Abstract
TVA has been working with wood energy production systems for only a short time, but we have been involved with forest development for many years, and our experience has led us to believe in the viability of using wood for energy production. Commercial forests of the Tennessee Valley region (125 watershed counties, plus another 76 counties where TVA provides Power) occupy some 30.5 million acres. The annual total tree growth from these lands is about 2.3 billion cubic feet of wood-equivalent to 38 million tons of coal in heat value. Conventional forest products now consume some 580 million cubic feet of wood annually, and allowing for a 2 percent buildup tn inventory, a residual of some 1 billion cubic feet could be used for expansion of conventional wood-using industries and energy. If the conventional wood-using industries double their use of wood resources, the current forest biomass growth in the Valley region is still sufficient to supply some 15 million coal-ton- equivalents of energy (nearly one-third quadrillion Btu's), or about bo percent of the coal energy used in TVA's steam plants (TVA's 12 coal-fired steam Plants burned 37.b million tons of coal in calendar year 1977). Through the introduction of improved forestry practices in the Valley, it is realistic to expect at least a 50 percent increase in forest growth, thus making an even greater volume of wood available for energy.
Recommended Citation
Doub, Richard L., "Wood as an Energy Source in the Tennessee Valley Region" (1978). UMR-MEC Conference on Energy / UMR-DNR Conference on Energy. 407, pp. 451-453.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/umr-mec/407
Meeting Name
5th Annual UMR-DNR Conference on Energy (1978: Oct. 10-12, Rolla, MO)
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Session
Energy from Biomass
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 1978 University of Missouri--Rolla, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
12 Oct 1978
