The Best Thing To Do with
Colorado's Greatest Sustainable Natural Resource -
Burn It?
|
|
The NewYork Times recently published an article about the growing movement to save money by heating with wood. They quote one supplier of wood stoves as saying that sales have not been this brisk since the energy crisis of the 1970's. The U.S. forest Service instituted a program called Fuels For Schools that is being touted as a way for communities to not only save money but also provide jobs, reduce the "greenhouse" effect, and reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy! According to Professor Kurt Mackes there are currently 30 or more biomass fuel projects in various stages of development underway in Colorado. Colorado State University is studying the feasibility of using wood to heat a complex of buildings on the Foothills campus. Jefferson County has recently completed a feasibility study aimed at utilizing forest biomass and urban wood waste for energy generation. Boulder County has already installed a Messersmith System to heat a complex of county buildings near the airport at Longmont. There seem to be a host of benefits derived from combining modern sustainable forestry methods with new technologies now available for using wood and other biomass to create energy. Those of us practicing sustainable forestry in Colorado should be aware of the benefits, as well as the drawbacks associated with these new technologies. In order to encourage and participate in this new market for our wood waste, we need to understand why one of the best ways to utilize Colorado's greatest sustainable natural resource may be to burn it! This area of our website will be devoted to providing information on the new technologies available for using biomass, which in our case means slash and small diameter wood. We'll provide links to articles that:
|