{"id":2689,"date":"2010-06-23T16:53:15","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T20:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/whole-trees-as-biomass.html"},"modified":"2010-06-23T16:53:15","modified_gmt":"2010-06-23T20:53:15","slug":"whole-trees-as-biomass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/whole-trees-as-biomass.html","title":{"rendered":"Whole trees as biomass?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\n\nPreviously<\/a> I promised to come back to the subject of whole trees.\nAllan Ricketts asserted in the VLCIA meeting with concerned citizens\non 10 June 2010\nthat the biomass plant Wiregrass LLC proposed for Valdosta will never\nburn whole trees because it would be economically unfeasible for it to do so.\nWhile I have no doubt that Col. Ricketts is acting on the best information\ngiven to him, there are reasons to be sceptical about what will happen\nin the future.\n\n\n
    \n
  1. \nThe document VLCIA supplied as their best reference on CO2<\/sub>\nand biomass,\n\nBiomass carbon neutrality in the context of forest-based fuels and products<\/a>,\nby Reid Miner, NCASI, Al Lucier, NCASI, appears to depend for its analysis\non harvesting whole trees for biomass.\n
  2. \nAt least one other proposed biomass operator in Georgia, Oglethorpe Power,\nasserts in a press release of May 7, 2009 regarding its purchase of land in Warren County, referring also to its site in Appling County and an alternative\nsite in Echols County:\n
    \nThe biomass plants will generate electricity by burning a woody biomass\nmixture expected to consist primarily of whole tree chips and chipped\npulpwood, along with wood waste from saw mills and wood remaining in\nthe forest after clearing.\n<\/blockquote>\nWhy is it economical for Oglethorpe Power to burn whole trees but not\nfor Wiregrass, LLC?\n
  3. \nMeanwhile, in North Carolina, several organizations are\n\npetitioning the NC state PUC:<\/a>\n
    \nNCFB and NCFA respectfully request that the Commission issue an Order\nfinding that wood fuel, including wood chips from whole ttreees, whqualifies\nas a “renewable energy resource under N.C. Gen. Stat….\n<\/blockquote>\n(More on that here.<\/a>)\nIf burning whole trees is so economically feasible in North Carolina\nthat the NC Farm Bureau Federation and North Carolina Forestry Association\nare petitioning the NC PUC to permit it, why isn’t it economically\nfeasible for Wiregrass LLC in south Georgia?\n<\/ol>\nNow burning whole trees in itself isn’t in my mind a lot different from\nusing them for pulpwood.\n(Although both of those uses have other issues,\nwhich I’ll come to in later posts.)\nThat’s not the point.\nThe point is that it’s a little hard to believe that it’s not economical\nfor Wiregrass LLC to burn whole trees as biomass for electricity\nwhen a variety of other organizations think it is economically feasible\nand are basing business plans and PUC petitions on it being profitable.\n

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