生物质如何帮助农民充分利用“废木材”

生物质如何帮助农民充分利用“废木材”

Trees are an important part of any farm. They reduce erosion and flooding, absorb air pollutants, provide habitat for insect-eating birds, and cast shade to help livestock stay cool. They produce crops, too, whether it's fruit and nuts at an orchard or wood at a tree farm.

树木是任何农场的重要组成部分。它们减少水土流失和洪水，吸收空气污染物，为食虫鸟类提供栖息地，并为牲畜遮阴以保持凉爽。他们也生产农作物，无论是果园里的水果和坚果，还是林场里的木材。

In some cases, however, this kind of "waste wood" can hold hidden value as a source of biomass energy. It may only be a small splinter of the overall biomass market, and it won't save the world from climate change, but it's still a potentially useful resource for farmers, rural economies and the ecosystems that support all of us.

然而，在某些情况下，这种“废木材”作为一种生物质能源具有潜在的价值。它可能只是整个生物质能市场的一小部分，它不会拯救世界免受气候变化的影响，但对农民、农村经济和支持我们所有人的生态系统来说，它仍然是一种潜在的有用资源。

Properly managed biomass energy could be a boon for farmers and the climate. (Photo: SvedOliver/Shutterstock)

What is biomass?

生物质是什么?

Biomass is a hodgepodge category of fuels, all produced by renewable sources that are alive or were alive recently (at least compared with fossil fuels). It consists mainly of plant matter, and along with other renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, certain kinds of biomass are seen as a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels like coal. According to The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), burning biomass to make electricity instead of using fossil fuels is one possible way to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.

生物质是一种大杂烩类型的燃料，所有这些燃料都是由活的或最近才活的可再生能源生产的(至少与化石燃料相比)。它主要由植物物质组成，与风能和太阳能等其他可再生能源一起，某些种类的生物质被视为比煤炭等化石燃料更可持续的替代品。根据联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)的说法，燃烧生物质发电而不是使用化石燃料是减少大气中二氧化碳的一种可能方式。

What is waste wood?

什么是废木料?

Like biomass in general, "waste wood" is a broad term that can mean a variety of things. A vegetable farmer might have a small surplus of woody debris after clearing a patch of land for crops, for example, or after a storm damages a forest buffer at the edge of a field. An orchard owner might have a little more lying around on a regular basis, while tree farmers often end up with larger amounts due to low-value timber and wood waste that's collected along with more valuable logs to be sold for lumber.

与一般的生物质一样，“废木材”是一个宽泛的术语，可以指各种各样的东西。例如，一个菜农可能在清理一小块土地用于种植作物后，或者在暴风雨破坏了农田边缘的森林缓冲区后，会有少量剩余的木屑。果园的主人可能经常会有更多的树躺在地上，而种树的人往往会因为低价值的木材和木材废料而得到更多的钱，而这些木材和废料被收集起来作为木材出售。

Uses for waste wood

废木料的用途

Not everyone agrees about the role forest debris should play in energy production. (Photo: Janfe/Shutterstock)

Much like trees grown on energy plantations, higher-quality waste wood is used for energy in a few ways. It can serve as a feedstock for advanced biofuels, for example, or it can be processed into wood pellets that are burned for energy, either in small boilers and furnaces or at large-scale industrial facilities.

就像生长在能源种植园里的树木一样，高质量的废木材在几个方面被用作能源。例如，它可以作为先进生物燃料的原料，也可以加工成木球，用于小型锅炉和熔炉或大型工业设施的能源燃烧。

Because biomass is locally produced, harvested and processed, it often provides an economic boost in rural areas, according to the nonprofit Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC). Biomass energy tends to keep money spent on fuel within the local economy, the group adds, unlike fossil-fuel systems that generally export fuel dollars.

根据非营利组织生物质能源中心(BERC)的说法，由于生物质是在当地生产、收获和加工的，它通常会给农村地区带来经济上的提振。该组织补充称，与通常出口燃料美元的化石燃料系统不同，生物质能源往往将用于燃料的资金留在当地经济中。

Wood pellets can help farmers heat their greenhouses, among other uses. (Photo: gyn9037/Shutterstock)

Aside from selling it, landowners might also be able to capitalize on waste wood as an energy source for their own purposes. Some farmers keep at least some of their biomass to burn in furnaces or boilers for on-farm heating, which can offer higher efficiency, lower energy bills and fewer carbon emissions. In a University of Vermont study that ran from 2008 to 2015, growers who installed biomass greenhouse-heating systems saved an average of nearly $2,700 on net fuel costs per year, with the systems paying for themselves at full cost within 4.8 years.

除了出售木材，土地所有者还可以利用废弃木材作为自己的能源。一些农民将至少一部分生物质储存在熔炉或锅炉中用于农场供暖，这样可以提供更高的效率、更低的能源账单和更少的碳排放。在佛蒙特大学2008年至2015年进行的一项研究中，安装了生物质温室供暖系统的种植者平均每年节省了近2700美元的净燃料成本，这些系统在4.8年内就全额收回了成本。

In many cases, waste wood that is collected is burned in the open to dispose of it. Using it as part of a responsible biomass plan can play a useful role in helping us phase out fossil fuels. In the meantime, it could also provide valuable benefits for farmers. And while waste wood may only be a small part of that, at a time when climates and economies are undergoing dramatic change around the world, many farmers need all the help they can get.

在许多情况下，收集到的废木料会被露天焚烧处理。将其作为负责任的生物质计划的一部分，可以在帮助我们逐步淘汰化石燃料方面发挥有益的作用。同时，它也可以为农民提供宝贵的利益。尽管废弃木材可能只是其中的一小部分，但在全球气候和经济都在经历巨大变化之际，许多农民需要他们能得到的所有帮助。