Are Forests a Renewable Source of Energy?

Guest: William Moomaw, PhD, Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy and Founding Director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and Member of Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007 Trees absorb carbon dioxide and make oxygen for us to breathe. Burning wood releases the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. So if we cut down trees to burn for electricity and plant new ones in their place, is the process carbon neutral – basically cancelling out the CO2 effect on the atmosphere? The EPA recently announced a plan to treat the burning of wood harvested from managed forests as renewable energy – similar to solar and wind power. That decision hinges on this question of carbon neutrality.