I have a healthy forest of x size (I don't) in a temperate climate zone, how much wood can I log and burn so that ...

  • I don't release CO₂ faster than my forest can reabsorb it
  • I don't burn wood faster than it regrows
  • The carrying capacity of my forest for the various animals and so on stays roughly constant, there's no long term decline in habitats.

The background of the question is the following: Biomass is sometimes heralded as a green energy source, a claim that is highly dubious given the prevalent industry practices. So I wonder: How much energy could we actually gain from biomass from a given forest size if it was actually green?

Source Link
mart
mart
  • 2.8k
  • 15
  • 24

How much wood can I burn sustainibly, carbon neutral and in an ecological responsible way from a forest?

While wood can - in theory - be a carbon neutral fuel, in practice burning wood creates a huge carbon debt and it may take a long time for all the carbon released by logging, soil degradation and so on to be reabsorbed. Additionally, one has to take into account how fast the wood will regrow (though the absolute regrowth will probably be faster than forming of new soil etc. for any given forest) and habitat destruction.

My question is, say I have a healthy forest of x size (I don't) in a temperate climate zone, how much wood can I log and burn so that ...

  • I don't release $CO_2$ faster than my forest can reabsorb it
  • I don't burn wood faster than it regrows
  • The carrying capacity of my forest for the various animals and so on stays roughly constant, there's no long term decline in habitats.

The background of the question is the following: Biomass is sometimes heralded as a green energy source, a claim that is highly dubious given the prevalent industry practices. So I wonder: How much energy could we actually gain from biomass from a given forest size if it was actually green?