Forest, carbon, and air

quality impacts from

wood energy facilitieswood energy facilities

February 10, 2011

Mary S. Booth, PhD

Massachusetts Environmental Energy Alliance

BIOMASS EMITS MORE CO2 THAN FOSSIL FUELS

1. Wood inherently emits more carbon per Btu

– Natural gas: 117 lb CO2/MMBtu*

– Bituminous coal: 205 lb CO2/MMBtu**

– Wood: 213 lb CO2/MMBtu bone dry

2. Wood is often wet, dirty (degrades heating value)– at 45% mc, 237 lb CO2/MMBtu

3. Biomass boilers operate less efficiently than fossil fuel boilers3. Biomass boilers operate less efficiently than fossil fuel boilers

– Utility-scale biomass boiler: 24%

– Average efficiency US coal fleet: 33%

– Average gas plant: 43%***

In practice: per MWh, biomass emits about 150% the CO2 of coal, and 300 – 400% the CO2 of natural gas

*http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/coefficients.html

** http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/quarterly/co2_article/co2.html

*** http://www.npc.org/Study_Topic_Papers/4-DTG-ElectricEfficiency.pdf

2

DOESN’T FOREST CARBON GROW BACK?

CONSIDERATIONS:

1. Regrowth ties up the carbon that was

released

2. But forests are already sequestering carbon...

How to take that into account?

3

Do the carbon accounting wrong, and you

end up with this:

4

MANOMET MODELING APPROACH

FOR TREES USED AS FUEL

FOREST REGROWTH UNDER BAU AND BIOMASS SCENARIOS

6

CARBON RECOVERY AFTER ONE YEAR’S CUTTING

7

Change in Stored Carbon: Biomass Stand Carbon minus BAU Stand Carbon

(Previous slide: the BAU stand carbon was 70 tons; the biomass stand

carbon was reduced to 50 tons; 50 minus 70 = -20)

CARBON RECOVERY AFTER MULTIPLE YEARS CUTTING: FACILITY FOOTPRINT

8

MANOMET

CONCLUSIONS

“Increases in biomass

energy generation can lead

9

energy generation can lead

to higher GHG emissions,

even when sustainable

forestry is practiced”

Sustainability does not

equal carbon neutrality!

WHY NEW FACILITIES IN VERMONT

WILL DRAMATICALLY INCREASE FOREST

HARVESTING

Woody biomass fuels in Vermont

Logging residues: carbon payback periods are 10 – 25

years, since decomposition also emits CO2.

� One half of residues generated annually (USFS data): ~261,000 tons

New trees, including “low-grade” trees: carbon payback

periods are long – not a “low-carbon” fuel:

� Biomass Energy Resource Center says there are 894,900 green tons of “net

available low-grade growth” available annually in VT, after firewood and other

uses taken into account

BERC Vermont Wood Fuel Supply Study, 2010

Update

Study results for annual net available low-grade growth (NALG) wood in Vermont

alone and Vermont plus the adjoining 10 counties in New Hampshire, Massachusetts,

and New York (rounded to the nearest 100 green ton).

Wood demand at proposed facilities in Vermont

exceeds supply

Summed residues and “net

available low-grade growth”

wood (green tons)

Proposed facility wood

demand

Existing facility wood

Supply: Residues and “NALG” wood:

1,156,087 tons/yr (optimistic!)

Wood demand at proposed facilities:

1,756,500 tons/yr

Demand from existing and proposed:

2,822,500 tons/yr

demand

Potential regional demand is enormous

LAIDLAW 70 MW PLANT IN BERLIN, NH: PETITIONS TO INTERVENE IN

POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT FROM EXISTING BIOMASS POWER PLANTS

Would require ~900,000 green tons annually. Petitions for intervention in the PPA:

• Concord Steam Corp.

• Clean Power Development LLC

• Bridgewater Power Co.

• Pinetree Power Inc.

• Pinetree Power-Tamworth Inc.

• Springfield Power LLC

• Whitefield Power & Light

• Indeck Energy

“A petition from the latter six alleges fierce competition for the biomass fuel, saying their own plants have a substantial interest in its availability and pricing, and Laidlaw’s PPA would directly affect them.”

MAKES NO SENSE TO THINK WE CAN MEET

FUEL NEEDS WITH “WASTE” WOOD;

INDUSTRY AGREES

William Perritt, editor of RISI wood industry newsletter, speaking

of the recent expansion in facilities:

“Hungry for large volumes of wood, and frequently “Hungry for large volumes of wood, and frequently

armed with government subsidies, the nascent

operations have triggered wood price spikes and cross-

grade competition in the tightest markets. The oft-

repeated assumption that forests and sawmills are

littered with waste wood, just waiting for cheap home

is proving largely erroneous.”17

MA: “The Fitchburg Power Station is a 17 MW waste wood and landfill gas fired power facility. The facility

burns whole tree chips”

NH: “Tamworth Power Station is a 22.5 MW waste wood power facility … The facility uses wood from trees

unsuitable for lumber or pulp”

NH: “The Bethlehem Power Station burns low quality wood, which is continuously replenished through the natural

forest cycles. The facility uses approximately 675 tons (per day) of whole tree chips”

NH: Schiller Station: “Currently, PSNH’s Schiller Station in Portsmouth operates three 50 megawatt coal-fired steam

boilers built in the 1950s. PSNH will replace one of these coal boilers with a new fluidized-bed boiler. This state-of-

the-art boiler will burn whole-tree wood chips and other clean low-grade wood materials to generate

electricity.”

EXISTING PLANTS ARE USING WHOLE TREE CHIPS

electricity.”

VT: “The Ryegate Power Station burns 250,000 tons of whole tree chips per year”

VT: McNeil Station (Burlington Electric): “Seventy percent of the wood chips that fuel the McNeil Station are

called whole-tree chips and come from low quality trees and harvest residues. The trees, a majority of

which are on privately owned woodlands, are cut and chipped in the forest. Clearcutting of woodlands is

limited to areas that need to establish a new crop of trees. It may also be used in some

instances to improve wildlife habitat. In these cases, the size of the area cleared is limited to a maximum of 25 acres.

To run McNeil at full load, approximately 76 tons of whole-tree chips are consumed per

hour. That amounts to about 30 cords per hour (there are about 2.5 tons of chips per cord of green wood)”

18

1. “… we found the need to go to a raw material source other than

bark. What we went to was basically the whole tree, which we

chipped and introduced through the infeed of our system.”

• “When we get into a 100 percent whole tree run, we’re

consuming upwards of 50 to 60 tons an hour”

2. "We're not taking any waste residuals. We're only taking whole

PELLET PRODUCTION INCREASES FOREST CUTTING

2. "We're not taking any waste residuals. We're only taking whole

logs, and not using any bark.“

3. “The company will need 200,000 tons a year of whole logs to

operate the pellet mill at full capacity.”

BIG PLANS FOR BIOMASS AND PELLET

PLANTS, REGIONALLY AND NATIONALLY

Biomass Power City/Town State tons

Plainfield Renewable Energy Plainfield CT 512,656

NRG Energy Uncasville CT 539,638

Watertown Renewable Power Watertown CT 404,728

Russell Biomass Russell MA 674,547

Pioneer Renewable Energy Greenfield MA 634,074

Berkshire Generations Pittsfield MA 539,638

Palmer Renewable Energy Springfield MA 512,656

CCI Energy Fitchburg MA 67,455

Laidlaw Berlin Berlin NH 876,911

Concord Steam Concord NH 202,364

Clean Power Development Winchester NH 269,819

Clean Power Development Berlin NH 337,274

Pellets City/Town State tons

Corinth Wood Pellets Corinth ME 280,000

International WoodFuels Burnham ME 200,000

Maine Woods Pellet Athens ME 200,000

Geneva Wood Fuels Strong ME 160,000

Greenova LLC Berlin NH 360,000

Lakes Region Pellets Barnstead NH 176,000

New England Wood Pellet Jaffrey NH 50,000

Woodstone Pellets Moreau NY 280,000

New England Wood Pellet Deposit NY 200,000

Curran Renewable Energy Massena NY 200,000

New England Wood Pellet Schuyler NY 200,000

Essex Box & Pallet Chesterfield NY 140,000

PROPOSED BIOMASS POWER AND PELLET FACILITIES, NEW

ENGLAND AND NEW YORK

Clean Power Development Berlin NH 337,274

Laidlaw Energy Henniker NH 269,819

Indeck Energy Alexandria NH 215,855

Catalyst Renewables Geddes NY 539,638

Alliance Energy Renewables Ogdensburg NY 337,274

Newton Falls Fine Paper Newton Falls NY 134,909

U.S. Salt Watkins Glen NY 200,000

NRG Energy Dunkirk NY 202,364

Griffiss Utility Services Rome NY 129,513

Beaver Wood Energy Fair Haven VT 391,237

Beaver Wood Energy Pownal VT 391,237

Winstanley Enterprises North Springfield VT 337,274

Access Ludlow Clean Energy Ludlow VT 337,274

Essex Box & Pallet Chesterfield NY 140,000

Vermont Pellet Works Lyndonville VT 150,000

Renewable Energy Company Island Pond VT 100,000

Vermont Wood Pellet Co. Clarendon VT 20,000

Beaver Wood Energy Fair Haven VT 220,000

Woodstone Pellets (Greenova) Berlin NH 200,000

Vermont Biomass Energy Island Pond VT 200,000

Total new wood demand:

12.4 million green tons annually

Existing biomass fuel use:

~8 million green tons annually

Total roundwood harvest, 2006:

22,077,140 green tons

NEW YORK STATE CLIMATE ACTION PLAN: EXISTING

GENERATION AND 2030 GENERATION FROM BIOMASS UNDER

9,000 GWH SCENARIO

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

9,000,000

10,000,000

MWh from Wood and Wood-derived fuels

22

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040

(Data 1990 – 2009 from Energy Information Administration)

MAINE: A CASE STUDY IN WHAT NOT TO DO

Power sector in 2007:

• 24% from biomass

• 23% from hydropower

• 41% from natural gas• 41% from natural gas

⇒ Low emissions (on paper): 5.57 million tons CO2

Real (but unreported) emissions from biomass:

• 7.9 million tons CO2

BIOMASS HARVEST, MOOSEHEAD LAKE REGION, ME24

May 12, 1998

October 31, 2007

25-ACRE CLEARCUT, MAINE

~ 950 dry tons biomass

Enough fuel to power a 50-MW

biomass plant for about 21 hours

25

Regrowth negligible

after almost ten years

BIOMASS BUILD-OUT UNDER A PROPOSED FEDERAL RES

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP, “CLEARCUT DISASTER”

60,000,000

70,000,000

80,000,000

90,000,000

100,000,000

(gre

en

to

ns)

Wood pellets

Biopower and biofuels

WOOD DEMAND IS GROWING RAPIDLY

-

10,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Wo

od

de

ma

nd

(g

ree

n t

on

s

27

LIQUIDATION OF FOREST CARBON TO

THE ATMOSPHERE: THE

CONSEQUENCES?

RGGI STATES: BIOMASS POWER GENERATION VERSUS CO2 EMISSIONS, 2008

(WOOD/BYPRODUCTS ONLY)

25,000,000

30,000,000

35,000,000

40,000,000

45,000,000

Power sector CO2 emissions

CO2 from wood /by-products (tons)

Reported power sector CO2 (tons)

100,000,000

120,000,000

140,000,000

160,000,000

Power generation

Wood/by-products (MWh)

Total generation (MWh)

29

-

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

CT DE MA MD ME NH NJ NY RI VT

0

20,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

80,000,000

CT DE MA MD ME NH NJ NY RI VT

2,550

2,750

2,950

Mil

lio

n t

on

s ca

rbo

n d

iox

ide

BIOGENIC EMISSIONS MAKE FEDERAL EMISSION REDUCTION GOALS

IMPOSSIBLE TO MEET

3% reduction

from 2006

1,750

1,950

2,150

2,350

2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

Mil

lio

n t

on

s ca

rbo

n d

iox

ide

EIA projected emissions

EIA projected emissions plus

biomass emissions

EIA projected emissions plus

biomass emissions, without the

benefit of CCS

30

14% reduction

from 2006

ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP, “CLEARCUT DISASTER”

Replace coal with biomass?

Current generation from coal:

1,900,000

2,000,000

2,100,000

US Total Electric Power Industry, GWh from Coal

1,500,000

1,600,000

1,700,000

1,800,000

1,900,000

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Potential for co-firing biomass at coal plants (MWh)

80,000,000

100,000,000

120,000,000

0

20,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

MWh from residues (100%)

Existing wood (MWh)

5% coal (MWh)

Considerations for air quality

SMALL-SCALE BIOMASS

Particulate matter emissions from thermal biomass:

comparison to residential wood burning

emission factor

(g/kg) tons fuel fuel moisture

emissions

(tons)

Woodstove 18.5 10 0.2 0.15

Catalytic stove 6.2 10 0.2 0.05

Pellet stove 2 9 0.1 0.016

emission factor

(lb/mmbtu) tons fuel fuel moisture

emissions

(tons)

4 MMBtu/hr

(school boiler) 0.22 1,500 0.45 1.6

15 MMBtu/hr

(lumbermill) 0.25 14,000 0.45 16.6

Small thermal biomass: comparing

emissions to oil

PM rate PM tons NOx rate NOx tons CO rate CO tons VOC rate VOC tons SOx rate SOx tons

Oil burner 0.03 0.29 0.12 1.18 0.04 0.39 0.025 0.25 0.21 2.06

Wood burner 0.22 8.68 0.182 7.18 0.163 6.48 0.004 0.16 0.002 0.08

Air permit application for Wyalusing School District, PA:

New biomass burner with multiclone, and new oil burner

Wood/oil 7.33 29.93 1.52 6.08 4.08 16.62 0.16 0.64 0.01 0.04

PM: emissions from biomass higher than from oil

NOx: emissions from biomass higher

CO: emissions from biomass higherVOCs, SOx: emissions from oil higher

UTILITY-SCALE BIOMASS

Emission rates at existing and proposed biomass plants

generally exceed those from coal (heat input basis, lb/mmbtu)

PM PM NOx NOx CO CO SOx SOxCoal Biomass Coal Biomass Coal Biomass Coal Biomass

0.01 0.02 0.07 0.07 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.02

0.01 0.02 0.07 0.12 0.10 0.19 0.14

0.02 0.03 0.07 0.13 0.10 0.19 0.25

Three best existing performers “BACT clearinghouse”(boilers >250 MMBtu).

0.02 0.03 0.07 0.13 0.10 0.19 0.25

Emissions rates from proposed biomass plants not much better:

PM NOX CO SOx

Gainesville RE, 116 MW, FL 0.015 0.07 0.08 0.029

Perryville RE, 32.5 MW, MO 0.03 0.11 0.11 0.08

Sierra Pacific, 23 MW, CA 0.02 0.13 0.35 0.005

ADAGE, 65 MW, WA 0.03 0.2 0.074 0.32

Killen Coal Plant, OH: Significant increases in organic

hazardous air pollutants when co-firing 5% biomass

Small differences in control efficiency

make a big difference to PM emissions

Control

uncontrolled

emissions

(lb/mmbtu)

btu/lb

wood tons wood

tons PM

(uncontrolled)

control

efficiency

PM rate

(lb/mmbtu)

tons PM

emitted

Multiclone 9.0 4575 26,000 1,071 80.0% 1.8 214 Multiclone 9.0 4575 26,000 1,071 80.0% 1.8 214

ESP 9.0 4575 400,000 16,470 99.0% 0.09 165

Baghouse 9.0 4575 400,000 16,470 99.7% 0.027 49

Baghouse 9.0 4575 400,000 16,470 99.9% 0.009 16

EPA’s proposed emission limits recognize that biomass emits

more than coal

PM limits:

Existing coal and existing biomass plants have the same limit: 0.02 lb/mmbtu

New biomass plants are allowed to emit 8x more PM than new coal plants (0.008 lb/mmbtu

vs. 0.001 lb/mmbtu)

EPA’s proposed emission limits for biomass vs. coal

Hydrochloric acid: new biomass plants allowed to emit more than coal

Mercury: coal emits more

Carbon monoxide: biomass always worse, by order of magnitude

Dioxins/furans: coal and biomass comparable

THE CONTEXT FOR NEW EMISSIONS

PM2.5 levels in Vermont

Potential new 24-hr standard –

coming in July 2011?

Ozone levels in Bennington

Probable new standard

of 0.065 ppm

Prevalence of

adult asthma,

20082008

8.1 – 8.7%

8.7 – 9.8%

9.8 – 10.7%

10.7 – 11.5%

QUESTIONS?

mbooth@massenvironmentalenergy.org