BENEFITS / GLOBAL & REGIONAL
Reduction In Fossil Fuel Consumption
Russell Biomass is part of a renewable energy solution to the global problems created by the use of and demand for fossil fuels. Issues related to the limited supply and increasing worldwide demand for fossil fuels are evident on a small scale every time we go to the gas pumps or pay our home heating and energy bills. Fossil fuel-related issues on the global scale are illustrated regularly on the front pages of newspapers and in other media reports on global warming, the call to open protected environments to oil drilling, and the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The pressing need to reduce fossil fuel consumption has been voiced not only by environmental and economic experts, but by government leaders who have called for development of renewable energy projects. No single renewable energy project will answer this global problem on its own, but our plant will offset oil consumption in our region by 480,000 barrels a year. And by leading the way in development of renewable energy power plants, we can help move New England and America away from its longstanding and ever-growing dependence on fossil fuels.
Greenhouse Gas Reduction
As if the limited supply and increasing price of fossil fuels weren't enough cause to invest in and support alternative energy projects, there's also the fact that renewable energy projects like Russell Biomass can help stem the production of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Global warming is an international issue, as witnessed by the United Nation's Kyoto Protocol, but one that ultimately must be addressed at the national and local level. Renewable energy in general and projects like Russell Biomass specifically, are key elements in the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help slow global warming. Regardless of where one stands on this issue you can get a good understanding of the issues from the book or film An Inconvenient Truth.
The simple fact is that the demand for electricity is only likely to continue to grow from year to year. And there are a limited number of ways to generate power. The leading methods for generating power use fossil fuels, which invariably create greenhouse gases. Building new fossil fuel power plants will only make it more difficult to control greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear energy is efficient but costly, and it cannot be the sole solution. Renewable energy must be a part of the picture. Renewable energy options such as Russell Biomass offer the opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
U.S. EPA has established that wood combustion in electrical power generating units is "carbon neutral" and causes no net addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Wood burning merely recycles CO2 in the biosphere in which we live. Today's wood fuel is from a tree that removed CO2 from the air in the recent past, and after it is burned the CO2 that is released will go back into growing a replacement tree. By contrast, coal, oil and gas come from carbon deposits laid down deep in the earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Burning oil and gas releases new CO2 which then accumulates in the air. In short, burning biogenic fuels does not contribute to global warming whereas the burning of coal, oil and gas does.
Clean Power For Western Massachusetts
The demand for electricity is growing in Western Massachusetts to the same degree that it is growing nationally. Massachusetts, and the entire northeast, are facing the possibility of power shortages in the near future unless enough new power plants are built. The state has already heard a call for easing restrictions on pollution from fossil fuel plants in order to stimulate increased power production. Making it easier for giant plants to generate more power by burning oil and coal, however, is not the best solution. The better route is to develop renewable energy projects that use cleaner processes to create the energy we need to power both our economy and our standard of living.
New state-of-the-art research shows that if global warming emissions continue to grow unabated, Massachusetts can expect dramatic changes in climate over the course of this century, with substantial impacts on vital aspects of the state's economy and character.