(Reuters) - The massive drought that has dried out Texas over the past year has killed as many as half a billion trees, according to estimates from the Texas Forest Service.
"In 2011, Texas experienced an exceptional drought, prolonged high winds, and record-setting temperatures," Forest Service Sustainable Forestry chief Burl Carraway told Reuters on Tuesday. "Together, those conditions took a severe toll on trees across the state."
Maine Governor Paul LePage signed an executive order directing that “any new or expanded state buildings shall incorporate green building standards that give certification credits equally to forest products grown, manufactured and certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard, Forest Stewardship Council, American Tree Farm System and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification systems.”
During the last two years, global wood pellet production increased from about nine million tonnes to some 15-16 million tonnes, while apparent consumption expanded from about nine million to 13 million tonnes.
In 2010, estimated global wood pellet production exceeded estimated consumption by about two to three million tonnes, while global pellet production capacity exceeded consumption by around seven to eight million tonnes (including new production facilities under construction but not operating).
The U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) has issued a draft report response to the EPA’s Accounting Framework for Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources. The framework was first issued by the EPA in September.
If you prefer to read from paper instead of an electronic screen, you're not alone. According to a recent survey commissioned by Two Sides, the fast-growing non-profit organization created to promote the responsible production, use and sustainability of print and paper, 70 percent of Americans, including 69 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, say they prefer to read print and paper communications compared to reading off a screen.
With temperatures dropping below zero, Colby’s new biomass plant goes into normal operations this week. The plant—a key part of the college’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2015—burns forestry byproducts, including wood chips, bark and treetops, which would otherwise have been left on the forest floor. During this period of peak usage, the College is expected to save $250,000 monthly at current market prices.
Biomass, which is an especially logical choice for Maine due to the existing forestry operations, offers a number of benefits.
Today, Georgia-Pacific has announced that it has completed the sale of the legal entity in Italy to Cartiera Lucchese (Lucart Group). A definitive agreement for the sale was announced last November and this closing concludes the sale process.
Developing countries (including China) are expected to account for more than 90% of global energy growth in the next 30 years. The U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) is addressing the urgent need for sustainable, clean economic growth in these regions with the release of its Climate Change and Development Strategy for 2012.
But the precise effect of pine bark beetle plagues on the nitrogen cycle and carbon cycle is highly variable, says a research group led by the University of Idaho, who have used an ecosystem model to simulate outbreaks.
Yesterday they published their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Assumptions that forest thinning treatments help sequester carbon are not grounded in science — instead, recent research shows that thinning actually releases more carbon to the atmosphere than any amount saved by successful fire prevention.
The study acknowledges that there are many valid reasons to thin forests, but increased carbon sequestration is not one of them, according to scientists from Oregon State University.
