[Greenbuilding] Wood-burning Cooking, Central Heating, & Hot Water: Advice Needed

[Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance]

Hi Amy and Greenbuilders,

We had a long and enlightening thread on this list a while back regarding
woodburning and carbon neutrality.  The amount of CO2 a field of biomass
absorbs is equivalent to the amount it releases when burned. Theoretically,
if you follow a balanced rotation, e.g., grow a field of biomass; cut it
down and burn it for fuel, regrow the field of biomass; cut it down for
fuel; regrow the field of biomass...then the amount of CO2 the biomass is
absorbing is equivalent to the amount it is releasing when you burn it, and
you are carbon neutral. The fossil fuel thing is that CO2 is being released
into the atmosphere with no parallel absorption. Others on this list have
described it more concisely--that's why I am ccing them here.

We would devise a rotation for harvesting willow for fuel that will allow
the willow to absorb the amount of carbon we are releasing. We would only
use what we grow, and keep the plants growing at a sustained intensity.
There are issues such as trees absorbing less carbon as they grow older, but
with willows, they are coppicing trees, and are constantly growing new
branches--cutting them back stimulates new growth. I need to research this
more.

The scrubber technology exists, but has not been used on a large scale
according to Monbiot. A big issue is what to do with the CO2--Monbiot
suggests sequestering it into the caverns that have held natural gas; this
requires that new power plants be built near these caverns so that more
carbon is not generated during the transport and sequestering process. I
doubt that it is commercially available on a small scale, and can't recall
offhand what Monbiot has to say about that or if he even addresses it (he
does talk about small- and very small-scale heat&power units). There are
issues re planting trees for carbon credits that Monbiot does address--it is
extremely iffy at best for a number of reasons.

Cheers and Best!

Mary Bull, Co-director
Greenwood Earth Alliance, Save the Redwoods - Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick, San Francisco, CA 94117 http://www.gapsucks.org
Chalice Farm and Sustainable Living Center, 748 Montgomery Rd, Sebastopol CA
95472
415-731-7924 - 415-509-1188 chalicenew at earthlink.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amy Bauman" <abauman at greengoat.org>
To: "'Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance'" <chalicenew at earthlink.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 9:22 AM
Subject: RE: [Greenbuilding] Wood-burning Cooking, Central Heating,& Hot
Water: Advice Needed


> Hi Mary -
>
> Your 'zero footprint' benefit got me thinking.  How do you calculate that?
>
> My logic is this -
>
> Trees take in CO2 out of the atmosphere and give off O2 at a certain rate.
> When they're burned, they release CO2 into the atmosphere, and the fire
eats
> O2 at certain rate.
>
> Are the two exchanges the same?
>
> I'm sure there's a physics law that applies here, but I'm still curious.
>
> Another question - does 'scrubber' technology exist for residential /
small
> commercial scale?
>
> Ever curious -
>
> Amy Bauman
> greenGoat
>