Does burning biomass release more carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels?
According to Columbia University's Earth Institute, biomass-burning power plants (which burn wood chips, sawdust and other materials to generate heat or run steam turbines, creating electricity) produce about 65% more carbon emissions per megawatt hour than fossil fuel-burning coal plants. These plants also produce air pollutants such as carbon monoxide.
Burning biomass increases atmospheric carbon during the harvest, transport and combustion of the woody materials. But it has been classified as renewable and carbon-neutral because trees (which capture carbon) can be replanted.
The advocacy group Partnership for Policy Integrity argues that this classification is misguided, because it takes too long to regrow carbon-capturing forests that offset biomass burns.
