wood is still on the list of energy sources

We have over 14-million acres of forestland, and almost twice as much wood grows each year than is harvested.  Some of that wood is for paper and furniture, but are trees a potential energy source?  America must find alternative sources for fuel and energy in the future.

Traditionally we think of corn ethanol and other crops that can be converted, but Tennessee’s vast forests might also someday be used for biomass.

“Certainly we have a lot of waste wood products from the harvest of our woody crops that are left in many cases that could go into biomass,” says Dr. Bob Hayes, Director of UT’s West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson.

At WTREC, scientists are studying trees - like 80-foot sycamores growing for two decades - and the potential to turn parts of them into biomass. 

“Sycamores are very adapted to this area, to the mid-south, to our bottomlands. They are a fast-growing tree,” says Dr. Hayes. “The original study down here was biomass production on marginal soil. This was a kind of statewide project.  We were comparing a number of species.”

Results of the study show that sycamores perform well in soil not necessarily ideal for row crops.  Pines also were good here, and that’s encouraging for Tennessee landowners.

The lumber industry has actually been using wood for biomass for a good while now.  When a log goes to a sawmill, about half the product goes for traditional lumber, while the rest becomes paper, fuel or energy.  Nearly 800-thousand tons of harvesting tree residue is produced in Tennessee each year, and UT experts say more of that could be converted to biomass.

“I talk a lot about the good news of wood,” says Dr. Adam Taylor, a researcher in UT’s Biofuels Initiative - where he looks at how we can best use Tennessee’s woody resources to benefit landowners and consumers.  “Tennessee forests - there’s a lot of it, for one thing and it’s growing faster than we’re cutting it,” Taylor says.

Dr. Taylor believes wood for biomass is an environmentally sound idea.  “Wood can be harvested every few decades, so you get to build up the woody biomass over a number of years rather than have to harvest it every year - which is a rather intensive operation.  Wood is fairly stable, so that you can store it for long periods of time without it degrading.”

Currently biomass provides about three percent of Tennessee’s energy consumption, but that will likely increase in the future.  UT researchers are also developing a hybrid poplar tree that grows quickly, and could be used for biomass.