by Mike Crouse
Log Trucker Magazine
Brown outs and the spike in gasoline prices have brought out the cry for alternative energy sources yet again. Wind generators and solar collectors remain the darlings of media, and while they have greatly improved the technology the past several decades, they still fall short of satisfying present and future demands.
A known technology, which is tried, proven and being refined even further is biomass...which our beloved, enlightened media(ideological blinders firmly in place) seems to have totally missed. The message of biomass as a real energy solution has not missed the Europeans, however. Ever energy conscious, Scandinavian countries in particular are exploring and utilizing biomass from their forests to fire steam generating plants producing electricity while cleaning up their forestlands, producing a true win-win scenario.
Everywhere we travel we're exposed to overstocked forests in desperate need of thinning, yet with no market for thinned materials. Biomass electrical generation plants hold the promise of providing a market for those materials, while providing predictable electrical generation capacity we so desperately need, in addition to reducing our need for imported oil and/or gas. Sound like a winner? Well, yes...However...
As responsible and reasonable as it sounds, biomass has one giant hurdle it needs to clear... public perception, and public policy.
In the public policy arena, one ally who should see biomass as an answer to American energy independence is the Eco-industry. They can serve to advance the policy, or to block it...or simply to ignore it.
We think it is time to bring biomass to the forefront. First...we have fuels in abundance, with more growing every day. Secondly, it is broadly available and expanding in terms of availability. Thirdly, it is very good for the forests, particularly when properly managed, to thin growing forests, then utilize th wood products via developing and existing technologies to remove those materials to generate electrical supply.
What is needed is a change in public policy to take advantage of the supply, the technology, and assert our energy independence by using what we already have which is currently being left to rot, or left ot fuel forest fires. We see it as a win-win, and another step towards energy independence to keep our country and future generations free.
To achieve these ends requires the help of those within the environmental community to press for a change in public policy in recognizing the present and future production. It is responsible, it is accessible, environmentally friendly, and it is grown on our own soil.
It is time we step up to all alternatives in dealing with the energy that keeps our nation independent. It's time we look at biomass, and bring it to the table, putting it to work for all our benefit.