Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’
We respond to Prisley et al’s (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 128002) critique of Sterman et al (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 015007), which found that using wood to produce electricity can worsen climate change at least through 2100, even if wood displaces coal. The result arises because (1) wood gener...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2018-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf354 |
| _version_ | 1797748095044288512 |
|---|---|
| author | John D Sterman Lori Siegel Juliette N Rooney-Varga |
| author_facet | John D Sterman Lori Siegel Juliette N Rooney-Varga |
| author_sort | John D Sterman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We respond to Prisley et al’s (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 128002) critique of Sterman et al (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 015007), which found that using wood to produce electricity can worsen climate change at least through 2100, even if wood displaces coal. The result arises because (1) wood generates more CO _2 /kWh than coal, creating an initial carbon debt; (2) regrowth of harvested land can remove CO _2 from the atmosphere, but takes time and is not certain; and (3) until the carbon debt is repaid, atmospheric CO _2 is higher, increasing radiative forcing and worsening climate change long after the initial carbon debt is repaid by new growth. We correct several errors in Prisley et al ’s critique, and show that our results are robust to the harvest and land management practices they prefer. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-df41e71fb7ad4aaaafe786e8a9ca6b12 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:03Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-df41e71fb7ad4aaaafe786e8a9ca6b122023-08-09T14:40:42ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262018-01-01131212800310.1088/1748-9326/aaf354Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’John D Sterman0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7476-6760Lori Siegel1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5734-8345Juliette N Rooney-Varga2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7102-6919MIT Sloan School of Management, 100 Main Street, Cambridge MA 02139 United States of AmericaClimate Interactive, 1201 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, United States of AmericaUMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative and Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 265 Riverside Street, Lowell MA 01854, United States of AmericaWe respond to Prisley et al’s (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 128002) critique of Sterman et al (2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 015007), which found that using wood to produce electricity can worsen climate change at least through 2100, even if wood displaces coal. The result arises because (1) wood generates more CO _2 /kWh than coal, creating an initial carbon debt; (2) regrowth of harvested land can remove CO _2 from the atmosphere, but takes time and is not certain; and (3) until the carbon debt is repaid, atmospheric CO _2 is higher, increasing radiative forcing and worsening climate change long after the initial carbon debt is repaid by new growth. We correct several errors in Prisley et al ’s critique, and show that our results are robust to the harvest and land management practices they prefer.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf354 |
| spellingShingle | John D Sterman Lori Siegel Juliette N Rooney-Varga Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ Environmental Research Letters |
| title | Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_full | Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_fullStr | Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_short | Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’ |
| title_sort | reply to comment on does replacing coal with wood lower co2 emissions dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf354 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johndsterman replytocommentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT lorisiegel replytocommentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy AT juliettenrooneyvarga replytocommentondoesreplacingcoalwithwoodlowerco2emissionsdynamiclifecycleanalysisofwoodbioenergy |