Weatherman2020
Diamond Member
Envirowhackos are all about whoâs paying the money.
Hereâs a multibillion-dollar question that could help determine the fate of the global climate: If a tree falls in a forestâand then itâs driven to a mill, where itâs chopped and chipped and compressed into wood pellets, which are then driven to a port and shipped across the ocean to be burned for electricity in European power plantsâdoes it warm the planet?
Most scientists and environmentalists say yes: By definition, clear-cutting trees and combusting their carbon emits greenhouse gases that heat up the earth. But policymakers in the U.S. Congress and governments around the world have declared that no, burning wood for power isnât a climate threatâitâs actually a green climate solution. In Europe, âbiomass power,â as itâs technically called, is now counted and subsidized as zero-emissions renewable energy. As a result, European utilities now import tons of wood from U.S. forests every yearâand Europeâs supposedly eco-friendly economy now generates more energy from burning wood than from wind and solar combined.
www.politico.com
Hereâs a multibillion-dollar question that could help determine the fate of the global climate: If a tree falls in a forestâand then itâs driven to a mill, where itâs chopped and chipped and compressed into wood pellets, which are then driven to a port and shipped across the ocean to be burned for electricity in European power plantsâdoes it warm the planet?
Most scientists and environmentalists say yes: By definition, clear-cutting trees and combusting their carbon emits greenhouse gases that heat up the earth. But policymakers in the U.S. Congress and governments around the world have declared that no, burning wood for power isnât a climate threatâitâs actually a green climate solution. In Europe, âbiomass power,â as itâs technically called, is now counted and subsidized as zero-emissions renewable energy. As a result, European utilities now import tons of wood from U.S. forests every yearâand Europeâs supposedly eco-friendly economy now generates more energy from burning wood than from wind and solar combined.
The âGreen Energyâ That Might Be Ruining the Planet
The biomass industry is warming up the South's economy, but many experts worry it's doing the same to the climate. Will the Biden Administration embrace it, or cut it loose?