UPE Seminar: Dan Richter (Duke)

Speaker: 
Dan Richter
TITLE: Rekindling Wood Energy in America

SUBTITLE: What wood can teach us about energy

Consumers increasingly want energy that is renewable, clean, and affordable from solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass sources. One of the simplest and oldest of renewables is direct combustion of wood. Wood supplied more energy than fossil fuels in the United States until the 1880s, when coal superseded wood. This transition occurred earlier in Europe, but today, thanks to regrowth of forests and improved technologies, advanced wood combustion (AWC) is being deployed throughout Europe, supplying heat, cooling, and power and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. We argue that the European experience can guide successful implementation of community-based AWC in many regions of the United States.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/323/5920/1432.pdf

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/06/rekindling-...

location: 
French 2237
University Program in Ecology | Box 90329 | Duke University | Durham, NC 27708 | (919) 613-8002 | ecology@duke.edu