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Climate and Energy
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National priorities for mitigating climate change and increasing energy security have brought renewed attention to the role forests can play, as a source of low-carbon renewable energy, and in continuing to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through forest growth and store it away for the long term. With careful planning and an appropriate framework of federal and state policies, markets for carbon and renewable energy can strengthen sustainable forest management and forestland conservation.
Below you will find information about the Pinchot Institute's Climate and Energy programs.
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Bioenergy: Ensuring Forest Sustainability in the Development of Wood Bioenergy
Ambitious policy goals for biofuels and renewable electricity will significantly increase current levels of wood harvesting in the US. This two-year study by the Pinchot Institute examines methods for estimating sustainable biomass supplies, standards for sustainable harvesting of wood biomass, and bioenergy technologies that can maximize the renewable energy produced from available wood biomass supplies.
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Carbon Sequestration: Conserving Forests to Store More Carbon
The forest biome constitutes about one-third of the planet’s terrestrial ecosystems, but it represents more than two-thirds of all the carbon stored in living organisms. Currently, nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities worldwide come from the destruction of forests through fire and deforestation, more than from all the cars in the world. In the U.S., forests sequester about 14% of our annual CO2 emissions from the atmosphere—but could be removing much more were it not for major carbon emissions from wildfires, forests killed by insects and disease, and forest land lost to development. Studies at the Pinchot Institute are identifying ways to reduce forest losses and increase the effectiveness of forests in capturing and storing carbon, through market-based incentives for private forest owners and through improved management of public forest lands such as the National Forests.
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Demonstrating Sustainable Wood Bioenergy Development: Vernonia Community Wood Energy
Most of its public buildings destroyed in recent floods, Vernonia, Oregon has chosen to rebuild itself as a model of sustainable community development, using green building standards and relying on renewable energy from sustainably managed local forests. This community-wide experiment provides a unique opportunity to test new approaches that begin with a detailed assessment of locally sustainable wood biomass supplies, and then scale new wood bioenergy facilities accordingly. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation over the long term will provide continuing learning opportunities for communities across the country that are “growing greener” by emphasizing renewable energy derived from local resources.
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