Does bioenergy increase CO2 emissions more than burning coal?
The Land & Climate Podcast
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Is Wood a Better Source of Electricity or Heat Than Coal?
To answer the question of whether wood as a source of electricity or heat is better or worse than any other fuel, including coal, you have to answer a couple of questions. When you mine coal, process it, ship it to a power plant, and then burn it, what are the greenhouse gas emissions associated with each step of that process? And you need to do the same analysis for harvesting wood from forests, processing it, shipping it, burning it. A coal has been sequestered underground for millions of years. You burn it, that CO2 goes into the active carbon cycle immediately on combustion. So does the CO2 from the wood,. but the forests might regrow; how long
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