ME - The Wilderness Society releases new wood to energy report

A new report sets out to document the costs and benefits of a range of wood biomass energy options currently under consideration in western Maine and northern New Hampshire

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By Michael Daniels - Bethel Citizen

A new report sets out to document the costs and benefits of a range of wood biomass energy options currently under consideration in western Maine and northern New Hampshire.

Entitled Wood Energy Options for the Mahoosuc Region: A community wood energy guide, the 46-page report was produced by The Wilderness Society, working on behalf of the Mahoosuc Initiative.

TWS and the Mahoosuc Initiative, like many, are excited about the potential opportunities for biomass energy in the region, wrote TWSs Jeremy Sheaffer in announcing the report, but want Mahoosuc Region communities to have a clear idea of both the costs and the benefits of the various potential opportunities.

The report notes that wood can be used to produce energy in the form of heat (or thermal), electricity, or liquid fuels, and the market size for such energy can range from local to global.

Local heat tops the list

But it concludes that when all the cost-benefit trade-offs are factored in, heat is the most efficient of three end-products, and local markets make more economic and environmental sense than international distribution.

In sum a five-page executive summary accompanying the report concludes: thermal uses capture more of the potential energy embodied in wood than electricity or fuel uses, and small-scale projects generate more local economic and social benefits with lower transport and transmission losses. Small community projects can also be scaled to match the capacity of the local forests. Although wood can be a renewable resource, it is also a limited one. The regions wildlife, waterways, and recreational opportunities are also important to area residents and the tourism economy.

Dutch Dresser, of Bethel-based Maine Energy Systems, seconds that view.

MESys, formed in 2007, pioneered the introduction of automatic wood pellet boiler systems and bulk pellet distribution in the United States.

I found the Executive Summary of Wood Energy Options for the Mahoosuc Region to fairly state my understanding of the issues surrounding the use of regionally harvested wood for energy, Dresser told The Citizen.

Our (MESys) research supports fully the claims that thermal use of biomass, particularly in modest scale, in relatively small distribution circles is the very best energy use of this valuable renewable resource.

Click here to view full report

Additional Information

Web Site: http://www.mahoosucinfo.org/mah_bioenergy_final.pdf

Category: Forestry>Biomass Energy

Region: Maine

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