bark and most of their wood byproducts not sold for 

 woodpulp or particleboard furnish. '^ As fossil fuel 

 prices continue rising, some plants will bring in 

 nearby forest residues, or urban residues, to supple- 

 ment mill fuels. 



Currently, a small amount of mill wood byprod- 

 ucts and bark is used for producing heat or steam 

 power at other manufacturing plants or institutional 

 commercial buildings outside the wood processing 

 industries. There is much interest in the possibility of 

 increasing the use of wood for such purposes — 

 especially as an outlet for forest residues and wood 

 from cull trees, thinnings, and dead trees." It is too 

 early to predict with any reliability the eventual 

 extent of such use. 



In 1978, wood and bark provided all or part of the 

 fuel requirements of some 10 or 12 utility plants in the 

 United States. '^ In at least one case, excess power 

 produced at a pulpmill was used as part of a munici- 

 pal electricity supply. More such arrangements are 

 expected. '3 Plans for several new wood-using steam- 

 electric plants have been announced. For example, by 

 1978, Vermont's Burlington Electric had converted 

 one coal furnace to accept wood chips. The company 

 converted another in 1979 and plans to construct a 

 new 50 megawatt plant by 1983. Nearly all wood used 

 in steam-electric facilities in the past has been mill 

 byproducts, but harvesting of timber specifically for 

 fuel is envisioned in some current plans. '""^ With 

 increasing use of sawmill and veneer mill byproducts 

 for pulp and particleboard furnish, or for fuels by 

 wood-processing plants themselves, there probably 

 will be few locations in the United States where suffi- 

 ciently large concentrations of mill residues will be 

 available for utility operation. A recent study indi- 

 cated that a 50 megawatt steam-electric plant would 

 require 240,000 dry tons of wood annually. '^ 



'"Jamison, R. L., N. E. Methuen, and R. A. Shade. Energy from 

 biomass. A report of Task Force No. 5 of the Industrial Energy 

 Group; National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, D.C. 

 15 p. June 29, 1978. 



" U.S. Department of Energy, Solar energy — a status report. 55 

 p. June 1978. 



'2 U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory 

 Commission, Monthly power plant reports (F.E.R.C. Form No. 4) 

 Computer printout dated April 3, 1979. 



'5 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Quads. 

 Report No. 7 on energy activities. August 1979. 



I'' See, for example. New England Energy Congress. Final 

 report. May 1979; sponsored by the New England Congressional 

 Caucus and Tufts University. 454 p. (Available from the New Eng- 

 land Energy Congress, 14 Whitfield Road, Somerville, Maine 

 02144.) 



"See also. State of Washington, Department of Natural 

 Resources. Wood waste for energy study. Report to State of Wash- 

 ington, House of Representatives, Committee on Natural Re- 

 sources. 216 p. 1978. 



The ultimate magnitude of fuelwood use by steam- 

 electric plants will depend on many factors, such as 

 price trends for coal and oil in comparison to fuel- 

 wood, practical aspects of developing assured long- 

 term fuelwood supplies, problems in collecting and 

 storing very large quantities of wood or bark, and 

 advantages or disadvantages of the various fuels in 

 meeting emission control standards.'^ The National 

 Energy Act of 1978 provides for incentives toward 

 cogeneration and use of fuels other than oil and gas in 

 steam-electric facilities.'^ Because the fuelwood re- 

 quirements of even small steam electric plants would 

 be very large, the potential impact of a single such 

 installation on local timber supply could be great. If 

 many were developed, there would be major impacts 

 on timber resources, and especially hardwood re- 

 sources, over large areas. Again, however, it is too 

 early to make reliable projections of timber demand 

 for steam-electric utilities. 



Plantations. — With practices similar to those used 

 in modern agriculture, intensively cultivated planta- 

 tions of fast-growing trees can produce as much as 10 

 tons per acre (dry basis) per year of wood, bark, and 

 foliage. The possibility of establishing such planta- 

 tions on a vast scale to provide a steady source of fuel 

 for steam-electric utilities, or raw material for chemi- 

 cal conversion to liquid fuels, recently has received 

 much attention from scientists and energy policy- 

 makers.'^' 20 Plantations of tens of thousands or 

 hundreds of thousands of acres might be required. 

 Several small-scale (1,000 acre) trials now are 

 planned to provide improved estimates of yields and 

 costs of such plantations. Large-scale application 

 could profoundly affect forestry in the United States; 

 but until more information on practical economics 

 becomes available, it is not possible to make mean- 

 ingful projections of timber demand and supply 

 effects. 



Environmental and economic considerations. — 

 Fuel uses already provide outlets for large quantities 

 of mill byproducts and for some urban wood refuse, 

 thus mitigating large waste-disposal problems. Pro- 

 ducing fuel from logging residues, cull trees, and por- 

 tions of overstocked stands would, in many cases. 



'^ Letter from R. L. Jamison, Director of Energy Management, 

 Weyerhaeuser Company, to Richard Bryant, U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Forest Service, April 10, 1978. 



"Ellis, Thomas H. Should wood be a source of commercial 

 power? Forest Products J. 25(10): 12-16. October 1975. 



'*U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Public Affairs. The 

 National Energy Act. DOE information kit. 47 p. November 1978. 



"See for example: Inman, R. E. Silvicultural biomass farms, 

 MITRE Corp., McLean, Virginia Vol. I summary. 62 p. 1977. 



2° See also: Calef, Charles E. Not out of the woods. Environment 

 18(7): 17-25. September 1976. 



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