the paper as of 3/31/08:
As the world moves deeper into the 21st century, we face many challenges. Two of the largest problems we face are the declining health of our environment, and energy. Conveniently, these two things are not mutually exclusive. Most of our energy comes from fossil fuels, which are a finite resource. Through our use of fossil fuels, we are speeding along the process of climate destabilization. Here in the United States, we no longer have sufficient reserves of oil to run our economy and our military. We instead rely heavily on foreign reserves of oil to run our country. This not only drains our economy, but also poses a huge national security risk were we to lose even a fraction of our oil supply. Therefore the question remains, how do we transition away from a reliance fuels that threatens our security, prosperity and our environment to clean, renewable energy that can be produced almost entirely in the Unite States?
Zooming in on our state of Vermont, we see a dependency on petroleum in two major sectors: transportation and heating. The question then remains, how does Vermont begin the transition away from fossil fuels and to a carbon neutral economy? As far as which one is easier, residential heating is overwhelmingly so: it makes up around 25% of fossil fuel consumption in Vermont, whereas nearly 60% is pumped into our vehicles. Our heating infrastructure is much more centralized and adaptable, whereas transportation infrastructure is inherently de-centralized and complex.
One answer to the heating problem would be to use Vermont's underutilized agricultural land to grow energy crops. Wood, prairie grasses (which are native to Vermont) and waste products such as wax cardboard could be formed into mixed biomass pellets for use in efficient pellet stoves. As far as using land to grow energy crops, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. In the United States, we are currently using prime agricultural land to grow the energy and nutrient intensive crop of corn, to be turned into ethanol. The problem with doing this is that there is a net gain of carbon in producing and utilizing corn ethanol, and taking large amounts of land normally used to grow food out of food production brings up prices and causes food shortages world-wide. The Vermont model would be different. Post 1991, 100,000 acres of agricultural land has been let lie fallow in Vermont, according to the US Farm Bureau Census. It is estimated that another 100,000 acres were let go fallow before 1991. This amount of land is sufficient to grow enough grass energy crops to meet the state's annual btu output, and it is not prime agricultural land, so no food production would be lost.
The next question would be: Is burning biomass better for the environment? As far as carbon emissions, any carbon released from the burning of grasses would be part of a closed carbon cycle; the following year's crops would reabsorb all the carbon released from the burning of the previous year's. Prairie grasses also hold the ability to sequester carbon in their roots, essentially taking pre-existing carbon out of the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 that has been out of the carbon cycle for millennia. Today’s flora is inadequate for processing the quantity of CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels, which is a cause of the increase in greenhouse gases. Wood stoves are more inefficient than pellet stoves, resulting in less heat output and higher particulate emissions (due to incomplete combustion). As far as sustainability, biomass crops can yield anywhere from 5 to 16 tons 080iomass per year sustainably, while Vermont forests can only yield about 1 ton of biomass per year sustainably. This is not to say we should not use wood, only that the optimum pellet blend would contain more grasses than wood. The moisture content of wood and grass would also determine the optimum blend of biomass: the low moisture content of grass does not allow for pelletization of grass only, whereas the high moisture content of wood calls for it to be dried before it can be pelletized. Wood could be mixed with grass to act as a binding agent. Waste products, such as wax cardboard, can also be used as a binding agent, reducing the amount of material entering the waste stream.
One of the most important aspects of transitioning to biomass is the impact on the economy. The right balance between private investment and government funding must be found. Two much strain on taxpayers would cause a downturn in the Vermont economy, while unrestrained capitalist ventures would lead to closed and unfair business practices as well as less of a focus on sustainability.
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