Tag Archive for: greenhouse gas

Wood biomass

Woody Biomass: A Nature’s Packaging Study – Part 2

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***Nature’s Packaging continues this week with Woody Biomass – Part 2***

 

How Does Woody Biomass Produce Energy?

Woody biomass produces energy through several methods:

Combustion

Combustion of biomass is one of the oldest controllable energy resources. Combustion involves burning wood to produce heat.

It is a chemical reaction during which oxygen and biomass combine under high temperatures to produce water vapor, carbon dioxide, and heat.

Combustion is a widely used process to generate electricity that is an efficient, economical, and practical energy source.

Gasification

Gasification involves converting woody biomass into a fuel gas. The combustible gas can then facilitate powering engines. The process of gasification uses a low amount of oxygen and when utilized to convert solid carbonaceous materials, it can also produce hydrogen-rich gas.

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is a promising way of generating energy from waste. During pyrolysis, wood is heated without oxygen to produce a liquid or solid fuel.

Biomass pyrolysis involves breaking down organic matter into simpler molecular chains using heat. This process produces not only energy but also fuels and other chemicals.  The fuels created using the fast pyrolysis process have the potential to help reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 51% to 96%.

Heating biomass breaks it down into cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose. These components can be used to produce energy through combustion or other means.

Other Products from Woody Biomass

Woody biomass is a versatile resource that can be utilized to create many different types of products, the following are just a few:

Biochar

We have covered biochar in a previous Nature’s Packaging blog post. Biochar is a form of carbon generated from biomass sources like wood chips, plant residues, and other agricultural waste products. It is created to convert biomass carbon product into a more stable form, otherwise known as carbon sequestration.

Biochar isn’t actually a single product. Instead, biochar is many different forms of black carbon that are unique in chemical and physical composition due to the original feedstock materials, creation process, cooling methods, and overall storage conditions.

Wood Vinegar

Wood vinegar is a liquid byproduct derived from the production of charcoal. It is a liquid generated from the combustion and gas of fresh wood burning in airless conditions. When the gas is cooled, it condenses and the remaining liquid is a vinegar product. Raw wood vinegar contains more than 200 chemicals

Wood vinegar is used to improve soil quality, eliminate pests, and control plant growth. It accelerates the growth of roots, stems, tubers, leaves, flowers, and fruit, but can be very toxic to plants if too much is used in application. Wood vinegar is safe for living matter and organisms in the food chain, especially to insects that help pollinate plants.

Wood-based Polymers and Composites

Recycling wood from end of life utility in packaging, construction debris, and demolition waste then combining those materials with plastics to form wood-polymer composites (WPC) creates strong wood-based products that have very wide usage capabilities. These recycled composites have very low environmental impact in terms of global warming potential (GWP), and greenhouse potential. The versatility of wood-polymer composites allow products to be created that have pre-determined strength values that correspond to their many applications.

Chemical Source Materials

In the past, it was something of a challenge turning woody biomass into fuels or other primary products. The lignin present was difficult to extract. Now through thermodynamic breakdown and chemical science, the lignin can be extracted and is quite good as a bio-polymer additive to adhesive formulas and also can be further processed into binding agents, dispersing agents, and emulsion stabilizers. Meaning that its versatility in multi-functional chemical applications makes it an excellent application in chemical manufacturing processes.

Woody Biomass in the Future

Technological advancements in the forest product sciences are finding more functional uses for woody biomass every year. Starting as a sustainable resource and source of energy that can be replenished over time, it is an environmentally friendly catalyst that is now finding new applications in materials science.

As the need for energy sources grows, woody biomass is complementary to other natural energy sources like wind and solar and ensures energy security for manufacturing and production-based industries. Thus, commercial companies are exploring many different types of bioenergy solutions.

Developing the technology to enhance the economic viability of woody biomass ensures a sustainable future for energy production. Its renewable, carbon-neutral, and lower environmental impact is an ideal attribute for future needs.

 

Wood for the W.I.N. – Carbon Accounting

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There is a huge market gathering around carbon and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG’s). Governments are being pressured by the public to address climate change and global warming, and very soon regulation and the monetization of carbon offsets will create an asset tradeable marketplace that will classify a price for it.

As you read this post there are numerous bills in the US Congress being proposed to put a price tag on carbon. This prospective legislation, along with other cap and trade proposals, are the foundation of a new paradigm in the world economy. Imagine carbon offsets as the tradeable asset and a model price at around $100 dollars per metric ton. These are very real numbers based on existing frameworks in the EU system. Let’s break it down for the United States.

In 2020, the United States is estimated to have generated ~5.16 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. At the $100 per ton number that represents a VERY LARGE number, and about 2.5% of the total estimated US GDP for 2020. That is also accounting for the effect of the pandemic on the US economy.

Who is accountable for all of these emissions you ask? All of the companies in the US, and in the larger frame, the world. Now you can begin to grasp why the C-suite is concerned, and why companies are in a blitz of marketing and green policy initiatives.

In this exclusive Nature’s Packaging post, we dive into What’s Important Now (W.I.N.) for the wooden pallet and container industry by examining a methodology called “Carbon Accounting” that companies and organizations around the world are utilizing to assess their greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon Accounting 101

Carbon accounting, also known as greenhouse gas accounting, is an approach and process designed to audit and provide an assessment of the company’s carbon “footprint”, which is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by the company both directly and indirectly.

Carbon accounting measures the emissions produced by a certain business activities and processes. It quantifies the amount of output from the use of fossil fuels, agricultural practices, industrial production, various supply chain operations, and other indirect processes. The data and information generated from an account and inventory of emissions becomes the framework that a company utilizes to further manage their climate change impact and determine possible strategies to mitigate that impact going forward.

In terms of reporting, many countries have regulatory agencies that require companies to report their emissions. In the US, this would be part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP)

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is a guideline created by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in partnership with the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD). Many companies around the world have adopted the GHGP as it provides accounting and reporting specifications, guidance appropriate to different industries, tools for calculation, and training for businesses and government entities.

The GHGP provides a standardized framework for measuring and managing emissions from both public and private sector companies and organizations. Additionally, an accounting protocol for emissions created from logistics operations was established in 2016 by a newly formed council. It was established in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, and it is known as the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) Framework.

Emission Scope

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol divides emissions into 3 Scopes. Companies measure and set goals to reduce emission based on the framework of these Scopes:

Scope 1

This scope is based on all the direct GHG emissions by a company. These are emissions that created by resources owned or controlled by the company. These include GHG’s produced from fuel combustion in assets like vehicles, boilers, and furnaces.

Scope 2

Scope 2 refers to indirect GHG emissions from consumption of utility purchases like electricity, heat, cooling or steam. These emissions occur outside any company’s actual facilities as a result of utility usage and are considered an indirect source of emissions.

The Corporate Standard is an accounting and reporting standard provided by the GHG Protocol that gives guidance on how an organization can calculate and inventory its Scope 2 emissions. The standard is designed to ensure consistent methodology and transparency of results between organizations around the world.

Scope 3

Scope 3 contains other types of indirect emissions that can be the largest source of GHG emissions for an organization and represent up to 90% of the total carbon footprint. Scope 3 sources include emissions that occur both upstream and downstream of the organization’s activities, as in supply chain and logistics operations. This upstream/downstream activity constitutes the organization’s full value chain in creation of its products and/or services.

Scope 3 includes 15 overall categories:

  1. Purchased Goods and Services
  2. Capital Goods
  3. Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities Not Included in Scope 1 or 2
  4. Upstream Transportation and Distribution
  5. Waste Generated in Operations
  6. Business Travel
  7. Employee Commuting
  8. Upstream Leased Assets
  9. Downstream Transportation and Distribution
  10. Processing of Sold Products
  11. Use of Sold Products
  12. End-of-Life Treatment of Sold Products
  13. Downstream Leased Assets
  14. Franchises
  15. Investments

Corporate Sustainability & You

Scopes 1 & 2 mentioned above are the starting points for any business and generally are the easiest to assess and reform as they are the closest to day-to-day operations. They can include anything from changing out lighting systems in buildings to promote savings on electricity costs, implementing new HVAC systems and filtration, utilizing new control software that maximizes the efficiency processes in building maintenance systems, to using “green” vehicles.

Scopes 1&2 are the ‘proof of concept’ phase in most cases as a company ramps into a sustainability program across the entire organization. However, companies also have to account for Scope 3 emissions in order to achieve and claim successes. The difficulties in Scope 3 accountability are directly related to the above-mentioned value chain that include suppliers and customers as part of the framework.

Many companies are embracing the GHG protocol and it’s variants like the GLEC Framework and the Corporate Standard. In example, Walmart has launched it Project Gigaton which aims to avoid one billion metric tons (a gigaton) of greenhouse gases from the global value chain by 2030. Pepsico has incorporated the Pepsico Positive program to address their sustainability initiatives.

Both companies are customers of the pallet industry and we exist in their value chains. Additionally, there are many other companies in a multitude of industries that need and use pallets to move their goods through the supply chain. The Pallet Foundation provides numerous resources like the Environmental Product Declaration and the Landfill Avoidance Study as excellent reference documents that help inform customers how well the wooden container and pallet industry aligns with the sustainability efforts of these organizations.

It is critical that companies in the wooden pallet and container industry continue to fund, promote, and align themselves with these corporate sustainability efforts. As an industry, we must have a solid grasp of the various GHG protocols, carbon accounting, and sustainability initiatives because it exponentially multiplies the value of your company in the value chain of the customer companies we service. We must connect and understand what’s important to them now.

 

Sustainable Forestry

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Sustainable forest management aims to ensure that there is a continuous supply of timber and non-timber forest products. Sustainability also means preserving the processes and structures that create, support, and sustain forests by integrating conservation and development goals. To accomplish these goals, sustainable forest management combines principles from forestry, agriculture, environmental protection, economics, ecology, and sociology.

The Role of Sustainable Forest Management

The role of sustainable forest management is to ensure that forests continue to provide the ecosystem processes that society depends upon. Forests are important for a wide variety of reasons: they prevent soil erosion, regulate water resources, purify the air, and protect biodiversity (by providing wildlife habitat).

Moreover, they have an enormous capacity for carbon storage. Currently, about 350 billion tons of carbon are stored in the world’s forests, which is about 65% of the global total. As an alternative to deforestation, sustainable forest management allows for harvesting timber while maintaining its ecological, economic, and social functions.

Forest Management

The term “forest management” refers to a range of activities required to care for the forest from conception to harvest. These activities include planning the harvesting schedule, silviculture, and road building. Forest management requires up-to-date information about the forest’s standing stock of timber and non-timber products such as herbs, resins, fibers, and its connectivity with other forests to ensure a continuous flow of products into the marketplace. To maintain these connections, a clear understanding of the forest needs to be developed; this requires an analysis of how the forest functions.

Sustainability Indicators

Indicators are used to measure changes in forests and determine whether they are being managed sustainably. Changes can be measured by collecting data on indicators such as carbon storage or biodiversity over time. These indicators are vital for measuring progress toward sustainability goals. The key sustainable forest management indicator is the change in biomass or carbon storage over time.

Researchers measure carbon storage using above-ground biomass combined with estimates of deadwood densities at different ages. This approach allows them to calculate the amount of total stored carbon in a forest, which varies with tree size and age class distribution within a forest.

Sometimes, a change in carbon storage is also viewed as an indicator of governmental policies because ‘how’ a society uses its forests impacts the total amount of carbon stored. For example, if deforestation increases while reforestation and afforestation decrease this may indicate that it will not be easy for countries to achieve their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Forests play an integral role in mitigating global warming by sequestering large amounts of atmospheric carbon and increasing biodiversity, protecting watersheds and reducing erosion. Because forests account for about 46% of all terrestrial photosynthesis they remove significant amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).

Trees use CO2 from the atmosphere in photosynthesis, converting it into wood and leaves. When the trees die, decomposition returns this carbon to the atmosphere where it is available for re-uptake by plants during subsequent growth. Reducing forest cover and biodiversity will result in lower levels of stored carbon.

Carbon Sequestration Capacity

Forests can sequester more than 1 million metric tons of carbon per square kilometer (km2) over long periods (100 years or more), with the amount varying depending on factors such as climate, soil conditions, and tree diversity. The Taiga, for example, stores the most carbon per unit area. However, tropical rain forests may contain more carbon overall because they tend to exhibit more biodiversity and density than forests in other parts of the world.

The primary aim of sustainable forest management is to increase biomass through active management rather than natural processes such as fire or disease. Depending on the type of land-use management, a country can achieve either negative net emissions from its forestry sector by slashing tree numbers and allowing forests to mature until harvesting starts some years later, or positive net emissions by increasing levels of biomass through practices like reforestation. In fact, afforestation has become one of the most successful tools in reducing net emission levels globally.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, a country accounts for carbon sequestered from its forests within its national greenhouse gas emissions account. This calculation is based on data submitted by each country to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Carbon Emissions Reductions

As well as storing carbon, forests also reduce greenhouse gas concentration by acting as a sink for atmospheric CO2 emissions. The most effective way to reduce net emissions from the forestry sector is to ensure that trees are planted faster than they are being cut down, at least until this balance is achieved. Increased tree planting will result in accompanying social and environmental benefits like maintaining biodiversity and increasing water quality.

Growth of Forests on Former Croplands

Planting forests on cropland is one way to combat climate change. Estimates indicate that if 10% of the world’s arable land were converted back into forests. This would be equivalent to removing half of all cars from roads or closing down 300 coal-fired power stations.

Similarly, successful governmental policies can be adopted around the world to help combat climate change afforestation, such as offering tax breaks to organizations that plant trees or providing subsidies for renewable energy.

Challenges in Sustainable Forest Management

  • Human activities impair the ability of forests to sequester carbon by either causing deforestation or altering the species makeup of existing forests. For example, if native species are replaced with non-native ones while replanting efforts are in place, then there will not be as many environmental benefits because the new plants do not support wildlife. These negative impacts can only be avoided through better education and stricter governmental policies.
  • Effective management of forests requires an understanding of the area’s history, as well as current policies that affect forest use. For example, if a country has under-reported past deforestation amounts and reforestation efforts are not successful, then carbon levels will not decrease and greenhouse gas levels will increase. Countries should be diligent in reporting accurate information on deforestation rates so that proper corrective action can be taken.
  • The success of sustainable forestry is largely dependent on the overall goals of both environmental protection and human economic entitlement. This approach to forest management can only work if all parties are committed to protecting the environment while also ensuring their economic interests are met.

Sustainable forest management employs the use of sustainable forest management indicators, such as monitoring biodiversity or measuring changes in carbon storage. Sustainable forest management is not only a set of techniques that can be applied to forests but also an ideology that encompasses all aspects of political, social, and economic life.

India Plants 50 Million Trees In One Day

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India Plants 50 Million Trees In One Day

Climate change is a serious concern to all of us, but people in India are doing what they can to fight it. In 2016, the country set the world record for most trees planted in one day by planting 49.3 million saplings on July 11, breaking the record of 847,275 trees that was set by Pakistan in 2013.

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The effort is a part of the commitment made by India at the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015. The agreement, which was signed on Earth Day 2016, called for India to spend $6 billion to reforest 12 percent of its land. This would bring the total forest cover to 235 million acres – or 12 percent of the country’s territory – by 2030.

The massive tree planting was undertaken by a reported 800,000 volunteers from Uttar Pradesh, who worked tirelessly for 24 hours to plant 80 different species of trees on public land and along roads and railways. The saplings themselves were raised in local nurseries.

Sequestering Carbon Dioxide

The reason why massive plantings such as this help combat climate change is because trees sequester carbon dioxide from the air, which in turn reduces the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. India has lost much of its forest cover over the past couple of centuries as people have cut down trees for firewood, pasture, and urban development.

Naturally, the effort to reforest much of the world and reduce greenhouse gases is not just limited to India. In December 2015, several African countries vowed to reforest 100 million hectares of land, and a wide range of stakeholders signed the non-binding New York Declaration of Forests that same month. The New York Declaration of Forests would half deforestation by 2020 and hopefully end it altogether by 2030. The declaration also seeks to reforest 350 million hectares of degraded land.

All of this is definitely good news, but there is still a long way to go before we know if these efforts will make a difference. Tree saplings are very susceptible to disease and require watering and care if they are to have the chance to grow. The mortality rate of massive plantings such as the one in India is reportedly as high as 40 percent.

Deforestation has long been a problem all over the world, and it is one of the major contributors to climate change. Even if as many as 40 percent of the saplings planted in India do not survive, efforts such as this will hopefully continue. If nothing else, the record set by the 800,000 volunteers who planted these trees will hopefully inspire others to act. We all know that our environment is in trouble, so any effort to slow down climate change and reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a welcome one.

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