1.
I really like the concept of wood to energy. It offers many benefits and seems it can be done in a sustainable way. In the US, wood is our second largest renewable energy source after hydropower, as mentioned in the lecture. As you know, we like to look at the climate impacts of all these renewable technologies we are learning about. Wood-to-energy is yet another technology affected by many variables, especially as it relates to carbon emissions. Some people propose that wood is carbon neutral, while others say "not so"!

Read the following two articles:

Biomass Carbon Neutrality, American Forest and Paper Association, July 2014
The Fuel of the Future, The Economist, April 6, 2013

Drawing from what you read, summarize the key points from each article including the following information (NOTE: Be sure to consider the full life cycle of wood-to-energy when answering these question):

-Describe where each article stands on wood-to-energy carbon emissions.
-What do each of the articles say are some of the factors that influence carbon emissions from wood fuels?
-Specifically, what do each of the articles propose as a course of action? (technical, policy, economic/markets)

2.
Hydropower generating capacity in the US comprises the largest segment of our renewable energy at 52%, and 2500 dams in the US provide 78 GW of electricity. Worldwide, new additions of hydropower have generated more electricity than all other renewables combined since 2005.

Hydropower is not without its controversy. There have been several large hydroelectric dams proposed in the world in recent years. For this reflection we would like you to learn about one of these dam projects.

Wikipedia has a list of hydro electric plants throughout the world. Please select one of these projects that have been built since 2010 (except Three Gorges in China) and tell us

-The location and status of the project.
-The size of the project (kwh and something about amount of water or size of dam etc or area flooded, etc.)

Summarize the controversies regarding the dam. (Your SOURCE CANNOT BE Wikipedia). You may need to find more than one article on the dam to learn about the controversies - make sure you give us the title and url of where you found your information. Just a note to be careful about biased information - try to get to the facts.

Based on what you learned, comment on whether you think this particular project was a good one.

1. I really like the concept of wood to energy. It offers many be...