Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines
Replacement of fossil fuels with bioenergy, often in concert with carbon capture and storage, plays an important role in published low-emission pathways from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other agencies. National and regional net-zero greenhouse gas emission commitments ha...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023004619 |
| _version_ | 1811161839240740864 |
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| author | Heather MacDonald Emily Hope Kaitlin de Boer Daniel W. McKenney |
| author_facet | Heather MacDonald Emily Hope Kaitlin de Boer Daniel W. McKenney |
| author_sort | Heather MacDonald |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Replacement of fossil fuels with bioenergy, often in concert with carbon capture and storage, plays an important role in published low-emission pathways from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other agencies. National and regional net-zero greenhouse gas emission commitments have caused a dramatic increase in forest biomass consumption globally, and the rise has been accompanied by debates in the scholarly literature and in society at large about the ecological and climate change impacts of forest biomass. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of media headlines about forest bioenergy published in 75 Canadian newspapers from 2010 to 2020. Using a lexicon and rules-based sentiment analysis tool, we explore negative and positive media headlines about forest biomass. Despite our finding that Canadian headlines about forest bioenergy were twice as likely to be positive as negative, media items document reversals away from forest biomass-generated domestic electricity. Our analysis found that increases in electricity costs following the introduction of forest biomass as a fuel type for Canadian electricity generation was a primary cause of these reversals. Headlines also critiqued the expanded production of wood pellets, citing forest ecological impacts and the debate about the net carbon impacts of forest biomass-generated energy. Safety issues, including stories about workplace injuries, and pellet plant fires, and economic issues, such as fiber supply and mill closures, were also featured. This research contributes a social science lens to understand perceptions over time about forest biomass for heat and power. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T06:20:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-70e536a955414e80be17d5bc713c612e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T06:20:37Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-70e536a955414e80be17d5bc713c612e2023-03-02T05:00:41ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402023-02-0192e13254Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlinesHeather MacDonald0Emily Hope1Kaitlin de Boer2Daniel W. McKenney3Corresponding author.; Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste. Marie P6A 2E5, CanadaGreat Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste. Marie P6A 2E5, CanadaGreat Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste. Marie P6A 2E5, CanadaGreat Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste. Marie P6A 2E5, CanadaReplacement of fossil fuels with bioenergy, often in concert with carbon capture and storage, plays an important role in published low-emission pathways from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other agencies. National and regional net-zero greenhouse gas emission commitments have caused a dramatic increase in forest biomass consumption globally, and the rise has been accompanied by debates in the scholarly literature and in society at large about the ecological and climate change impacts of forest biomass. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of media headlines about forest bioenergy published in 75 Canadian newspapers from 2010 to 2020. Using a lexicon and rules-based sentiment analysis tool, we explore negative and positive media headlines about forest biomass. Despite our finding that Canadian headlines about forest bioenergy were twice as likely to be positive as negative, media items document reversals away from forest biomass-generated domestic electricity. Our analysis found that increases in electricity costs following the introduction of forest biomass as a fuel type for Canadian electricity generation was a primary cause of these reversals. Headlines also critiqued the expanded production of wood pellets, citing forest ecological impacts and the debate about the net carbon impacts of forest biomass-generated energy. Safety issues, including stories about workplace injuries, and pellet plant fires, and economic issues, such as fiber supply and mill closures, were also featured. This research contributes a social science lens to understand perceptions over time about forest biomass for heat and power.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023004619ForestBiomassWood pelletsCanadaMediaSentiment |
| spellingShingle | Heather MacDonald Emily Hope Kaitlin de Boer Daniel W. McKenney Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines Heliyon Forest Biomass Wood pellets Canada Media Sentiment |
| title | Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines |
| title_full | Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines |
| title_fullStr | Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines |
| title_short | Sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines |
| title_sort | sentiments toward use of forest biomass for heat and power in canadian headlines |
| topic | Forest Biomass Wood pellets Canada Media Sentiment |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844023004619 |
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