need help again for a project I working on

[elkimmeg]

With all the grenhouse gas talk, how does wood burning compare to fossil fuel, contributing to the problem.
What is a comparison from a cord of wood to the equal amount of home heating oil burned? or per BTU
Any studies I can index

 

[Shane]

I can't present any hard numbers or studies but I would venture to say that wood burns in nature. Fossil fuels, to my knowledge, don't burn in nature. I suppose aside from coal seam fires and methane that escapes from underground pockets. To get to the point though it seems that wood fires are natural cycle while the fossil fuels are not.

 

[HalJason]

I can't present any hard numbers or studies but I would venture to say that wood burns in nature. Fossil fuels, to my knowledge, don't burn in nature. I suppose aside from coal seam fires and methane that escapes from underground pockets. To get to the point though it seems that wood fires are natural cycle while the fossil fuels are not.

The carbon contained in a downed tree would be recycled (into the earth, into the atmosphere) regardless of whether it was burned or not. Furthermore, this carbon was gathered (from the earth, atmosphere) over the tree's lifetime (in general, fairly short in the grand scheme of things, a few hundred years at most).

Compare this to the carbon locked up underground in an oil field. This carbon has been out of circulation for millions of years.

Elk, I think you'll get all the info you need if you type the following into google:

"wood burning" "carbon neutral"

-Hal

 

[HalJason]

Just realized Elk was really looking for numbers.

From this PDF: www.coolitchallenge.org/documents/CoolItcalcInstruct1.3.pdf which
is a "greenhouse gas emissions calculator":


Wood: Burning wood in fireplaces or wood stoves creates 3400 pounds of CO2
emissions per ton. (One cord of wood, 8 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet, weighs 2 tons). But, the
carbon in wood is part of the natural carbon balance (like biodiesel) and will not add to
atmospheric concentrations of CO2 IF new trees are grown to replace the trees from
which the wood is taken. You may use an emission factor of zero for wood that will be
replaced by new tree growth. You can calculate CO2 emissions for all, none, or a
percentage of the wood burned, based on your local situation. For example, if it is
determined that half of the trees cut down for firewood are replaced by new trees,
multiply your total tons of wood burned by 0.5 and then multiply the result by 3400.


-Hal

 

[Shane]

Hal, we were trying to make the same point, your just better at wording things!

 

[restorer]

Elk:
in the next day of two there is an international report being released on global warming. It's supposed to be full of facts and figures, plus annotations. Put out by the Intergovernmental Agency on Climate Change. Here's an article about it:

http://tinyurl.com/29fuea