What a sensible idea and something the UK actually did quite well before the advent of Clone Town Britain.
Friday 17 April 2009
Is wood burning a hole in your carbon footprint?
Here's a great blog asking the question I've been asking myself recently about these "biomass fuels" (fancy name for things that first you grow, before you burn them).
The basic jist is that its not as simple as 'carbon in = carbon out' equals carbon neutrality. Its about the rate of carbon release (through burning) versus the rate of carbon absorption (throughout the life of the tree). If a tree takes 50 - 100 years to grow and 1 week to burn on a fire, then just because you plant a tree for everyone you chop down - doesn't mean you're saving the planet today.
If you look at the rate of carbon release throughout the world today, versus the rate of carbon absorption by the biosphere (forests etc) in the world today...
Should we be planting more trees? Defintely.
Should we be chopping down any trees? Probably not.
Should we be looking at passive energy systems as a workable alternative (wind, wave, solar, mini-hydro) I think so...
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