Considerations for factoring biomass into clean energy
July 5th, 2010 in News Archive
The Washington Post
WHEN YOU think of next-generation energy technologies, burning wood pellets probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But buried in energy proposals across Capitol Hill are policies that promote doing just that.
Many lawmakers want the government to require utilities to derive a certain percentage of their electricity from clean sources. And one of the sources that would probably qualify is so-called renewable biomass — everything from forest debris to algae, which can be burned in some power plants. Sure, the logic goes, you produce carbon emissions when you burn this material. But when the stuff grows back, it takes carbon out of the atmosphere, too.
