Potential availability of urban wood biomass in Michigan: Implications for energy production, carbon sequestration and sustainable forest management in the U.S.A.
Introduction
Recent interest in developing biologically renewable fuel sources has focused renewed attention on utilizing tree/wood biomass for this purpose. In modern times, wood makes up only 7% of global fuel sources, with an estimated 15% of energy used in developing nations and only about 2% in developed nations [1], excluding some developed countries where substantial efforts have been made to use more wood fuel (e.g., Sweden). Much of this wood comes from forests, but a considerable amount also comes from what the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has termed “trees outside of forests” [2]. Generally, the availability of wood from non-forest trees is not well documented [1].
Wood from urban areas is one potentially large source of biomass that appears currently underutilized. Wood biomass from urban areas includes both wood waste generated when wood products are damaged or outlive their usefulness [3] and tree/wood biomass that is liberated when urban trees are taken down or parts of woody vegetation are trimmed [4]. At global and national scales, it appears that urban wood biomass may offer a potentially large source of wood that could be reused, burned for fuel or otherwise recycled [1], [3], [4]. However, some important questions remain regarding how available urban wood biomass resources are and what are the implications for trying to make use of them. In particular, it is important that these questions be answered at local or regional scales where wood utilization potential is most practically assessed.
Here, new data and analysis on the potential availability of biomass from urban trees in a 13-county area of Michigan, U.S.A. is combined with existing data from several other sources to examine the potential of urban tree removals and other urban-generated sources of wood biomass to supply locally generated bio-based fuels and primary and secondary (recycled) wood products. The critical points of discussion focus on the implications of urban wood utilization for energy production, carbon sequestration and sustainable forest management at the scale of regional and national economies.
Section snippets
Study area
A regional assessment of standing urban saw timber in a 13-county region of southeastern lower Michigan (Fig. 1) was recently completed [5]. The study area was comprised of urban portions of the original 13 counties quarantined by the Michigan Department of Agriculture due to the recent introduction of the exotic wood-boring beetle, the emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus plannipennis). This specific study region was chosen because EAB has caused the death of estimated millions of ash (Fraxinus
Biomass from urban tree removals in 13 counties in Michigan
The 2.2 million ha study area includes about 73% of all urban area in Michigan and about 2% of U.S. urban area (Table 1). Estimates of annual yield of wood biomass in the study area range from about 367 to 517 thousand dry tonnes of biomass from routine removal of dead and dying urban trees, with the variability in the estimates (standard error, Table 1) stemming largely from the high variability in tree size and coverage in different urban neighborhoods within the region. The bulk of this
U.S. potential for increased urban tree and urban wood waste recovery
The results of this study suggest that the potential for recovering usable biomass from urban trees and wood waste is substantial within the 2.2 million ha study region in Michigan. When combined with the national scale data, these data suggest that urban wood biomass is an abundant and underutilized resource across the U.S.A., with significant enough amounts available to make an impact at local or regional economic scales. It has been estimated that only about 15% of urban wood waste is burned
Conclusions
Urban trees and wood offer a modest, yet substantial and reliable amount of wood that could contribute significantly to regional and national bio-based economies. Biomass derived from urban trees and wood waste offers the potential for: 1) deriving local wood products from urban trees, 2) deriving locally generated fuel sources for power and heat generation, 3) reducing fossil fuel consumption, 4) reducing waste disposal costs, and 5) reducing pressure on forests.
Although wood biomass generally
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and the Southeast Michigan Resource Conservation and Development Council for funding this research. The author would also like to thank E.P. Barrett for useful comments on this manuscript.
References (32)
- et al.
Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the U.S.A
Environmental Pollution
(2002) - et al.
Carbon sequestration in the U.S.A. forest sector from 1990 to 2010
Forest Ecology and Management
(2007) - et al.
Survival, growth, and growth allocation of planted scots pine trees after different levels of biomass removal in clear-felling
Forest Ecology and Management
(2003) Opportunities and impediments to expansion of forest bioenergy in Australia
Biomass & Bioenergy
(2006)- et al.
Tree morality rates and tree population projections in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
(2004) Forest for energy and the role of planted trees
Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences
(2005)Trees outside of forests
Successful approaches to recycling urban wood waste
(2002)- et al.
Urban tree and wood yard residues another wood resource
(2003) Quantifying urban saw timber abundance and quality in southeastern lower Michigan, U.S.A
Arboriculture and Urban Forestry
(2007)
Emerald ash borer: invasion of the urban forest and the threat to North America's ash resource
Journal of Forestry
Brooklyn's urban forest
Whole-tree weight tables for New York
Biomass equations for major tree species of the northeast
Estimating leaf area and leaf biomass of open-grown deciduous urban trees
Forest Science
Factors and equations to estimate forest biomass in the north central region
Cited by (80)
Biocomposites from porcine plasma protein and urban parks and gardens green waste
2023, Industrial Crops and ProductsGreen waste characteristics and sustainable recycling options
2023, Resources, Environment and SustainabilityUrban bioeconomy: Uncovering its components, impacts and the Urban Bio-Symbiosis
2022, Cleaner Production LettersWood bioenergy for rural energy resilience: Suitable site selection and potential economic impacts in Appalachian Kentucky
2022, Forest Policy and EconomicsAssessment of the effect of particle size and selected physico-chemical and biological parameters on the efficiency and quality of composting of garden waste
2022, Journal of Environmental Chemical EngineeringKoelreuteria paniculata invasiveness, yielding capacity and harvest date influence on biodiesel feedstock properties
2021, Journal of Environmental ManagementCitation Excerpt :Thus, the principles of ecosystem services and the circular economy are mutually interconnected (Kapsalis et al., 2019). Present research highlights a circular approach in sustainable horticulture and landscape architecture since urban greenery as itself has scarcely been observed as a source for biomass (MacFarlane, 2009) or biodiesel. There are papers and research concerning and proposing the establishment of invasive plants plantations (in their native countries) as a source of oil-rich seeds (Hoseini et al., 2018a, 2018b), but not the ones proposing the collection and processing of the existing greenery-derived fruits and seeds.