Scientific facts the wood pellet industry doesn't want you to know:
When whole trees are pelletized, the carbon they store is released to the atmosphere immediately when they are burned. The small trees that grow back to replace them will store much less carbon for decades — so there is a net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Young trees grow faster than old trees, but most replanted trees will not be near big enough to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from increased forest harvest by the 2030 target of the Paris Climate accord.
Arguments that regrowing forests will “pay back” the carbon debt over 100 years are irrelevant; the most harmful effects of rapid global climate change will be “locked in” within a hundred years.
When looking at or discussing this issue, there is one word that needs to be in the forefront: Sequestration. Not the Congressional budgeting blunt instrument, but the chemical action. Carbon is a basic element, and when plants and microorganisms consume it, that carbon doesn't magically disappear. It is stored in the form of cellulose and other compounds. So when we burn the wood from trees, especially older trees, we are releasing carbon into the atmosphere that had been sequestered up to a hundred years ago, and all the years in-between. And we're also taking that mature tree, with its healthy appetite for atmospheric carbon, out of the carbon uptake formula:
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