 |
|
If wildfire were electricity… Have you wondered just how much energy a big wildfire releases? These calculations, by John Tourtellotte, an Alabama chemical engineer, are based on data he gathered from the U.S. Forest Service, the Energy Information Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau. _________________________________________________________________________________
Total nationwide timberland biomass is estimated at 45
billion green tons U.S. timberland averages 90 tons of green biomass trees
[fuel] per acre 90 tons x 7.1 million acres burned in 2002 = 639 million tons
of trees [fuel] Each acre burned in a stand-replacing wildfire releases as
much energy as is contained in 137 barrels of crude oil 137 barrels of crude oil x 7.1 million acres = 972.7 million
barrels of crude oil 972.7 barrels of crude oil/365 days = 2,664,900 barrels
imported daily for one year The heat release is equivalent to 972.7 million barrels x 5.8
million Btu’s per barrel is equivalent to 5,642,000,000,000,000
Btu’s of heat If this energy were used to produce electricity in highly
efficient combined cycle power plants operating at 7,000 Btu’s per
kilowatt-hour the electricity produced would be equal to 5,642,000,000,000,000
Btu = 805,951,000,000 kilowatt-hours Our nation of 287,700,000 consumed about 3,624,000,000,000
kilowatt-hours of electricity last year, or 12,587 kilowatt-hours per
person. Thus, if all the energy released by the wildfires of 2002 could
have been captured and used it could have supplied enough electricity
for 64,200,000 people, about 22 percent of the electricity the nation
consumed last year – enough energy for every person living in
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, South
Dakota and Colorado! At an average cost of 6.6 cents per kilowatt-hour the energy
loss was $53 billion Using the lumber futures price [July 2003, $258.10 per 1,000
board feet] as a benchmark, the loss in commercial lumber is $64 billion Estimated year 2002 suppression costs are $1 billion – and
still counting. For more information log on to www.fia.fs.fed.us/rpa.htm Click on “New” and go to Tables 10 and 38
Evergreen
Magazine
|
|
