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What pollutes more: Burning logging scraps
on-site or hauling them to boilers?
Jones, Greg; Loeffler, Dan. 2008. What pollutes more: Burning logging scraps on-site or hauling them to boilers? In: Ritter, Sharon, ed. EcoReport. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project. p. 9, 14.
Publicity and debate about global climate change has fueled interest in the role forests and forest management activities play in carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. Our previous ECO-Report contained an article on greenhouse gas emissions released when woody biomass from forest residues are used for energy (see page 9 of 2007 ECO-Report at www.fs.fed.us/rm/ ecopartner/ecoreport.shtml). That article compared the overall emissions of: 1) transporting woody residues from forest treatments to burn in a boiler for heat energy (including emissions from collecting, chipping, and hauling) with 2) leaving those residues on-site and disposing of them by open pile burning and using fossil fuels (fuel oil or natural gas) instead of biomass in the boilers. For the Bitterroot Valley, the results showed that following the first option (rather than the second option) would reduce average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 50%, particulate matter emissions less than 10 microns in size (PM-10) by 75%, and methane emissions by 90%.
Keywords: BEMRP, Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project
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Publications: What pollutes more: Burning logging scraps on-site
or hauling them to boilers?
Electronic Publish Date: April 30, 2009
Last Update: April
30, 2009