DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’

Abstract

The use of wood for bioenergy production results in a worse climate outcome than from using coal. However, many of the assumptions on which their primary wood bioenergy scenario is based are not realistic and therefore are not informative. Assumptions of uncharacteristically long rotations for southern pine plantations, no utilization of wood for longer-duration products, and a single harvest over 100 years understate the carbon performance of current forest management practices. We provide references that support realistic modeling of forest carbon dynamics that are reflective of current practice and therefore more informative.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [8];  [8]
  1. NCASI, Roanoke, VA (United States)
  2. NCASI, Montreal, QC (Canada)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. NCASI, Cary, NC (United States)
  6. Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (Netherlands)
  7. CORRIM - The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, Corvalis, OR (United States)
  8. SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1492519
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-6A20-72297
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Environmental Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 13; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 BIOMASS FUELS; biomass energy; forest management; CO2 emissions

Citation Formats

Prisley, Stephen P., Gaudreault, Caroline, Lamers, Patrick, Stewart, William, Miner, Reid, Junginger, H. M., Oneil, Elaine, Malmsheimer, Robert, and Volk, Timothy A. Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203.
Prisley, Stephen P., Gaudreault, Caroline, Lamers, Patrick, Stewart, William, Miner, Reid, Junginger, H. M., Oneil, Elaine, Malmsheimer, Robert, & Volk, Timothy A. Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203
Prisley, Stephen P., Gaudreault, Caroline, Lamers, Patrick, Stewart, William, Miner, Reid, Junginger, H. M., Oneil, Elaine, Malmsheimer, Robert, and Volk, Timothy A. Tue . "Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1492519.
@article{osti_1492519,
title = {Comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’},
author = {Prisley, Stephen P. and Gaudreault, Caroline and Lamers, Patrick and Stewart, William and Miner, Reid and Junginger, H. M. and Oneil, Elaine and Malmsheimer, Robert and Volk, Timothy A.},
abstractNote = {The use of wood for bioenergy production results in a worse climate outcome than from using coal. However, many of the assumptions on which their primary wood bioenergy scenario is based are not realistic and therefore are not informative. Assumptions of uncharacteristically long rotations for southern pine plantations, no utilization of wood for longer-duration products, and a single harvest over 100 years understate the carbon performance of current forest management practices. We provide references that support realistic modeling of forest carbon dynamics that are reflective of current practice and therefore more informative.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aaf203},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
number = 12,
volume = 13,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 18 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Tue Dec 18 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Conclusions from Sterman et al (2018) and responses.

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

What Drives Land-Use Change in the United States? A National Analysis of Landowner Decisions
journal, September 2008

  • Lubowski, R. N.; Plantinga, A. J.; Stavins, R. N.
  • Land Economics, Vol. 84, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.3368/le.84.4.529

Modeling the impacts of wood pellet demand on forest dynamics in southeastern United States
journal, September 2017

  • Duden, Anna S.; Verweij, Pita A.; Junginger, H. Martin
  • Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, Vol. 11, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1002/bbb.1803

Short-rotation woody crops for bioenergy and biofuels applications
journal, August 2009

  • Hinchee, Maud; Rottmann, William; Mullinax, Lauren
  • In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant, Vol. 45, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1007/s11627-009-9235-5

How is wood-based pellet production affecting forest conditions in the southeastern United States?
journal, July 2017


Environmental implications of harvesting lower-value biomass in forests
journal, January 2018


Potential greenhouse gas benefits of transatlantic wood pellet trade
journal, January 2014


Climate, economic, and environmental impacts of producing wood for bioenergy
journal, April 2018

  • Birdsey, Richard; Duffy, Philip; Smyth, Carolyn
  • Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aab9d5

Tree Nutrition and Forest Fertilization of Pine Plantations in the Southern United States
journal, February 2007

  • Fox, Thomas R.; Lee Allen, H.; Albaugh, Timothy J.
  • Southern Journal of Applied Forestry, Vol. 31, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1093/sjaf/31.1.5

Bioenergy production and forest landscape change in the southeastern United States
journal, August 2016

  • Costanza, Jennifer K.; Abt, Robert C.; McKerrow, Alexa J.
  • GCB Bioenergy, Vol. 9, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.12386

Biomass market dynamics supporting the large-scale deployment of high-octane fuel production in the United States
journal, April 2018

  • Lamers, Patrick; Nguyen, Ruby T.; Hartley, Damon S.
  • GCB Bioenergy, Vol. 10, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.12509

What Drives Land-Use Change in the United States? A National Analysis of Landowner Decisions
journal, January 2008

  • Lubowski, Ruben N.; Plantinga, Andrew J.; Stavins, Robert N.
  • SSRN Electronic Journal
  • DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1281520

Responsiveness of Rural and Urban Land Uses to Land Rent Determinants in the U.S. South
journal, November 2000

  • Hardie, Ian; Parks, Peter; Gottleib, Peter
  • Land Economics, Vol. 76, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.2307/3146958

Will U.S. Forests Continue to Be a Carbon Sink?
journal, January 2018

  • Tian, Xiaohui; Sohngen, Brent; Baker, Justin
  • Land Economics, Vol. 94, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.3368/le.94.1.97

Carbon Emissions and Sequestration from Fertilization of Pine in the Southeastern United States
journal, October 2012

  • Albaugh, Timothy J.; Vance, Eric D.; Gaudreault, Caroline
  • Forest Science, Vol. 58, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.5849/forsci.11-050

Works referencing / citing this record:

Reply to comment on ‘Does replacing coal with wood lower CO 2 emissions? Dynamic lifecycle analysis of wood bioenergy’
journal, December 2018

  • Sterman, John D.; Siegel, Lori; Rooney-Varga, Juliette N.
  • Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaf354

Figures / Tables found in this record:

    Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.