Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’
An analysis by Sterman et al (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 015007) suggests that use of wood for bioenergy production results in a worse climate outcome than from using coal. However, many of the assumptions on which their primary wood bioenergy scenario is based are not realistic and therefore are n...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2018-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203 |
| _version_ | 1797748139391713280 |
|---|---|
| author | Stephen P Prisley Caroline Gaudreault Patrick Lamers William Stewart Reid Miner H M Junginger Elaine Oneil Robert Malmsheimer Timothy A Volk |
| author_facet | Stephen P Prisley Caroline Gaudreault Patrick Lamers William Stewart Reid Miner H M Junginger Elaine Oneil Robert Malmsheimer Timothy A Volk |
| author_sort | Stephen P Prisley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An analysis by Sterman et al (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 015007) suggests that use of wood for bioenergy production results in a worse climate outcome than from using coal. However, many of the assumptions on which their primary wood bioenergy scenario is based are not realistic and therefore are not informative. Assumptions of uncharacteristically long rotations for southern pine plantations, no utilization of wood for longer-duration products, and a single harvest over 100 years understate the carbon performance of current forest management practices. We provide references that support realistic modeling of forest carbon dynamics that are reflective of current practice and therefore more informative. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-64364e2316754682bfef9a9cb6901d4b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:36Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-64364e2316754682bfef9a9cb6901d4b2023-08-09T14:39:21ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262018-01-01131212800210.1088/1748-9326/aaf203Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’Stephen P Prisley0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7393-7879Caroline Gaudreault1Patrick Lamers2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8142-5024William Stewart3Reid Miner4H M Junginger5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5010-2051Elaine Oneil6Robert Malmsheimer7Timothy A Volk8Principal Research Scientist, NCASI, 541 Washington Ave SW, Roanoke, VA 24016, United States of AmericaProgram Manager- Sustainable Manufacturing and Climate, NCASI, 1010 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite 1800, Montreal, QC H3A 2R7, CanadaSystems Level Analysis Lead, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,15013 Denver W Pkwy, Golden, CO 80401, United States of AmericaForestry Specialist, Co-Director, Berkeley Forests, University of California , Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall, MC #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, United States of AmericaSenior Fellow, NCASI, 1513 Walnut Street, Suite 200, Cary, NC 27511, United States of AmericaProfessor Bio-Based Economy, Utrecht University , Vening Meinesz building 8.94, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht (NL), NetherlandsDirector of Science and Sustainability, CORRIM -The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, PO Box 2432, Corvalis, OR 97339-2432, United States of AmericaProfessor of Forest Policy and Law, Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, SUNY ESF, 305 Bray Hall; One Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, United States of AmericaSenior Research Associate, Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, SUNY ESF, 346 Illick Hall; One Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, United States of AmericaAn analysis by Sterman et al (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 015007) suggests that use of wood for bioenergy production results in a worse climate outcome than from using coal. However, many of the assumptions on which their primary wood bioenergy scenario is based are not realistic and therefore are not informative. Assumptions of uncharacteristically long rotations for southern pine plantations, no utilization of wood for longer-duration products, and a single harvest over 100 years understate the carbon performance of current forest management practices. We provide references that support realistic modeling of forest carbon dynamics that are reflective of current practice and therefore more informative.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203biomass energyforest managementCO2 emissions |
| spellingShingle | Stephen P Prisley Caroline Gaudreault Patrick Lamers William Stewart Reid Miner H M Junginger Elaine Oneil Robert Malmsheimer Timothy A Volk Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ Environmental Research Letters biomass energy forest management CO2 emissions |
| title | Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_full | Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_fullStr | Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_short | Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_sort | comment on does replacing coal with wood lower co2 emissions dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy |
| topic | biomass energy forest management CO2 emissions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stephenpprisley commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT carolinegaudreault commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT patricklamers commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT williamstewart commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT reidminer commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT hmjunginger commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT elaineoneil commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT robertmalmsheimer commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT timothyavolk commentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy |