“Forests Dominate Georgia’s Land Use”<\/blockquote>\n\n<\/a>\nThat’s the title of slide 10 of 21 in\n\nCenter of Innovation – Energy<\/a> (CIE)\nby Jill Stuckey, Director.\nActually, massively pesticided planted pines dominate south Georgia’s land use;\nnot the same as actual forests with species diversity and diverse ages of trees.\nThe same CIE slide equates\n
\nGeorgia Forestry = Biomass Energy\n<\/blockquote>\nThat is what the state government seems to want it to be.\n\nBack on slide 9, solar is defined as a southwestern regional energy\nsource; nevermind that the solar map on that page shows Georgia\nwith the same insolation as most of Texas (more on that later).\nAnd wind is defined as a central U.S. regional strength,\nnevermind that even Georgia Power has started exploring the\npossibility of wind off the Georgia coast.\n
\nI get it that Georgia has trees and forestry is a big industry in Georgia.\nI’m a tree farmer myself.\nI’d love to be convinced that biomass from trees is one good way to go.\nBut at what costs?\nAnd compared to what?\n\n\n
\nThe Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) has a study showing locations\nof various kinds of trees throughout the state.\nWhere’s the study relating that to potential biomass, wood pellet,\nand existing pulpwood and sawtimber plants?\nCIE slide 11 says\n
\nTwelve biomass to electricity projects have been announced in Georgia\n<\/blockquote>\nWhere are they?\nThere’s a table in slide 17, but it seems to list only 10 sites (not 12),\nnot including the proposed Wiregrass LLC Valdosta plant.\nOne of them has “Waste (Chicken)” listed for “Feedstock”.\nFor the others, the feedstock is listed as “Dirty Chips”, which is not\n\nwhat Oglethorpe Power says: they say they’ll burn whole trees.<\/a>\nLet’s see the real fuels.\n\nHow big are they?\nThe CIE table does list production megawatts per year, so that’s a start.\n
\nFrom how far around do they draw fuel (60 miles, 100 miles)?\nHow does that affect the available wood sources?\nHow do all the plants drawing on trees (sawmills, wood pellets, biomass, etc.)\naffect those wood sources?\n(CIE slide 17 lists two woood pellet plant, so that’s a start).\n
\nHow long will it take for that wood to regrow?\nLet’s not pretend that burning a tree that took 15 or 50 years to grow\nis carbon neutral unless we figure in the time it takes for a new tree\nto grow.\n
\nWhere’s the study showing all possible renewable energy sources for Georgia,\nincluding wind and solar?\nThe CIE slides do also list some ethanol and biodiesel projects; that’s good.\nHow does the land they use interact with the land used for trees for the\nbiomass plants?\n
\nWhere’s the study showing solar on housetops and business roofs,\nplus solar panel farms and mirror arrays?\n
\nWhere’s the study showing wind farms off the coast and small\nwindmills that can generate power during storms when solar doesn’t?\n
\nMore importantly, where is the south Georgia or Georgia energy strategy\nshowing all these current and potential sources of renewable energy,\nwith restrictions or indications on where they can be used\n(parks, waterways, urbanized areas, etc.), potential energy generated,\npotential effects on woodstocks, agriculture, environment, etc.\n
\nThis CIE is a good start.\n\n
<\/a>\nWhere’s the rest of a Georgia Renewable Energy strategy?\nSolar, wind, waves<\/a>, tides, etc.?\n