Tag: climate

  • Biomass Thermal: The Logs That Break the Forest’s Back

    Biomass Thermal: The Logs That Break the Forest’s Back A sector of the biomass incineration industry claims to be turning over a new “green” leaf by building smaller, slightly more energy-efficient facilities focused on heating rather than electricity. Meanwhile, behind the smokescreen, biomass thermal advocates are supporting much of the same forest-raiding, climate-busting, and lung-searing…

  • Push for Ethanol Production Carries Costs to Land

    – by Dina Cappiello and Matt Apuzzo, November 12, 2013, Source: AP The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield.…

  • 250 Scientists Concerned about Post-fire Logging

    250 Scientists Concerned about Post-fire Logging November 4, 2013, Source: Yuba.net In an open letter to the U.S. Congress, 250 scientists request that Congress show restraint in speeding up logging in the wake of this year’s wildfires, most notably the Rim fire in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park. The scientists raised concerns that currently…

  • $10 Million Taxpayer Money to Convert Beetle-Killed Trees to Biofuel

    $10 Million Taxpayer Money to Convert Beetle-Killed Trees to Biofuel – by Ashley Sanchez, November 6, 2013, Source: ABC Fox Montana The University of Montana is awarded part of a $10 million grant to find ways to turn beetle-killed trees into biofuel. Pine beetle infestations have impacted more than 42 million acres of U.S. forests for more…

  • Wood – An Imperfect Biomass

    Wood – An Imperfect Biomass – by Jack Dini, November 12, 2013, Source: Canada Free Press The largest, so-called renewable fuel used in Europe is not solar power or wind power, but wood. As The Economist reports, “In its various forms, from sticks to pellets to sawdust, wood (or to use its fashionable name, biomass) accounts for about…

  • Forests Could Face Threat from Biomass Power “Gold Rush”

    Forests Could Face Threat from Biomass Power “Gold Rush” – by Jamie Doward, The Observer Britain’s new generation of biomass power stations will have to source millions of tonnes of wood from thousands of miles away if they are to operate near to their full capacity, raising questions about the claims made for the sustainability of…

  • Typhoons, Climate Negotiations and a Reality Check

    Typhoons, Climate Negotiations and a Reality Check – by Rachel Smolker, Biofuelwatch The latest round of climate negotiations are opening just as we are hearing the stories and viewing images on the news coverage of the devastation wrought on the Philippines by Typhoon Haiyan (aka Yolanda).  Coincidentally, the last round of climate negotiations, COP 18…

  • False Solutions for Forests: Biomass Energy, Sustainable Timber, and Carbon Markets

    False Solutions for Forests: Biomass Energy, Sustainable Timber, and Carbon Markets – by Jeff Conant, Friends of the Earth In the landscape of global deforestation, a tension exists between policies and practices aimed at drawing a sharp halt to the exploitation of forests and forest peoples and those designed to stimulate a vaguely promised market shift…

  • Speak Up On “National Bioenergy Truth Day” – Thursday, October 17

    Speak Up On “National Bioenergy Truth Day” – Thursday, October 17   Please take 5 minutes of your time on Thursday, October 17 to make phone calls to select members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (listed below with talking points) to voice your opposition to the latest piece of legislation that would…

  • European Biofuels Vote Delivers ‘Desperately Weak Compromise’

    European Biofuels Vote Delivers ‘Desperately Weak Compromise’ – by Karl Mathiesen, September 11, 2013. Source: The Guardian The European parliament has delivered a “desperately weak compromise” on the future of biofuels in Europe that industry says will “curtail jobs and investment”. In a tight vote on the use of biofuels in transport fuel, the parliament approved a 6% cap on the…