Poplars and willows are fairly fast growing. Plus there are perennial grass feedstocks
Comment on Elements of Renewable Energy
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
Is biomass renewable, though? I mean it takes a lot of time for a tree to grow. A lot.
Nyssa@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
That certainly helps, but still, at scale is hardly sustainable.
keepthepace@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
It is renewable in the sense that given infinite time, you can use it to grow infinite energy (for the nitpickers: assuming an eternal sun).
It is not infinite though and the amount of power you can extract from it is limited but that’s true for every renewable sources: you have a limited amount of places where you can put dams, where you can put windmills or even solar panels.
What is important is that it is not power generation that consumes a scarce good (as fossil power does) but that it is increases in power generation that consumes it, in a reversible way.
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
If you look at it like that, fossil is renewable as well. Just a tiny bit slower, but still, given enough time … :)
keepthepace@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Not really IIRC. Modern bacteria are more efficient at breaking down organic materials and forests buried today won’t make oil anymore.
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
That’s interesting. You have an url handy for now details? Even if this wasn’t the case, fossil generation isn’t real feasible for us anyway.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Wood is a material that’s made from carbon that has been extracted from the atmosphere using an organic process.
You can make buildings and furniture out of wood and you’re sequestering carbon while having a nice place to live and some nice furniture.
You can also burn the wood for heat energy. This releases the carbon into the atmosphere, but the tree that got cut down makes space for a new tree to grow. When that new tree grows it pulls out the carbon that was added by burning the wood. So it’s carbon neutral.
Renewable doesn’t mean it’s instantly replaced. It means there’s a well understood process to replace it. It’s not popular among those that hate the lumber industry, but it’s one of the more environmentally friendly options considering global warming. Consider how trees used for building means using carbon extracted from the air for building things. Even burning wood is carbon neutral, so it’s better than most heating options.
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
Sure, that’s all nice. However at what scale is that sustainable? Also burning wood yields all sorts of fine particles, not just CO2, which are not good for humans. Plus we are reducing forests at global level. Can you imagine the forest area for providing power to a whole city?
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Wood wouldn’t be a good option for powering a city, obviously. Neither is coal though.
Global warming isn’t going to be solved by a single solution. Wood makes sense for building materials and for heating in rural areas. It’s not going to be good for producing electricity, but fortunately there’s other technology for that.
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
Yes, however the article lists it as a power source (of course it’s great for building if possible) hence I’m looking at that aspect only. It’s more suitable for heating, however, again, at scale it would be problematic (at that’s not even a big one) plus emissions are not healthy. If you ignore emissions and use it for heating of few areas here and there (like it is a trend with pellets), taking into account growth rate, it could be a renewable I suppose.
rob@mastodon.nz 1 week ago
@Mihies @gandalf_der_12te Yes it is. The waste from biomass can be used as fertiliser for new plants, so a circle is formed. One tree is not quite the right model, you could think instead about managed forests where older growth is harvested and new growth is always in various stages, from saplings to ‘ready next year’. Carbon from the biomass process is used by the new growth.
stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
Yes, and, once established, a grove of trees can continue providing biomass for literally centuries. Look up coppicing.
Mihies@programming.dev 1 week ago
TIL. But I’m not convinced that this would solve the problem for good. But it certainly helps with growth.
sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 1 week ago
The deforestation of the Amazon is largely driven by a desire for more land to grow biofuels on.
MrMakabar@slrpnk.net 1 week ago
There are other types of biomass though. Using waste product from food production or gas from sewage plants is somewhat reasonable.