Last week, the Millbrook-based Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies issued a report about the forests of the northeast United States and whether they could ever replace fossil fuels as our main source of energy.
According to a press release issued along with the report, the outcome of trees vs. fuels doesn't look so good for the trees:
Under best-case scenarios, however, the energy generated sustainably from forest biomass in the Northeast could replace only 1.4% of the region’s total fossil fuel energy.
The Times-Union ran an article about the report that quoted one of its co-authors, Charles D. Canham about how easily our appetite for energy could destroy our forests:
"There is a misconception that Northeastern forestland is a vast, untapped resource," he said. "This is simply not true. Unrealistic growth in biomass energy facilities could lead to serious degradation of forest resources. While forest biomass is part of the renewable energy toolkit, it is by no means a panacea."
Still, using wood for certain energy purposes, such as heating commercial buildings, might help reduce carbon emissions enough to make it a good strategy, the report says. This is especially true in places that have a lot of trees, such as Delaware County, which turns out to be the most tree-filled county in the state, according to the article:
New Yorkers might naturally think of the Adirondacks as the largest source of trees. But the Cary study identified Delaware County as the county with the largest amount of available biomass at 32.8 million tons, about two million tons more than St. Lawrence County in the Adirondacks, which ranked second.
Photo of playground woodchips by Flickr user another sergio.
