Posted on 01/10/2010 3:35:15 PM PST by neverdem
It sounded like a good idea: Provide a little government money to convert wood shavings and plant waste into renewable energy.
But as laudable as that goal sounds, it could end up causing more economic damage than good -- driving up the price of raw timber, undermining an industry that has long used sawdust and wood shavings to make affordable cabinetry, and highlighting the many challenges involved in decreasing the nation's dependence on oil by using organic materials to create biofuels.
In a matter of months, the Biomass Crop Assistance Program -- a small provision tucked into the 2008 farm bill -- has mushroomed into a half-a-billion dollar subsidy that is funneling taxpayer dollars to sawmills and lumber wholesalers, encouraging them to sell their waste to be converted into high-tech biofuels. In doing so, it is shutting off the supply of cheap timber byproducts to the nation's composite wood manufacturers, who make panels for home entertainment centers and kitchen cabinets.
While it remains unclear whether Congress or the Obama administration will push to revamp the program, even some businesses that should benefit from the subsidy are beginning to question its value.
"It's not right. It's not serving any purpose," said Bob Jordan, president of Jordan Lumber & Supply in North Carolina, even while noting that he might be able to get twice as much money for his mill's sawdust and shavings under the program.
"The best thing they could do is forget about it. All it's doing is driving the price of wood up."
A range of renewable materials can be converted into energy sources: Wood pellets, rice hulls and fiber from sugar cane can produce electricity; algae and corn cobs can be converted into liquid fuel. The federal government is actively working to support the growth of...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
No, it did not sound like a good idea. It sounded like every other wasteful idea that the statists come up to spend our money where it shouldn't be.
The sawmill I used to work for burned dust and chips to make steam to generate some of their own electricity as well as provide heat for their kilns. They also sold several tractor trailer loads per day.
They never think of the consequences.
They force and/or facilitate banks to make questionable loans to people who truly did not qualify while congratulating themselves on how many people owned a big home never understanding the risks to our whole economy.
Ethanol caused corn/feed prices to spike. The results were felt worldwide.
They banned DDT based on the same type of liberal dogma that has given us global warming. Millions have died from malaria.
They admit that entitlements will bankrupt our nation yet they refuse to cut existing programs and make new entitlements to spend more. Yes, President Bush did this too.
They allow a small number of radical environmentalists to stop the production of our own abundant sources of fossil fuels risking our economic and national security. The same industries that could provide good jobs and revenue to our nation. As a consequence, we pour our wealth into countries that despise us. The same nations that fund radical islam.
Etc. etc. etc.
Progressives, liberals, socialists, communists..... I don’t care what you call them. They fail at logic and our children will pay for it.
These same people are bent on further destruction with health care, amnesty, cap and trade, and forced unionization among other ideas that logically fail.
Amazing is’nt it?
All of this and much more to propagate the hoax of global warming. Drill here, drill now, drive safely and often.
Subsidies distort the market price of goods and services. The true costs are masked and the economy is less efficient. Health care? Wind Farms? Electric vehicles? Cash for Clunkers? Mortgage foreclosure forgiveness? Wall Street bank bailout? California bankruptcy rescue? The worst of the worst are the subsidies to organizations that actively drag the economy, ecokooks, Acorn, global warming kooks, UN, food police.
driving up the price of raw timber, undermining an industry that has long used sawdust and wood shavings to make affordable cabinetryDrill the ANWR. thanks neverdem.
They f*** up nearly every single thing they touch. I long for the day when these idiots in Congress are swinging from lamposts by their heels.
Just what I need. The cabinet shop I work at just laid off all but me and another guy. We are barely holding on.
Maybe we can start "drilling" offshore. Let's start with the Grand Cayman's...
To: NewMediaJournal
This article is BS as applies to northern CA. We have hundreds of thousands of acres burning annually and threatening communities because it is too expensive to thin and remove fuels in dangerously overstocked forests.
All wildfires emit air pollution. These fires account for approximately one-fifth of the total global emissions of carbon dioxide (Levine and Cofer 2000; Schimel 1995). Andreae and Merlet (2001) calculate that 5,130 Tg per year of biomass is consumed in fires, emitting 8,200 Tg per year of carbon dioxide, 413 Tg per year of carbon monoxide, and 19.4 Tg per year of methane.
The Quincy Library Group came up with a series of “prescriptions” for treating their dry forests to restore them to a healthy state and return forest resilience to wildfire. Here are some examples of what that looks like taken from the 235 acre Elam Thin Project: Overhead canopy was reduced from 94 percent to 52 percent. Trees were thinned from an average of 780 trees per acre to 120 trees per acre. 1.5 mmbf of sawlogs were removed. 8,800 green tons of biomass was removed. The process employed a crew of 19 people for 45 days and the contactor actually made money. (The Klamath-Trinity currently has stocking at 2-3,000 trees per acre.)
We need higher prices for the chips to overcome the cost of hauling and we need to have biomass/cogen facilities built in the first place. (We don’t have any in our area.) These won’t be built unless they ease up on the opportunity for environmental NIMBYs to sue and a sustainable opportunity and supply of chips is secured to offset the investments in these facilities. Locally, we have more than 500,000 tons of biomass available each year from our private and public forests.
For instance, currently the Klamath National Forest (KNF) alone has 13 billion board feet of standing inventory. An additional 650 million is grown each year. Yet only about 52 million board feet is offered for harvest and removal each year – about a quarter of that is firewood and biomass.
If a facility is built, it has about a 50 mile radius from which to harvest biomass. Beyond that, the costs of hauling become too great. It takes about 7,000-7,500 Bone Dry Tons (BDT) to produce one megawatt of power. A five megawatt facility uses about 70,000 green tons or 35,000 BDT. Forty acres of fuel reduction produces an estimated 7-10 BDT.
Moore talked about the pricing problem with biomass.
Currently, big utilities are willing to pay 20-30 cents per kWh for wind and solar energy, but the going rate for biomass energy is only 3-5 cents. It is estimated that the rate would have to be increased to at least 12 cents to make the industry sustainable. The new Farm Bill has a two year “crop assistance” funding where USDA will provide a one for one match to suppliers on the price being paid per bone dry ton. The subsidy program could help the biomass industry off the ground in northern California.
The market is already cattiwampus from the subsidies to competing sources of alternative energy skewing competition in the market place. In addition, the subsidies will offset the costs of treating the fuels in the forest and eventualy create a sustainable market system for maintaining forest health.
That's part of it. They also totally misunderstand business and economics. Good businessmen find a way to sell the by-prodoucts of the main product. There just isn't that much unused but useful waste left lying around.
And, you are of course right, they don't think of the consequences, because it's the intention that counts, not the consequence.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. ;)
Agree with you both. Good posts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.