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Wood as a source of energy goes way beyond campfires. It's the largest source of energy currently derived from solid fuel biomass, which is a growing category of naturally-occurring alternatives to fossil fuels. It burns cleaner than fossil fuels (in terms of CO2 but also doesn't emit mercury) or even wood made from corn, and wood can be compressed into pellets to burn in super-efficient pellet stoves.
Plus, wood naturally emits methane when it decomposes, but it doesn't when it is burned--so if scraps and residues from logging and processing are used as a source of biofuel, it not only leaves less of a carbon footprint than fossil fuels, but eliminates a potential methane footprint as well.
Of course, forests shouldn't start being clear-cut to produce wood for fuel--but wood production isn't the main cause of deforestation anyway (blame conversion to agricultural land for that), but a great thing about wood fuel is that it can be made from recycled wood waste. In fact earlier this year, a city in Alabama launched the nation's first program for collecting municipal wood waste and converting it, through bio-mass gasification, into ethanol for use as an automative biofuel. Under the program, tree limbs from curbside collection will be broken down by heat and pressure into raw materials, which will then be combined to produce ethanol. The company behind the operation said it could soon be producing 45 million gallons of the fuel annually.
So, what powers your car? With all these alternatives, do you think it's time to change?
Don't miss the Planet Mechanics episode where wood fuel gets the duo across London.
Related Posts:
Alternative Fuels for COOLFUEL: Some You Know, And Some You Don't
Tropical Deforestation Brings Economic Boom, Followed by Human & Ecological Bust
What the Heck Are Carbon Emissions, Anyway?
Coal's Other Major Pollutant: Mercury
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