[DesuMaiden]

Wood's advantages...it is renewable and there is plenty of it.

Disadvantages...even though wood is a renewable resource, it can be depleted if you use it at a faster rate than it replenishes.

Coal's advantages...there is plenty of it and it has a higher energy density than wood.

Disadvantages of coal...it is a nonrenewable resource, so once you use it up, it is gone for ever.

Can anyone else think of more advantages/disadvantages to wood vs coal?

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesuMaiden', 'W')ood's advantages...it is renewable and there is plenty of it.

[DesuMaiden]

We can't stop burning coal or else the lights will go out and the steel mills will stop running!

[autonomous]

The World Health Organizaton states that nearly half of the worlds population, or "around 3 billion people cook and heat their homes using open fires and simple stoves burning biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal."
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/

"By far the largest so-called renewable fuel used in Europe is wood." Europe consumed 13m tonnes of wood pellets in 2012, according to International Wood Markets Group, a Canadian company. On current trends, European demand will rise to 25m-30m a year by 2020.
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21575771-environmental-lunacy-europe-fuel-future

And according to the EIA, "in the United States, wood fuel is the second-leading form of renewable energy, behind hydro-electric."
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/report/renew_co2.cfm

Europe does not produce enough timber to meet that extra demand. So a hefty chunk of it will come from imports. Imports of wood pellets into the EU rose by 50% in 2010 alone and global trade in them (influenced by Chinese as well as EU demand) could rise five- or sixfold from 10m-12m tonnes a year to 60m tonnes by 2020, reckons the European Pellet Council. Much of that will come from a new wood-exporting business that is booming in western Canada and the American south. Gordon Murray, executive director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada, calls it “an industry invented from nothing”.

Coppicing is a very traditional way of forest management. It benefits from the natural regeneration of mostly broadleaf species and their fast growth in the first decades. In most cases situated close to settlements this silvicultural regime provided among
others firewood, bark, fruits and grazing and by this supported the livelihood of the rural population. Until the middle of the 20th century, coppice forests were very common in most parts of Europe. With increase in use of non-renewable raw materials, coppice lost importance and was neglected or converted. Only recently coppice has been rediscovered because of its adaptive
ecology, its stability and multiple benefits, notably its protection function, contribution to biodiversity and as a source of
renewable bioenergy.
https://www.eurocoppice.uni-freiburg.de/intern/pdf/poster-overview-eurocoppice

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesuMaiden', 'W')e can't stop burning coal or else the lights will go out and the steel mills will stop running!

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesuMaiden', 'W')e can't stop burning coal or else the lights will go out and the steel mills will stop running!

[DesuMaiden]

I would rather be burning wood than coal because the former is a renewable resource unlike the later. Plus, wood burning doesn't create mercury poisoning unlike coal burning. Wood is overall a cleaner and more sustainable fuel than coal.

[dolanbaker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesuMaiden', 'I') would rather be burning wood than coal because the former is a renewable resource unlike the later. Plus, wood burning doesn't create mercury poisoning unlike coal burning. Wood is overall a cleaner and more sustainable fuel than coal.

[DesuMaiden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dolanbaker', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesuMaiden', 'I') would rather be burning wood than coal because the former is a renewable resource unlike the later. Plus, wood burning doesn't create mercury poisoning unlike coal burning. Wood is overall a cleaner and more sustainable fuel than coal.

[Subjectivist]

I suggest a corn pellet stove, that way you burn the grain and it is annually renewable. It only takes a couple acres of land to grow enough corn to keep you toasty warm all winter, and you can use the leaves and husks to feed livestock.

[DesuMaiden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'I') suggest a corn pellet stove, that way you burn the grain and it is annually renewable. It only takes a couple acres of land to grow enough corn to keep you toasty warm all winter, and you can use the leaves and husks to feed livestock.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesuMaiden', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'I') suggest a corn pellet stove, that way you burn the grain and it is annually renewable. It only takes a couple acres of land to grow enough corn to keep you toasty warm all winter, and you can use the leaves and husks to feed livestock.

[pasttense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'I') suggest a corn pellet stove, that way you burn the grain and it is annually renewable. It only takes a couple acres of land to grow enough corn to keep you toasty warm all winter, and you can use the leaves and husks to feed livestock.

[DesuMaiden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pasttense', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'I') suggest a corn pellet stove, that way you burn the grain and it is annually renewable. It only takes a couple acres of land to grow enough corn to keep you toasty warm all winter, and you can use the leaves and husks to feed livestock.

[AndyA]

I can go outside and cut down/up a tree, no supply chain issues there. Wood ash can be used as fertiliser, or with some water and fat you can make soap.

[DesuMaiden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AndyA', 'I') can go outside and cut down/up a tree, no supply chain issues there. Wood ash can be used as fertiliser, or with some water and fat you can make soap.

[Newfie]

Lebanon cedars
http://www1.american.edu/ted/cedars.htm

Easter island palms

Venice denuded its surrounding areas and had to conquer more areas to supply wood in the 14th century.

England and Japan set up royal forests, protected areas to assure supply of wood for ship building and masts.

Iceland and Greenland were both denuded of their indeginious forest quickly.

All of that was BEFORE the recent expansion population expansion.

I can burn wood, and make ethanol. But I've got 168 acres of wood lot.

NYC? Chicago? LA?

[basil_hayden]

Nate Hagens pointed out (on the oil drum I believe) that our forests would last about 6 months if the population began burning wood for heat to replace fossil fuels including coal.

My state was almost completely clear cut until about 100 years ago, it's grown back quite a bit since, along with all the prey and predators.
That's the main advantage of coal - it lets most of your ecology live on. If you like trees, then you're a fan of fossil fuels, because without it there'd be none these days.

Desu - why do you keep dancing around the heart of the matter? There's too many people, not enough resources, and the resources we have are being used less and less diversely, leading to an anticipated bottleneck or at a minimum some severe upward pricing pressure. It's easy to see the train coming down the tracks, but we're not sure when it arrives.

[dolanbaker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('basil_hayden', 'N')ate Hagens pointed out (on the oil drum I believe) that our forests would last about 6 months if the population began burning wood for heat to replace fossil fuels including coal.

My state was almost completely clear cut until about 100 years ago, it's grown back quite a bit since, along with all the prey and predators.
That's the main advantage of coal - it lets most of your ecology live on. If you like trees, then you're a fan of fossil fuels, because without it there'd be none these days.

Desu - why do you keep dancing around the heart of the matter? There's too many people, not enough resources, and the resources we have are being used less and less diversely, leading to an anticipated bottleneck or at a minimum some severe upward pricing pressure. It's easy to see the train coming down the tracks, but we're not sure when it arrives.

[DesuMaiden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('basil_hayden', 'N')ate Hagens pointed out (on the oil drum I believe) that our forests would last about 6 months if the population began burning wood for heat to replace fossil fuels including coal.

My state was almost completely clear cut until about 100 years ago, it's grown back quite a bit since, along with all the prey and predators.
That's the main advantage of coal - it lets most of your ecology live on. If you like trees, then you're a fan of fossil fuels, because without it there'd be none these days.

Desu - why do you keep dancing around the heart of the matter? There's too many people, not enough resources, and the resources we have are being used less and less diversely, leading to an anticipated bottleneck or at a minimum some severe upward pricing pressure. It's easy to see the train coming down the tracks, but we're not sure when it arrives.