Resurrecting an almost six month old (but highly relevant question) from SeacoastNRG, I have to comment on what Adam said. (You really should READ what Adam said first) His logic is grand and as far as I am concerned right on. His answer is as you will see, is yes and no.

I live in Oklahoma. All my life I’ve known folks who built a house and demolished trees in the process of clearing the land for space, they either sell or use their wood as fuel for heating (I assume it’s mostly for heating, but I know I have personally participated in a bonfire or two, LOL)

And while I’ve never known many of these sort of folks to replant as many trees as they’ve cut down, I did find this report about Oklahoma…

This report is an assessment of the feasibility of whole-tree chips as an energy source in Oklahoma. Previous work determined that Oklahoma has a potential fuelwood resource of 250 million tons at the present time. Currently, fuelwood growth exceeds removal by 8.65 million tons annually. Two whole-tree chip operations for energy are currently operating in the state, producing fuel at costs which are competitive with the current cost of Wyoming coal and natural gas.

If a low-cost method of reducing the moisture content of whole-tree chips is found this material would be a cheaper energy source than coal or natural gas. At least one large manufacturing facility in Oklahoma uses whole-tree chips for energy. The most promising application of whole-tree chips was found to be as a coal supplement. In this application whole-tree chips act as a combustion promoter and emission reducer. Used in this manner whole-tree chips could increase the use of high-sulfur Oklahoma coal, rather than the currently preferred Wyoming coal. Utilization of chipped forest residues also will have important secondary enefits in forest productivity and regional economic development. Whole-tree chips appear to be a feasible energy source for Oklahoma.

Source: Martin W. Toms and David K. Lewis
Department of Forestry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK

My question is then, have they stopped and asked themselves how that statistic would hold up IF the proposed idea took off and more businesses started using wood chips for fuel?

I don’t understand the short term thinking. They go on to say….

The estimates for potential fuelwood consumption are based on present stocking levels. It has been shown, however, that Oklahoma forests are at least 50 per cent understocked (3). The development of markets for whole-tree chips could supply non-industrial landowners with incentive to practice more intensive, scientific forestry practices as well as planting more profitable, faster-growing species.

So, using wood for fuel would give them incentive to practice? I think that’s leaving an awfully big loophole.

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