Trees: Fueling our Future

Trees are a source of energy for both humans and animals. If it weren’t for trees, we wouldn’t have fruit, nuts, or maple syrup. And we’d have some pretty skinny squirrels.

But trees do more than just fuel our bodies.

As you probably learned back in elementary school, our beautiful planet gives us both renewable and non-renewable natural resources. These resources can be used to make energy (and not just the kind from food). We use these resources to provide heat and electricity in our homes and businesses.

Some non-renewable energy resources:

• Oil
• Gas
• Coal

Some renewable energy resources:

• Wind
• Water
• Sun
• Trees

Trees? Yes, trees! Some of you may be very familiar with the use of trees to generate energy, but perhaps some of you haven’t really considered trees as a source of fuel.

These wood pellets are an example of trees being used as an energy source.

When logs are cut at sawmills, it creates a lot of sawdust. Instead of wasting the sawdust, mills compact it into tiny pellets and sell it to people to use for heat and electricity. Some mills also use their wood waste to generate heat and electricity for their own facilities. In some cases, this bioenergy is sold to the grid to generate electricity as well.

Another way to get fuel from trees is to extract chemicals from the wood to make products like diesel, jet fuel, and methanol. And the nice thing about trees is they always grow back. Foresters make 200 year plans to ensure we don’t cut too many trees and that we replant more than we take. So trees are a great source of energy because we will never run out of them!

The great thing about using trees for fuel (besides their renewability)? Trees are really good at storing the carbon that is released through generating energy.

It’s all one big cycle! And speaking of cycling, there is yet another way to use trees as fuel: Eat some fruit, nuts, or maple syrup, and then you’ll have energy to peddle a bike around. It’s too bad it’s so difficult to bike in the winter.

And you can go all out and ride a bike made from trees!

For more information on using trees as biofuels, visit: http://www.wfpa.org/page/biomass/.