Biomass is a term for living or recently living plant or animal materials such as solid wood, bark, leaves, roots, seeds, and stalks, even microbial and animal metabolic wastes. In the context of energy, the term “biomass” refers to such …
What is woody biomass?
Considered as a resource, woody biomass is most often identified with energy production, mulch, or soil amendments. Specific sources of woody biomass include: otherwise non-merchantable trees, logging residues in the form of tree tops and branches, wildfire fuel-reduction thinnings, salvage …
What are the differences between biofuels, biopower, and bioproducts?
These terms refer to three generally different end uses of biomass based products. “Biofuel” is short for “biomass fuel,” a term used for liquid fuels produced from biomass (generally transportation fuels), such as ethanol, bio-oil, and biodiesel. “Biopower” refers to …
Why is there such an emphasis on power production from biomass?
Woody biomass is an abundant and readily available resource that historically has not been used much except by forest products manufacturers as an internal energy source at their facilities, although many such manufacturers have also been able to produce excess …
How can the use of woody biomass serve as a climate change solution?
The principal greenhouse gas thought to be responsible for climate change is carbon dioxide. Carbon is found in all organic matter (fossilized or not) and when this matter is combusted or broken down naturally, carbon dioxide is released into the …
Are there risks to the environment associated with harvesting woody biomass?
There are always some risks associated with forest harvesting. Collection of woody biomass from the forest, especially clearcuts, represents high rates of utilization. Questions have been raised regarding maintenance of long-term site productivity due to the removal of nutrients found …
What is logging slash?
Generally, slash refers to any material left on the ground after trees have been cut. Slash is usually the limbs and the tops of trees. Technically, logs waiting to be transported to another location are considered as slash when taking …
Will harvesting woody biomass improve or reduce forest health?
It depends. Harvesting woody biomass provides opportunities to improve forest health by removing diseased, damaged, off-site species and otherwise cull trees that utilize space and resources. Removal of these trees results in better access to site resources for the healthier, …
Is burning wood carbon-neutral?
Burning wood is considered carbon-neutral because it does not increase the amount of carbon dioxide (a regularly occurring molecule but also a greenhouse gas) cycling through the atmosphere. Carbon is continually cycling through all living plants and animals. Tree growth …
Do managed plantations result in monocultures that reduce biodiversity?
Some forest ecosystems exist naturally in monoculture stands. For example, yellow pine species in the southeastern US have existed in pure monoculture stands for centuries because they are the first species to repopulate a site after a disturbance (hurricane, fire, …