Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is biomass?

2. Where does biomass energy make sense?

3. How do I know if biomass is right for me?

4. What are the air quality impacts?

5. What’s bioenergy’s role in reducing carbon emissions?

6. What does biomass have to do with healthy forests?

7. I hear biomass is actually destructive to native forests. How true is this?

8. How do biomass technologies compare to other renewable technologies?
   

The term biomass describes a variety of organic materials that can be used to create energy — including forest, agriculture, and plant wastes. Wisewood projects target woody biomass material for use in modern energy systems.

In the US West, wood energy systems leverage residuals that are byproducts of forest restoration and management activities — wood that is otherwise considered “unmarketable” and would typically be burned or disposed of in landfills – to heat buildings, power local businesses, and keep the lights on through the seasons. This includes biomass material from thinning, fuel reduction treatments, defensible space programs, and clean construction and demolition (C&D) wood.

We know that wood energy systems aren’t appropriate for every community – you wouldn’t put a wind system where there isn’t any wind! 

However, modern wood energy technology is particularly well-suited to the forested bioregion of the American West, and has a unique western story to tell. [1]  

Many of the most iconic regions of the American West are fire-adapted landscapes, with a centuries-old history of lightning-ignited forest fires and indigenous burning practices. Since the late 1800s, policies that proliferated fire suppression and the removal of large, fire-resilient trees through old growth logging, followed by the absence of nearly any active management, has resulted in dense, neglected forests that have fallen victim to record-breaking wildfires since 2014. [2]

Biomass can be integrated with climate adaptive forest management practices to help restore fire resilience to our forests and protect communities in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). Each year, WUI communities thin forests and burn “slash” piles in anticipation of unpredictable wildfire seasons – with growing demands to increase the pace and scale of these activities across the West. On average, these practices emit ambient PM2.5  (Particulate Matter 2.5) concentrations that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) air quality standards and easily reach “hazardous” levels of air pollution. [3] Biomass offers a cleaner, regenerative alternative. 

Just as critically, forests with less prominent fire disturbance regimes have also suffered from past logging practices that have left dense forested landscapes with little benefit to wildlife habitat or the cultural subsistence practices of indigenous people, like those of southeastern Alaska. [4] Here, communities and businesses rely on importing fossil fuels while they lack access to an abundant local resource that can support community energy, food, and workforce goals. [5] We see an opportunity to reduce fossil fuel dependence by leveraging these low-value forest residuals to introduce biomass systems that heat schools, power community buildings, and support ongoing operations of local businesses.

[1] Kirkland, John and David Nicholls. “Bioenergy from forests: The power potential of woody biomass.” USDA PNW Research Station Science Findings, https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/sciencef/scifi174.pdf

[2] Stanton, Robin, and Will Chen. “Trees Tell Us Much about Fire: What Will We Do about It?” The Nature Conservancy, https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/washington/stories-in-washington/what-trees-know-fire-forest-health/.

[3] Pieroberon, Francesa, et al. “Air Quality Impact of Slash Pile Burns: Simulated Geo-Spatial Impact Assessment for Washington State.” Science Direct, 16 Nov. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721067759?via%3Dihub.

[4] Sigman, Marilyn J. “Impacts of Clearcut Logging on the Fish and Wildlife of Resources of Southeast Alaska.” Alaska Department of Fish and Game Habitat Division, https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/library/pdfs/habitat/85_03.pdf

[5] Deering, Bob. “Local biomass pellets provide heat and jobs”. USDA, https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/news-events/?cid=STELPRD3792905

You have a locally available stream of underutilized wood. Wasted or underutilized wood is more common than you may think. Wood used to fuel biomass energy systems can come from clean construction and demolition material, urban tree pruning, wildfire fuels reduction, timber harvest residuals, and more.

You have a large energy demand. While small biomass systems make sense when the main goal is to replace fossil fuels or you have a free source of wood, impactful benefits are realized as systems get larger in size while remaining aligned with existing forest stewardship efforts and goals. Biomass is most efficient at producing thermal energy for heating, or combined heat and power (CHP).

You want to support the health of your local forests. Switching to biomass provides a market for forest residuals produced by wildfire fuels reduction and ecological restoration treatments. These systems also divert waste wood that would otherwise be burned in piles or sent to the landfill.

You want to support your local economy. Fossil fuel consumption distributes dollars to large global corporations. Biomass systems instead rely on local restoration economies, benefitting nearby fuel providers, processors, and handlers.

You care about your energy source. By investing in biomass infrastructure, you’re able to bridge the gaps between local energy systems and neighboring forests. Plus, every installation builds opportunities for community-owned and -controlled energy infrastructure that is resilient in a changing climate. 

The team at Wisewood Energy often meets with potential partners to help provide a guide to what type of wood energy might make sense for their energy needs and local forest management practices. To see if biomass makes sense in your community, contact us.

Modern wood energy systems have been developed under rigorous performance standards and passed third-party testing to assure high efficiency and clean operations. Particulate matter emissions (PM, or smoke) from state-of-the-art biomass technology is 10-20 times cleaner than high efficiency EPA-certified wood stoves, [1] and has similar particulate matter and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions as common fossil fuel alternatives. Particulate emissions from systems that use forest restoration residuals are dramatically lower than wildfire or burning slash piles, benefiting communities that suffer from these seasonal air impacts.

For every project, the Wisewood team works closely with community stakeholders, regional agencies, and third party air quality specialists to ensure that our biomass systems meet or surpass air quality regulations. We often receive feedback from residents surprised to see a lack of smoke coming from operations (though sometimes water vapor may be apparent on particularly cold days!)

[1] Heating with Forest Biomass. Sustainable Northwest, 2015.

The short answer is, it depends. There are important attributes to wood energy systems that differentiate what kind of carbon impacts it might have; these include the efficiency and scale of the energy technology, the source of feedstock material, forest management practices, and the alternative fate or what would have happened in the absence of a wood energy system. 

Biomass done right - designed in tandem with sustainable forest management practices and aligned with the context of the region – is renewable, carbon neutral or even negative in the short term, and breaks dependencies on geologic carbon from fossil fuels. [1] Wisewood is committed to developing innovative projects that offer positive alternatives to extractive, high-emission energy systems. We draw directly from proven studies and examples of the successful performance of biomass done right: 

• Thermal wood energy systems have an average efficiency rate of 85%. Generating both heat and electricity in a combined heat-and-power (CHP) system can get to efficiencies greater than 90%. In comparison, any facility that generates power only —fossil fuel, or otherwise—tends to be less than 25% efficient. [2]

• “Biomass done right” projects leverage residual from local activities that are produced for purposes other than the biomass system—not whole mature trees. Right-sized systems are intended to support practices that keep the forest as forest, and complement land management practices that mitigate stand-replacing high severity fires and destructive native forest conversions. 

• When compared to oil and natural gas, carbon dioxide emissions from wood pellet boilers in the Northeast are approximately 40-50% lower. [3]  

• Over a 50 year time span, total GHG from some wood technologies drop to an average of 62% less than oil,  67% less than natural gas, and 56% less than propane. A third-party study in the Northern Forest concluded that the shift from fossil fuels to using wood pellets brings significant carbon benefits. [4] [5]

• In one 2009 study across a 515,900 ha area in Western Montana, an average of 21 units of bioenergy were produced for each unit of diesel energy used to collect, grind, and haul biomass. [6] As compared to the global processes of fossil fuel procurement, bioenergy is locally sourced and processed; communities save significant dollars, reduce global emissions, and support local economies by switching to bioenergy from current pile-burn and fossil-fuel practices. 

• Our current reality is that many communities rely on fossil fuels to power and heat homes, schools, and industry; and, other renewable technologies like solar, wind, and batteries are not sufficient for a 24/7 shift away from fossil fuels. With a changing climate and increasing risks of stressors on forests and the communities that live within them, modern wood energy technologies can help bolster landscape resilience and shift away from fossil fuels for a climate-adapted future.

[1] Heating with Forest Biomass. Sustainable Northwest, 2015.

[2] Kittler, Brian A. “Biogenic Carbon Emissions and Bioenergy Systems: A Brief Literature Review”. Pinchot Institute for Conservation.

[3] “Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Wood Pellet Heat In the Northern Forest”. Northern Forest Center https://northernforest.org/greenhouse-gases-and-wood-pellet-heat/

[4] Kittler, Brian A. “Biogenic Carbon Emissions and Bioenergy Systems: A Brief Literature Review”. Pinchot Institute for Conservation.

[5] “Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Wood Pellet Heat In the Northern Forest”. Northern Forest Center https://northernforest.org/greenhouse-gases-and-wood-pellet-heat/

[6] Jones, Greg et al. “Forest treatment residues for thermal energy compared with disposal by onsite burning: Emissions and energy return”. USDA and US Forest Service. https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/35180

There is a growing understanding that healthy forests — particularly in areas where fire plays an important role in shaping the landscape — can benefit from some level of active management to reduce heavy fuel loads in the form of small diameter trees and other woody debris. [1] These residuals have a low market value, and high-cost removals often make restoration efforts prohibitively expensive. [2]  

Biomass energy is one tool in the toolbox to make use of these byproducts of restoration activities. When introduced and contained within local economies, wood energy systems reduce pollutant and carbon emissions by re-routing material that would otherwise be burned in piles to a high-efficiency energy system, using material that is locally abundant rather than importing fossil fuels. [3]

[1] Jung, Yoohyun, and Paula Friedrich. “Maps: How Prescribed Burns and Other Treatments Helped Curb Caldor's Growth.” The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Sept. 2021, https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2021/caldor-fire-prescribed-burn/.

[2] Swezy, Camille, et al. “PDF.” Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, Mar. 2020. https://sierrainstitute.us/new/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Biomass-Report-3-19-20_FINAL.pdf

[3] Jones, Greg et al. “Forest treatment residues for thermal energy compared with disposal by onsite burning: Emissions and energy return”. USDA and US Forest Service. https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/35180

Biomass energy is not all created equal, and some systems have a much bigger impact on forests than others. At Wisewood Energy, we consider the complexities of local ecologies and the pressures of a changing climate to introduce beneficial projects:

• We design right-sized systems in partnership with communities. The Wisewood team develops community-scale, flexible, and distributed energy systems that are close to forest sources and their demand. This means that businesses and communities can more easily adopt tried-and-true technology to meet their local needs, and maintain a sustainable supply for energy that supports forest management goals. 

• We complement existing forest management practices. Right-sized biomass technologies provide meaningful renewable energy systems that leverage woody material that come from fuel reduction treatments, FireWise® and FireSAFE® wildfire mitigation efforts, and traditional forest stewardship. This means no clear-cutting, and no conversions away from native forests.  

• We help communities avoid high costs of the ‘alternative fate’. In the absence of regenerative wood energy systems, waste wood and forest residuals are typically burned—an immediate release of pollutants and carbon—or left in piles to slowly decay and become a fire fuel risk. Biomass systems in the West offset the equivalent of millions of gallons of propane use,[1] and offer a renewable, regenerative, zero or nearly zero-carbon substitute to balance heat loads. 

Wisewood is committed to our mission of bioenergy in service to community and the environment. 

When paired with wise management of our beloved forests, well-designed wood energy systems enable us to invest in local and regional restoration economies that support native forestsandpublic health.

[1] Heating with Forest Biomass. Sustainable Northwest, 2015.

At Wisewood, our expertise in bioenergy has helped design and build systems that offer 24/7 renewable energy. Unlike solar and wind, bioenergy can be a baseload firm and flexible technology. [1] That means that for every hour you need energy, biomass systems produce it —rain or shine, through the seasons.

Bioenergy does more than just help communities “go green”; it offers a tool to help increase forest resiliency, protect public health, and stimulate restoration economies. When paired with the custom needs of the communities we work with, Wisewood’s projects respond directly to local needs and their visions for a climate-adapted future. 

For more information about integrative forest efforts and the community members championing innovative residual usage, we recommend Not If But When: Wildfire Solutions and The West is Burning.

[1] Matek, Benjamin and Karl Gawell. “The Benefits of Baseload Renewables: A Misunderstood Energy Technology.” Science Direct, 7 Mar. 2015, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104061901500024X.