| Biomass Energy Potential Calculator: |
USA |
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"No Food, |
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No Fiber"* |
"No Meat"** |
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Percent of |
Percent of |
| Category |
Percent |
Hectares |
DryT/Ha/Yr |
DryT/Yr |
MMBtu/DryT |
QuadBtu/Yr |
Current Use |
Current Use |
| Arable |
19% |
174,020,240 |
8 |
1,392,161,920 |
14 |
19 |
20% |
14% |
| Pasture |
25% |
228,974,000 |
4 |
915,896,000 |
14 |
13 |
13% |
13% |
| Forest |
30% |
274,768,800 |
2 |
549,537,600 |
14 |
8 |
8% |
0% |
| Other |
26% |
238,132,960 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
0 |
0% |
0% |
| Total |
100% |
915,896,000 |
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2,857,595,520 |
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40 |
40% |
27% |
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| References: |
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| [Change the
numbers in bold green - above and below - to fit your assumptions. The
spreadsheet will recalculate.] |
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| United States of America - Energy |
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| http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html |
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| Total Energy Consumption (2000E): |
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| 98.8 |
quadrillion Btu (25% of world total energy
consumption) |
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| Current Shares
of U.S. Energy Consumption |
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| http://starfire.ne.uiuc.edu/ne201/course/topics/resource_usage/current_shares.html |
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| 1994 U.S.
Energy Use By Source |
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| Source
Consumption in Quads |
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| Oil |
31.00 |
35% |
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| Natural Gas |
24.00 |
27% |
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| Coal |
20.00 |
23% |
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| Nuclear |
7.00 |
8% |
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| Hydroelectric |
2.50 |
3% |
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| Wood Waste |
1.50 |
2% |
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| Biofuels |
1.30 |
1% |
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| Geothermal |
0.20 |
0% |
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| Solar |
0.07 |
0% |
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| Wind |
0.04 |
0% |
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| Total |
88.50 |
100% |
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| United States -
Geography |
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| http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html |
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| Area: |
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| total: 9,629,091 sq km |
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| land: 9,158,960 sq km |
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| water:
470,131 sq km |
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| Land
use: |
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| arable
land: 19% |
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| permanent
crops: 0% |
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| permanent
pastures: 25% |
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| forests and
woodland: 30% |
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| other: 26% (1993 est.) |
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| [1 sq km = 100
hectares] |
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| Popular
Poplars: Trees for many purposes |
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| http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/misc/poplars.html |
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| Hybrid poplars,
when grown under short-rotation silviculture, can produce between 4 and 10
dry tons of wood per acre per |
| year
(8-22 metric tonnes per hectare per year)...This compares to yields of less
than 1 ton/ac/yr for native forests and |
| 2.5 ton/ac/yr
for managed pine plantations. |
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| Bioenergy
Conversion Factors |
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| http://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/energy_conv.html |
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| 1.0 metric
tonne (tonne) = 1000 kilograms = 2205 pounds |
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| Energy content
of wood fuel (air dry, 20% moisture) = about...6,400 Btu/lb |
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| Realities For
The 90s |
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| Environmental
and Nutritional Facts drawn from Diet for a New America by John Robbins and
other sources |
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| http://home.earthlink.net/~tilleyrw/realities_90s.html |
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| 70% |
: Amount of total U.S. grain production
consumed by livestock: (5) |
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| *"No Food,
No Fiber" scenario assumes all productive land is converted to biomass
energy production. It's an |
| academic
exercise scenario. It will never happen. It also assumes that somehow biomass
can be converted to |
| liquid fuels to
replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for transportation. There is no proof
that there is any net |
| energy in such
conversions. Or perhaps vehicles could run on electricity from biomass-fired
power plants. |
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| *
"No Meat" scenario assumes ~70% of crop land can be converted from
production for livestock to biomass |
| production,
all pasture land can be converted to biomass production, and all forest land
stays in fiber production |
| (timber/wood/pulp).
This is probably academic too, and makes the same dubious assumptions about
conversion |
| to liquid
fuels. Nevertheless, it might be a good idea to invest in land - and buy soy
burger stock while it's cheap. |
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| Davies &
Company Forestry |
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| Northampton,
MA, USA |
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| April, 2002 |
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