Comments on: 100% coal-to-biomass conversion reduces GHGs by 92 per cent: study

By: Jim Prall

Jim Prall — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:49:55 +0000

I tried to follow the link to the University of Toronto study, but every browser I tried came back with a message from pubs.acs.org saying that I did not have cookies enabled, and they are required.

Looking closer at the URL in your article, it has “?cookieSet=1″ at the end. I tried trimming that part off, and I was able to access the article. Here’s the shortened URL that works for me:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es902555a

You might want to update the article to change this so readers can follow the link. Great find, by the way. This idea occurred to me in the past, and seemed worth pursuing if only to take advantage of existing investment in complete working power plants and transmission grid connections. I just didn’t think I could get OPG’s attention for my little thought. Fortunately, I wasn’t alone in wondering about this. Terrific to see Ontario making such innovative moves. Let’s hope these ideas pan out well here, and get noticed around North America and the world as ready-to-go alternatives to coal.

By: Marlowe Johnson

Marlowe Johnson — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:28:28 +0000

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the benefits of going 100% biomass vs. co-firing (i.e. can recover and use ash), as this is something you and David Benson have been harping on (correctly IMO) for quite so time no?

By: Bob McCallum

Bob McCallum — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:35:02 +0000

By the way, I recently discovered your blog and am very impressed with your coverage and editorial.

By: Bob McCallum

Bob McCallum — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:32:50 +0000

While biomass is viewed as GHG neutral over it’s lifecycle, doesn’t the large-scale burning of wood accelerate the release of GHGs from decades (depending on the plant species – some trees take hundreds of years to fully decompose) to a very short time period? Is that taken into consideration in the design and operation of biomass programs? This also relates to the carbon-friendliness of the use of wood-fired stoves and furnaces for homes.

By: Ontario continues converting coal plants to use biomass as fuel | Politics in the Zeros

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:24:01 +0000

[...] What a great idea. Use existing coal plants to burn biomass as fuel instead. Ontario will have one plant completely converted by 2012, with more coming. The biomass comes from leftovers from foresting and agriculture, with switchgrass a possibility as a crop too. Share: [...]