Hey t,
Berlin, NH -33 degrees air temperature and no loss of electricity. They are part of the New England Power Grid and receive most of their power from Biofuel and Hydro. What use to be a large wood operation for the largest papermill in the US is now a wood burning source of electricity.
If you want to see the pictures go to the Berlin, NH Historical Society web site.
OTFoolish
and a lung problem for miles around I can always tell when I get close to that area.
and a lung problem for miles around I can always tell when I get close to that area.
Probably the pine tree pollen as that area if surrounded by a dense pine forest for miles around. The biopower plant has an exhaust scrubber which removes particular matter from air exiting the smokestacks. The plant also meets all EPA Air Quality standards as the conversion to electric generation is rather new.
OTFoolish
The biopower plant has an exhaust scrubber which removes particular matter from air exiting the smokestacks.
Hydro and wind power doesnât have smokestacks.
The Germans have been cutting and burning their forests as well as importing wood to burn for power.
Anymouse
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/europâŚ
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Europe burns a controversial ârenewableâ energy source: trees from the U.S.
As world leaders pledge more action on climate change, one so-called solutionâburning trees for electricityâcould undermine progress.
https://globalforestcoalition.org/plans-for-burning-namibianâŚ
Plans for burning Namibian wood in German power plants denounced
https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/wood-âŚ
Wood from German forests as climate-neutral fuel?
By Ama Lorenz | EURACTIV Germany | translated by Alexandra Brzozowski Jan 30, 2018
Why are wood pellets exported to Europe rather than used in Canada?
Wood pellets are made of ground and compressed wood fiber (usually from sawmill waste) and can be burned in a variety of ways to produce energy. Nearly 85% of Canadaâs pellet production, which is equivalent to approximately 1.3 million t, is exported (less than 1% of Canadaâs forest sector exports by value). This is because, in contrast to Canada, many countries in Europe do not have abundant supplies of fossil fuels and are therefore diversifying their energy mix so that they will be less reliant on countries such as Russia from whom they purchase natural gas for power production. Also, residential electricity prices in Europe are commonly double what we pay in Canada, making bioenergy a more competitive source of heat and power. Finally, bioenergy is an important part of the EU strategy for meeting its GHG emission reduction targets, and many member countries have established policies to expand bioenergy use; for example, under EU policy, utilities that incorporate biomass into their fuel supply may obtain carbon credits for producing bioenergy. High energy prices, energy security concerns, and climate change concerns that have led to renewable energy requirements and carbon trading have all contributed to a willingness by European countries to pay much more for wood pellets than the price in Canada.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests/industâŚ
Jaak
P.S. - Canada is a global leader in the production of many forest products, including softwood lumber, wood pulp, and wood pellets.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests-forestâŚ
Europe exporting their pollution to Canada.
PSU
Europe exporting their pollution to Canada.
PSU
Huh???
Assuming we are talking about burning wood for power, I recall one project in Northern Ontario that was quickly shut down because it was neither economic nor non-polluting. Ontario had lots of Nuclear and Hydro power and didnât need to get exotic to shut down their coal plants.
Solar turned into a boondoggle as the contract allowed companies to collect money for power they didnât produce when the panels were buried in snow. My TRP.to guy made out like bandits on that stupid idea by the government of the day ⌠that fell not long after this stuff came to light.
In the end they did shut down the coal plants but too late to save their political hides.
Anymouse
Huh???
Assuming we are talking about burning wood for power, I recall one project in Northern Ontario that was quickly shut down because it was neither economic nor non-polluting. Ontario had lots of Nuclear and Hydro power and didnât need to get exotic to shut down their coal plants.
You may have Jaak on ignore again. He posted about wood pellets being shipped from Canada. Just because they label pellets renewable doesnât make them clean burning nor low carbon emissions. Now I donât know if itâs true that in Canada that they use primarily sawmill waste to make their pellets but here in North Carolina there are several pellet factories pumping out wood pellets for use in Europe where that isnât the case. They are using whole logs in the process and emitting large quantities of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). That doesnât include the large quantities of VOC, NOx and PM too. All for Europe to add to their ârenewableâ energy total.
PSU
He posted about wood pellets being shipped from Canada. Just because they label pellets renewable doesnât make them clean burning nor low carbon emissions. Now I donât know if itâs true that in Canada that they use primarily sawmill waste to make their pellets
This is from an environmental website. They are not onboard with shipping wood pellets from BC.
I am OK with it they they are using waste and not clear cutting, but seems a bit strange to me to put it on on a ship and burn bunker fuel to haul it to Europe?
BC doesnât need to burn it for electricity ourselves, we are pretty much all hydro I think.
https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-wood-pellets-drax-pinnacle-renewablâŚ
Pellet manufacturers say they still only source low-grade wood with little commercial value â like sawmill residues, slash piles, diseased or misshapen trees â making use of wood that would be wasted otherwise.
B.C.âs Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has found that time and time again, Pinnacle hasnât complied with various regulations, including around waste management and air pollution.
Independent supply base audits by the Sustainable Biomass Program found that 28 per cent of Pinnacleâs woody biomass comes from primary feedstock â meaning directly from the forest â in B.C. Their most recent supply included yellow and western red cedar, trees that should be left standing even if theyâre diseased, according to registered B.C. forester Eric Matzner.
Oh, hadnât really looked at it but BC creates a large amount of wood pellets from sawmill waste ⌠it represents ~ 80% of Canadaâs wood pellet exports.
British Columbia accounts for the vast majority of Canadaâs wood pellet export market, with about 80% of national exports.
Where are wood pellets produced?
Where are the majority of wood pellets produced in Canada sold?
Wood pellets are biofuels made from compressed wood fibre. In British Columbia (BC), wood pellets are made primarily from the residuals left over from the sawmilling process when logs are converted into lumber and other high-value wood products.
I personally knew (10+ years ago) a couple in Dartmouth who put a wood pellet stove in their basement and would buy bags of pellets. The heat wouldnât make it to the top floor so the guy cut pieces out of the wall to try to improve the outcome. When next I called him out of curiosity he had left both town ⌠and his wife ⌠no idea if it had to do with the pellet stove! }};-D
Not something I would have done. Come to think of it, he was a truck driver! I got a couple of emails from him and he was driving trucks in Alberta mostly.
Tim
If you do a search on Enviva pellets and a name of one of their facilities, you get plenty of images of whole logs, some on truck as they pass the Enviva sign on the way in. Yes, some of the images are from environmental groups or environmental justice groups which has a bias against the production of pellet but the photos still are real photos.
Here is one site that has several photos of stacks of logs around the pellet production plant.
https://power.buellcenter.columbia.edu/essays/how-europes-woâŚ
PSU
Here is one site that has several photos of stacks of logs around the pellet production plant.
https://power.buellcenter.columbia.edu/essays/how-europes-woâŚ
PSU
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This is pretty old article. There must be more current information available.
Jaak
This is pretty old article. There must be more current information available.
Letâs go right to the permit review for Enviva Sampson. Permit was issued on 1/20/2022. Is that new enough?
https://deq.nc.gov/air-quality/permits/public-communication/âŚ
On page 8,
âGreenâ (i.e., wet) wood is delivered to the plant via trucks as either pre-chipped wood or bark or unchipped logs.
On page 64 of pdf (page A1-29), the calculation of potential fugitive PM emissions (Attachment 1), the first line in the table for logs delivery to crane shows
empty truck weight - 31,700 lbs
loaded truck weight - 87,380 lbs
trips per day - 60
So the facility has the potential to use 55,680 lbs of logs per trip.
Now there is a note to a table on page 55 of the PDF for the debarker potential emissions. It says âAt most, Enviva would purchase 75% of the needed logs with the remaining 25% of green material coming from purchased chips.â
Now before you say anything about potential does not mean actual, thatâs true. Actual throughput would be CBI and not available to the public. Potential emission calculations are based on maximum output, not actual output. But the calculations are generally indicative of actual operations. Potential emission calculations are not done for unrealistic operating scenarios. So the permit review indicated up to 75% of the total green wood is in the form of logs but it could be lower. Maybe theyâre only running 60-70% but there wouldnât be debarking and chipping calculations in the permit if they were not using logs.
While we are in the permit application, letâs look at facility-wide carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions on page 14. It lists 273,545 tons per year after control. These are the emissions of concern for climate change. I wonder if the European users enter those tons into their calculations.
To address an point made upthread about misshapen trees being used, misshapen means the trees are not good for making dimensional lumber. The trees could be chipped to make OSB sheets for house construction. The chips could further be ground to make particle board. Grind it more and make paper products such as cardboard. It doesnât mean we got to toss these trees in a landfill since theyâre not good for anything but wood pellets.
PSU
letâs look at facility-wide carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions on page 14. It lists 273,545 tons per year after control. These are the emissions of concern for climate change. I wonder if the European users enter those tons into their calculations.
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You are the expert in the area of CO2 emissions for biomass. Why donât you find out.
Jaak
You are the expert in the area of CO2 emissions for biomass. Why donât you find out.
I donât care and nobody is paying my consulting fee.
PSU
You are the expert in the area of CO2 emissions for biomass. Why donât you find out.
I donât care and nobody is paying my consulting fee.
PSU
============================================
I wonder why you bring it up in the first place when you do not know and donât bother to look it up.
You are not the only that does not get paid for their consulting fees. Most of us share our consulting for free on these boards.
Jaak