Is there green energy in the green trees harvested by the forest industry? The general consensus is that fuels made as biodiesel, or more recently, as experimental biopetrol do have a carbon footprint. However, the U.S. Congress has ruled that the current levels of biomass operation are carbon neutral when considered overall, which the industry agrees with. Since it is important to maintain this status for the sake of responsibility to the environment as well as to ensure that biofuels have a future in a world of sustainable-choice energy sources, it could be of the highest importance to work towards further breakthroughs in a clean energy conversion process of wood pulping waste chemicals or by products into a stable, liquid fuel.

Biomass Fuel is capable of absorbing the carbon equal to what it is produced from, roughly, since if/when it were to be produced for consumption it would then maintain its needs for renewable pulp. This has already happened within the modern markets with the effect of enviornmental and energy improvements in the P&P industry. In the P&P industry, with the wood pulping stage being a parent to the production of bioenergy, successful innovation and modernization in the face of increasing regulations as pulp and paper companies have successfully accomplished as part of embracing a culture of sustainability over a generation of rapid, but undeniably positive change in terms of safety and cleanliness. Trees for energy is almost traditional. Wood has been burned for fuel over many centuries. In fact, much of civilization has been built around the power of fire, and fire, naturally, goes hand in hand with wood.  Of course, wood as fuel gradually fell out of favor due to its inefficiency when compared to other power sources.  Nevertheless, the emerging trend of biomass power plants is trying to re-harness the burning of wood and other bio-materials. Biomass power plants work by burning pellets composed of wood and other organic materials to produce energy. This was meant to be a positive move away from using fossil fuels. However, the reality is that there are many troubling issues about biomass power plants.

One of the biggest issues is that, in order to keep up with the world’s energy needs, the amount of wood we would have to burn via high emission low efficiency natural or near natural atmospheric combustion, a manner which hugely increases the amount of carbon emissions. Also, it would require huge amounts of land to grow more and more trees to keep up. It is only mature trees that will really soak up CO2. So, the world would be waiting for these trees to grow up to compensate for the extra emissions...right before they were chopped down again.  All in all, the very evident impracticality of burning wood for energy cannot outweigh the speculative chance that it could balance out in the future. In short, biomass burning is inefficient and it pollutes.

Luckily, trees offer so many more possibilities than just being used as fuel to be burned. The following new technologies which use trees as raw materials or are based on the science of trees are testament to the wealth of inspiration they offer:

Imagine if we could commandeer the process of photosynthesis and use it to provide cheap green energy for third world countries. That’s where the Green Solar Project steps into the picture.

Researchers have combined advanced technology with biology to create a cheap solar cell derived from trees and other green plants. These plants are mixed with a special chemical that ultimately creates a photovoltaic material which in turn powers these green solar cells through the process of photosynthesis.

The way it is integrated is quite simple — the aforementioned special mixture is combined with something green and then spread onto a structure, such as the rooftop of a home. The process of photosynthesis then kicks in, absorbing energy from the sun and storing it for our use.

There are many kinks to work out and the project is still in the testing and research phase, but the idea is exciting and points to a bright future concerning trees, plants, and energy innovation!

The following information was made available in a a release this month (Sept. 2, 2018) by Explainthatstuff.com with additional new information included within a full article that can be found online if you would like to learn more information on this topic or know more information about the source.