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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BIOMASS SUSTAINABILITY AND CARBON POLICY INTRODUCTION This study addresses a wide array of scientific, economic and technological issues related to the use of forest biomass for gener- ating energy in Massachusetts. The study team, assembled and directed by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, was composed of experts in forest ecosystems management and policy; natural resource economics; and energy technology and policy. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) commissioned and funded the study. The study provides analysis of three key energy and environmental policy questions that are being asked as the state develops its policies on the use of forest biomass. 1. What are the atmospheric greenhouse gas implications of shifting energy production from fossil fuel sources to forest biomass? 2. How much wood is available from forests to support biomass energy development in Massachusetts? 3. What are the potential ecological impacts of increased biomass harvests on forests in the Commonwealth, and what if any policies are needed to ensure these harvests are sustainable? The goal of the report is to inform the development of DOER’s biomass policies by providing up-to-date information and analysis on the scientific and economic issues raised by these questions. We have not been asked to propose specific policies except in the case where new approaches may be needed to protect the ecological functioning of forests. We do not consider non-forest sources of wood biomass (e.g., tree care and landscaping, mill residues, construction debris), which are potentially available in significant quantities but which have very different greenhouse gas (GHG) implications. This Executive Summary highlights key results from our research and the implications for the development of biomass energy policies in Massachusetts. While certain of the study’s insights are broadly applicable across the region (e.g., estimates of excess lifecycle emissions from combustion of biomass compared to fossil fuels), it is also important to recognize that many other conclu- sions are specific to the situation in Massachusetts—particularly greenhouse gas accounting outcomes that depend on the forest management practices of the state’s landowners, which likely differ considerably from those in neighboring states. Nonetheless, the framework and approach that we have developed for assessing the impacts of wood biomass energy have wide applicability for other regions and countries. SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS Greenhouse Gases and Forest Biomass: At the state, national, and international level, policies encouraging the development of forest biomass energy have generally adopted a view of biomass as a carbon neutral energy source because the carbon emissions were considered part of a natural cycle in which growing forests over time would re-capture the carbon emitted by wood-burning energy facilities. Beginning in the 1990s, however, researchers began conducting studies that reflect a more complex understanding of carbon cycle implications of biomass combustion. Our study, which is based on a comprehensive lifecycle carbon accounting framework, explores this more complex picture in the context of biomass energy development in Massachusetts. The atmospheric greenhouse gas implications of burning forest biomass for energy vary depending on the characteristics of the bioenergy combustion technology, the fossil fuel technology it replaces, and the biophysical and forest management characteristics of the forests from which the biomass is harvested. Forest biomass generally emits more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels per unit of energy produced. We define these excess emissions as the biomass carbon debt. Over time, however, re-growth of the harvested forest removes this carbon from the atmosphere, reducing the carbon debt. After the point at which the debt is paid off, biomass begins yielding carbon dividends in the form of atmospheric greenhouse gas levels that are lower than would have occurred from the use of fossil fuels to produce the same amount of energy (Figure 1). The full recovery of the biomass carbon debt and the magnitude of the carbon dividend benefits also depend on future forest management actions and natural disturbance events allowing that recovery to occur. BIOMASS SUSTAINABILITY AND CARBON POLICY STUDY MANOMET CENTER FOR CONSERVATION SCIENCES 6 NATURAL CAPITAL INITIATIVE Figure 1 (tonnes of carbon). The schematic above represents the incremental carbon storage over time of a stand harvested for biomass energy wood relative to a typically harvested stand (BAU). The initial carbon debt (9 tonnes) is shown as the difference between the total carbon harvested for biomass (20 tonnes) and the carbon released by fossil fuel burning (11 tonnes) that produces an equivalent amount of energy. The carbon dividend is defined in the graph as the portion of the fossil fuel emissions (11 tonnes) that are offset by forest growth at a particular point in time. In the example, after the 9 tonnes biomass carbon debt is recovered by forest growth (year 32), atmospheric GHG levels fall below what they would have been had an equivalent amount of energy been generated from fossil fuels. This is the point at which the benefits of burning biomass begin to accrue, rising over time as the forest sequesters greater amounts of carbon relative to the typical harvest. The initial level of the carbon debt is an important determinant of the desirability of producing energy from forest biomass. Figure 2 provides a summary of carbon debts, expressed as the percentagePDF Image | NATURAL CAPITAL INITIATIVE AT MANOMET
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