A new look at the forest industry and global warming

The relationship between cutting and replanting a climax forest and the control of carbon dioxide emission is examined. The result is a new interpretation which suggests that cutting and replanting of mature trees may actually benefit the environment, provided that the wood goes to long-lasting uses such as houses or furniture. The new interpretation rests on the concept of carbon sequestration technology, or sucking carbon away from the air where it cannot turn up the heat. It is suggested that when an old-growth forest is harvested, its 'carbon tank' is emptied. Second-growth stands that arise to replace the old-growth will bind carbon for several hundred years, until carbon equilibrium is re-established. If the wood produced from harvesting the old-growth forest goes to short-term uses such as for example toilet paper, the carbon locked up in the wood will return to the atmosphere within a matter of a few weeks, with the result that there is no net removal of carbon dioxide. However, if the harvested wood is used to produce houses or furniture (i.e. long-term uses, estimated at 65-70 years) the wood will continue to function as a carbon sink, the carbon will remain locked away from the air, while the replacement saplings trap and bind new carbon. Even after the 65-70 years life expectancy as a house or furniture the wood, at the expected decay rate of three per cent or less per year in an anaerobic landfill, the wood will not release all its stored carbon for a century or more, hence the result is a net removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Alternatively, wood from a demolished house could be used as feedstock for generating engine fuels such as methanol. The release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would be no greater than allowing the wood to decay naturally. Converted to methanol, it would displace its BTU equivalent in fossil fuels