Bioenergy from Slash Piles

For the past several years the use of energy produced from biomass has been steadily increasing. This is in part from the increasing desire to recycle what is available and the spreading knowledge of bioenergy. Bioenergy is created from organic waste such at animal manure, wood waste and some construction waste known as biomass. If considering all the possible fuels for bioenergy the most common would be wood waste and debris, which is produced in large quantities from many different causes. Such as construction, demolition, logging, mills and some lumber merchants. If all of the waste was to be taken from these sources and used as biomass this solution could create large amounts of energy to power cities without using up valuable nonrenewable resources. This is why forestry and logging companies should look into using their slash piles as biofuel rather than open burning. This would help to power cities while simultaneously decreasing pollution causes by open burns.

The Oregon Documents Repository in Salem noted that” The most common source of biomass energy is wood. In 2009, biomass constituted 38 percent of the total non - hydropower renewable energy generation in the U.S.” (“Biomass”) this study was done five whole years ago. Since then, the use of biomass to make energy has continued to grow and will continue to do so in the future. The International Energy Agency or IEA predicts that the prospective utilization of biomass for energy by 2050 could range between 100 and 300 EJ per year, compared to the roughly 50 EJ produced today. To put that into context one joule is about how much energy is required to lift a small apple (weighing about 100g) vertically into the air one meter. An Exajoule (EJ) is one quintillion (10^18) jou...

... middle of paper ...

...egon Department of Forestry, 2011. Hannon Library Catalog. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

"Forest Biomass." Washington State Department of National Resources. N.p., n.d. USA.gov. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

Fresco, Nancy. "Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska." (2009). Hannon Library Catalog. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

Massachusetts Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Initiative. WOODY BIOMASS ENERGY. Massachusetts Sustainable Forest Bioenergy Initiative. N.p.: n.p., 2008. USA.gov. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

"ODOE: Bioenergy in Oregon." Oregon.gov. N.p., n.d. USA.gov. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

"Utilizing Wood Waste to Generate Electricity at South Carolina Biomass Project." Process Heating. 12.1 (2014). Business Search Complete. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

White, Eric M. "Woody Biomass for Bioenergy and Biofuels in the United States." (2010). Hannon Library Catalog. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.