Use wood and other biomass for energy? 'It could go either way,' enviro group's top scientist says

Last week we reported about financial concerns holding back the burning of wood and other biomass to generate electricity. Environmental groups are also rallying against the idea, saying it's not as "green" as other alternative energy sources. Advocates say using biomass will help reduce greenhouse gases, but some say the rush to use wood to qualify for government incentives may reduce the benefit, Martin Kaste of National Public Radio reports. "I think it could go either way," Steve Hamburg, a forest ecologist and chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, told Kaste.

"Hamburg has done the 'carbon math' for biomass energy, and he says these plants may reduce greenhouse gases—but only if the fuel really is waste wood, harvested in a sustainable way," Kaste writes. Hamburg argues that if too many new biomass plants start competing for waste wood, they may end up burning wood that would otherwise be used for construction or paper, which would definitely result in a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Even if the biomass is harvested responsibly, Hamburg says the climate benefit would be delayed because it would take years for new trees to grow and absorb the greenhouse gases emitted by biomass facilities. "I am confident that these kinds of plants over the next 200 years will create a net reduction [in greenhouse gases]," Hamburg told Kaste. "But we really care about what happens in the next 20 years and certainly in the next 50 years." (Read more)