Status and prospects for renewable energy using wood pellets from the southeastern United States

Abstract

The ongoing debate about costs and benefits of wood-pellet based bioenergy production in the southeastern United States (SE USA) requires an understanding of the science and context influencing market decisions associated with its sustainability. Production of pellets has garnered much attention as US exports have grown from negligible amounts in the early 2000s to 4.6 million metric tonnes in 2015. Currently, 98% of these pellet exports are shipped to Europe to displace coal in power plants. We ask, 'How is the production of wood pellets in the SE USA affecting forest systems and the ecosystem services they provide?' To address this question, we review current forest conditions and the status of the wood products industry, how pellet production affects ecosystem services and biodiversity, and what methods are in place to monitor changes and protect vulnerable systems. Scientific studies provide evidence that wood pellets in the SE USA are a fraction of total forestry operations and can be produced while maintaining or improving forest ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are protected by the requirement to utilize loggers trained to apply scientifically based best management practices in planning and implementing harvest for the export market. Bioenergy markets supplement incomes to private rural landholders and provide an incentive for forest management practices that simultaneously benefit water quality and wildlife and reduce risk of fire and insect outbreaks. Bioenergy also increases the value of forest Bioenergy (2017Bioenergy ( ) 9, 1296Bioenergy ( -1305Bioenergy ( , doi: 10.1111 land to landowners, thereby decreasing likelihood of conversion to nonforest uses. Monitoring and evaluation are essential to verify that regulations and good practices are achieving goals and to enable timely responses if problems arise. Conducting rigorous research to understand how conditions change in response to management choices requires baseline data, monitoring, and appropriate reference scenarios. Long-term monitoring data on forest conditions should be publicly accessible and utilized to inform adaptive management.

Opportunities and risks for sustainable biomass export from the south‐eastern United States to Europe

“…Of this material, about 4.7 MMT was exported, 98% of which was from the US South region . Pellet exports from the USA to the EU have increased 8‐fold since 2008, though pellet production still only represents about 2% of total harvest removal in the Southeast region . The USA has become the primary source of pellets to EU markets, representing more than 60% of the total wood pellet imports to the EU in 2014.…”

Transatlantic wood pellet trade demonstrates telecoupled benefits

“…This new revenue source for wood products is especially important given the decline in total U.S. wood-based production, which has acute effects in rural US SE communities (Brandeis andGuo 2016, Parish et al 2017a). Well-managed forests have been shown to improve water quality, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity, as well as overall productivity (Anderson and Mitchell 2016, Dale et al 2017a). …”

Reference scenarios for evaluating wood pellet production in the Southeastern United States

“…‘Baseline’ has been defined in several different ways owing to the various research questions asked about the use of woody biomass for energy. The term typically refers to historical trends or conditions documented at a specified time and place in the past, but ‘baseline’ has sometimes been used interchangeably with ‘reference case,’ ‘counterfactual,’ and ‘business as usual.’ In this paper, we focus on evaluating the SE US wood‐pellet production system, and, for that analysis, we define ‘baseline conditions’ as those forest and market conditions existing prior to 2008, the year that SE US wood pellet exports began in response to European commitments to increase the share of renewables in total energy use …”

“…This article presents an overview of the interactions among SE US forest landscapes and management for wood pellet production developed by researchers from the locale. We synthesize a literature review, on‐the‐ground observations, and discussions with a variety of stakeholders . An examination of recent peer‐reviewed and gray literature reveals that a variety of definitions for terminology has been used to discuss the potential effects of the export wood pellet trade, and diverse interpretations of the words used to describe feedstock and system characteristics further confound an already complex issue.…”