Summary:
In Colorado, an infestation of mountain pine beetles is predicted to kill 6.6 million acres of pine trees. Ever since the 1990s, Colorado has been having unusually high numbers of these beetles. Their population has grown due to warmer winters. The U.S. Forest Service has created a new program where they use the dead trees and trees endangered of infection to create electricity in the Eagle Valley Clean Energy plant in Colorado. Whether or not this process is better for the environment or not is debated among environmental groups. Some argue that trees burned in power plants release more pollution than trees burned in a forest fire.
Quote:
"Plants pack in plenty of energy, about half as much as coal."
Personal Thoughts:
I wonder if they did not burn the trees for energy, what would they do with all those dead trees? Leave them to degrade? I'm not sure whether or not this is good for the environment or not, but it seems like the better option.
Citation:
Diep, Francie. "Green Energy Scheme To Burn Beetle-Infested Trees For
Electricity." Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation, 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 5
Jan. 2014. <http://www.popsci.com/article/science/
green-energy-scheme-burn-beetle-infested-trees-electricity?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk
=1&con=green-energy-scheme-to-burn-beetleinfested-trees-for-electricity>.
Eep! That's crazy to think that that many trees are being destroyed just by those beetles! I think that burning the trees may not be the best option, but at least that are making use of the dead trees. I also agree that letting the trees rot would probably not be the best idea either.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be one thing to be using previously dead trees to create energy is one thing, but purposely killing the trees is another. It's too bad that we can't use our natural energy creating resources more often instead of killing our resources for temporary energy.
ReplyDeleteI do think that this sounds like a better idea than leaving them. At least we are gaining something good from the dead trees. I wrote about pine bark beetles in one of my first posts, and apparently they are also hurting animal populations such as moose because not as many trees exist to protect them.
ReplyDelete