3 ms·

In many European countries trees from the USA and Canada are imported to be burned for green, renewable energy. Technically it's true, but it's at great cost. N

by wsc981 7y ago

In many European countries trees from the USA and Canada are imported to be burned for green, renewable energy. Technically it's true, but it's at great cost. Not even taking into account the costs of transportation. https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-imports-wood-biomass-from-us-for-power-2015-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-imports-wood-biomass-... Here's a Dutch documentary on the subject, though some US environmental activists & loggers are interviewed as well at around the 13 minute mark, so that part should be understandable for non-Dutch speaking people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LHGbiyvZto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LHGbiyvZto

tialaramex 7y ago
Yup. In the UK this is mostly the activity of Drax, a really big (like by world standards) thermal power plant, converted from coal. What used to happen was whole trains filled with coal would vanish into Drax's maw and several gigawatts (like I said, it's big) of electricity comes out, plus ludicrous amounts of toxic ash, clouds of smoke etcetera. Part of that plant is now idled, because we don't burn very much coal any more, but a big part was converted to consume trees instead. Notionally it's "waste" wood, but the tremendous volumes involved make that a joke. Like, oh, here's a "waste" forest I didn't need. At first the UK government was like "Check out how green this is" and as the scientific consensus got further towards "Do not burn trees you idiots!" they've been gradually walking that back towards "Well, at least it isn't coal?". But it operates 24/7 because Drax gets those renewable credits and is relatively cheap to operate, plus it's employment.