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Energy forestry is a form of forestry in which a fast-growing species of tree or woody shrub is grown specifically to provide biomass
Biomass

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production....
 or biofuel
Biofuel

Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuel derived from relatively recently dead biological material and is distinguished from fossil fuels, which are petroleum#formation....
 for heating or power generation.

The two forms of energy forestry are short rotation coppice
Short rotation coppice

Short Rotation Coppice is coppicing grown as an energy crop. This woody solid biomass can be used in applications such as heating, electric power generating stations, alone or in combination with other fuels....
 and short rotation forestry
Short rotation forestry

Short Rotation Forestry is grown as an energy crop for use in power stations, alone or in combination with other fuels such as coal. It is similar to historic wood fuel coppice systems....
:

Benefits
The main advantage of using "grown fuels", as oppossed to "fossils fuels" such as coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
, natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
 and oil
Oil

An oil is a chemical substance that is in a viscosity liquid state at room temperature or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic and lipophilic ....
, is that while they are growing they absorb the near-equivalent in carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 (an important greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that Absorption and Emission radiation within the Infrared#Different regions in the infrared range....
) to that which is later released in their burning .






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Encyclopedia


Energy forestry is a form of forestry in which a fast-growing species of tree or woody shrub is grown specifically to provide biomass
Biomass

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production....
 or biofuel
Biofuel

Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuel derived from relatively recently dead biological material and is distinguished from fossil fuels, which are petroleum#formation....
 for heating or power generation.

The two forms of energy forestry are short rotation coppice
Short rotation coppice

Short Rotation Coppice is coppicing grown as an energy crop. This woody solid biomass can be used in applications such as heating, electric power generating stations, alone or in combination with other fuels....
 and short rotation forestry
Short rotation forestry

Short Rotation Forestry is grown as an energy crop for use in power stations, alone or in combination with other fuels such as coal. It is similar to historic wood fuel coppice systems....
:
  • Short rotation coppice are crops of Poplar
    Poplar

    Populus is a genus of between 25?35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere....
     or Willow
    Willow

    Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
    , grown for 2 to 5 years before harvest.
  • Short rotation forestry are crops of Alder
    Alder

    Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of Plant sexuality trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the New World also along the Andes southwards to Argentina....
    , Ash
    Ash tree

    Fraxinus is a genus of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The leaf are opposite , and mostly pinnately-compound, simple in a few species....
    , Birch
    Birch

    Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae....
    , Eucalyptus
    Eucalyptus

    Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of Flowering plant trees in the Myrtus family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia....
    , Poplar
    Poplar

    Populus is a genus of between 25?35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere....
    , and Sycamore
    Sycamore

    Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms.* Ficus sycomorus, the sycamore of the Bible; a species of fig, also called the "sycamore fig" or "fig-mulberry", native to the Middle East and eastern Africa...
    , grown for 8 to 20 years before harvest.


Benefits


The main advantage of using "grown fuels", as oppossed to "fossils fuels" such as coal
Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
, natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
 and oil
Oil

An oil is a chemical substance that is in a viscosity liquid state at room temperature or slightly warmer, and is both hydrophobic and lipophilic ....
, is that while they are growing they absorb the near-equivalent in carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
 (an important greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that Absorption and Emission radiation within the Infrared#Different regions in the infrared range....
) to that which is later released in their burning . Whereas by burning fossil fuels we are increasing atmospheric carbon unsustainably, by using carbon that was added to the earths carbon sink millions of years ago in processes which took millions of years to complete, and this is a prime cause of global warming
Global warming

Global warming is the increase in the Instrumental temperature record of the Earth's near-surface air and the oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation....
. Yields of some varieties can be as high as 12 oven dry tonnes every year.

These crops can also be used in bank stabilisation and phytoremediation
Phytoremediation

Phytoremediation describes the treatment of natural environmental problems through the use of plants.The word's etymology comes from the Greek f?t? = plant, and Latin ? remedium ? = restoring balance, or remediating....
.

Problems


Although in many areas of the world government funding is still required to support large scale development of energy forestry as an industry, it is seen as a valuable component of the renewable energy network and will be increasingly important in the future .

Growing trees are relatively water intensive.

The system of energy forestry has faced criticism over food vs. fuel, whereby it has become financially profitable to replace food crops with energy crops. For more information see issues relating to biofuels
Issues relating to biofuels

There are various current issues with biofuel production and use, which are presently being discussed in the popular media and scientific journals. These include: the effect of moderating oil prices, the "food vs fuel" debate, carbon emissions levels, sustainable biofuel production, deforestation and soil erosion, impact on water resources, human r...
 and Food vs fuel
Food vs fuel

Food vs. fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production in detriment of the food supply on a global scale....
 wikipedia pages.

See also


  • Biomass
    Biomass

    Biomass, as a renewable energy source, refers to living and recently dead biological material that can be used as fuel or for industrial production....
  • Biofuel
    Biofuel

    Biofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuel derived from relatively recently dead biological material and is distinguished from fossil fuels, which are petroleum#formation....
  • Treethanol
    Treethanol

    Treethanol is an ethanol fuel made from trees.Forest trees contain more than 90% of the Earth?s terrestrial biomass, providing such environmental benefits as carbon sequestration, sustainable energy supplies, improved air quality, and biodiversity....
  • Energy crop
    Energy crop

    An energy crop is a plant grown as a low cost and low maintenance harvest used to make biofuels, or directly exploited for its energy content....
  • Non food crops
    Non Food Crops

    The term non food crop applies to the use of agricultural crop for uses other than human or animal consumption .The range of crops with non-food uses is broad....
  • Poplar
    Poplar

    Populus is a genus of between 25?35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere....
  • Short rotation coppice
    Short rotation coppice

    Short Rotation Coppice is coppicing grown as an energy crop. This woody solid biomass can be used in applications such as heating, electric power generating stations, alone or in combination with other fuels....
  • Short rotation forestry
    Short rotation forestry

    Short Rotation Forestry is grown as an energy crop for use in power stations, alone or in combination with other fuels such as coal. It is similar to historic wood fuel coppice systems....
  • Willow
    Willow

    Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....