Comments on: Dead Forests to Fuel Vehicles

By: waltinseattle

waltinseattle — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:25:48 +0000

not just pine beetles, not just pines. Maples, Ash, Cyprus, Chestnut are already going going and some already gone long gone. Lying there rotting, or as for Chestnut, not rotting…

So lets not devise how to shut the barn door and walk away with a smug know it all attitude.

The point that catches me is the glib “on site” processing statement. These are not your typical location down the street and take a turn on Pine Street locations. These are places like where I have pulled firewood so many years out here in the west. These are Hard to get to places. So I can assure you there will be some CO2 expended getting the on-site plants up and running. Meaning how efficient will they really get to be, compared to dragging the scrap out to the roadhead/trailhead and doing a real closed system? And who owns the digestive organisms? Oh. No digestive organisms, this will be like a producer gas at the first step(a herritage technology); that is, like we all know, very much a cousin of charcoal production.And a few more inconsequentials like this. Though I must say that I really want these sorts of projects to happen!!! really really do!

It’s just I am to the point I believe in peeking at the potential deviltry in all those details before jumping in all optimistic and…….”gee who could ha thunk….!”

By: waltinseattle

waltinseattle — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:25:00 +0000

not just pine beetles, not just pines. Maples, Ash, Cyprus, Chestnut are already going going and some already gone long gone. Lying there rotting, or as for Chestnut, not rotting…

So lets not devise how to shut the barn door and walk away with a smug know it all attitude.

It’s just I am to the point I believe in peeking at the potential deviltry in all those details before jumping in all optimistic and…….”gee who could ha thunk….!”

By: vishnu prasanna

vishnu prasanna — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:20:35 +0000

here the plane which is done is good . i wish to contd the same

By: vishnu prasanna

vishnu prasanna — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:20:00 +0000

here the plane which is done is good . i wish to contd the same

By: Federico

Federico — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:00:49 +0000

Interesting use of dead wood, far for being an actual invention, it is just another use of pyrolysis. Two big issues here, one is related to life cycle issues (some of them mentioned above) and secondly about process and ration of pyrolysis gas to fluid is usable and what is the waste stream of this process. This oil has an high level of acidity, which would need to be manage to actually become a good fuel for engines. Bottom line, the whole article reads like a press release, wonder if I Susan has more technical information to share on this matter.

By: Federico

Federico — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:00:00 +0000

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:28:43 +0000

Sure, we could use the money this brings for reforestation. We could plant new trees in the completely barren soil that we create when we leave no humus left in the soil. California will turn into a desert, mark my words.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:28:00 +0000

By: bcenviro

bcenviro — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:08:02 +0000

The pine beetle epidemic is an unstoppable result of temperature changes in North America (deep freezing used to kill enough of the beetles each winter to prevent massive outbreaks, droughts have made the trees more susceptible to attack).

MD – if there was an economical means to control the MPB, don’t you think governments and private landowners would have done so? Our province has experienced a loss of over 620 million cubic metres of timber since the infestation began. Not only a loss of forestry revenue, dead trees release GHG and in our province MPB is expected to contribute the equivalent of 20% of the total GHG from all the cars, trucks, trains, boats and planes in Canada through 2020 (http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/mountain_pine_beetle/facts.htm#infestation)

Using this dead wood to reduce fossil fuel consumption is clean and could be a source of $$ for reforestation…

By: bcenviro

bcenviro — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Using this dead wood to reduce fossil fuel consumption is clean and could be a source of $$ for reforestation…

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:28:37 +0000

It’s unclear how this idea is ‘carbon negative.’ Whether a tree decomposes, burns in place, of is converted to biodiesel and then burned, the carbon it contains is released. A clear plan for sustainable forestry management (including reforestation, soil carbon and nutrient management, and techniques for limiting harvest to dead trees without either harvesting or accelerating the demise of relatively healthy species or plots) is necessary, for a start. This technology could very easily become a tempting as a deforestation program.

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:28:00 +0000

By: htl

htl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:40:20 +0000

no one NEEDS to touch those trees. let them be.

By: htl

htl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:40:00 +0000

no one NEEDS to touch those trees. let them be.

By: MD

MD — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:20:32 +0000

A common way to prevent these trees from this is to use pheromones… but honestly, before we meddled with keeping forests from burning down there was probably less pine beetles to deal with in the first place.

Aix – someone needs to get rid of those dead trees, they just sit there and will provide additional fuel for super-fires and they serve as beacons for more beetles, some beetles can detect certain chemicals given off by rotting trees, this is common in dry land sorts with Ambrosia Beetles (Gnathotrichus*).

By: MD

MD — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:20:00 +0000

By: Aix

Aix — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:28:59 +0000

Yes, this is a good idea but i would really hope that we wouldn’t really have to depend on this fuel because the point of making everything cleaner and more efficient is so that this kind of stuff will no longer be a concern. eventually if people can depend more on cleaner ways of living there will be less of these dead forests available and more new forests growing.

By: Aix

Aix — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:28:00 +0000