I typically abhor the New York Times, but this time they’re calling out some glaring hypocrisy. Burning wood pellets is a booming market in Europe, and it’s the largest source of renewable energy, “far ahead of wind and solar.” I’m not sure how wood qualifies as renewable to be quite honest. Wood releases more carbon dioxide than coal on a per unit of energy released basis. It’s therefore a less environmentally friendly energy source. I thought human civilization figured this out with the advent of the steam engine? Nevertheless, this is what happens when politicians and green groups push non-scientific so-called solutions on society.
What really sticks out to me is that fact burning wood is a much more efficient energy source compared to wind and solar. Despite it’s CO2 heavy emissions, humans tend to use the fuel source with the most energy density every single time they’re allowed to.
The Times does a neat job with the mapping in this article titled, Europe Is Sacrificing Its Ancient Forests for Energy, which is linked here and below:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/07/world/europe/eu-logging-wood-pellets.html
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