Burning wood for power generation can be worse for the climate than burning gas, even when the resulting carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored, new research has shown.
The findings cast doubt on plans by several governments, including the UK, to offer subsidies or other financial support for carbon capture attached to wood-burning power.
Yeah, I mean it’s not exactly magic. There are 23 working biomass power plants in California and wood pellets are a huge source of their fuel.
This is 10 years old…
https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/californias-biomass-debacle-part-3-12749
But the key point is this:
Excuse my ignorance, but would not letting the waste wood rot, or be burned also produce carbon emissions? This way we are capturing the energy in the process.
Not on nearly the same scale. If properly composted, about 40% of the carbon will be turned into gases by the creatures breaking it down (in the form of carbon dioxide) but most of it would go directly back into the soil. If disposed of improperly, like in a landfill, then yes, that number shoots way up (50-90%) as you start getting methane gas production in an anaerobic environment.
In any case, just to be clear, I was just giving some sample numbers on how wood is used to create electricity.
I’m not really giving a commentary on whether it is a good idea to do this or not. I’m not an expert tin the field and it is a heavily debated process. This study suggests it’s not good, but my gut feeling is that it’s still better than burning fossil fuels.
There is another big issue where sometimes the wood was being sourced from non-waste sources - like Canadian old growth forest being used to fuel power plants in England. That changes the equation entirely and I’m staunchly against it. Like, if they’re using sawdust from sawmills, yeah, we can talk. But reports were that whole logs were being used, and just fuck that. No fucking way!