The Texas commission on environmental quality and German Pellets did not respond to requests for comment, but a TCEQ spokeswoman told the Texas Observer that it ensures violations are corrected. She cannot prove the plant made her sick but thinks it is no coincidence that her health is much improved since it ceased production. Technical levels of these processes were quantified by carbon conversion, which is equal to the sum of the carbon mass in the target products and byproducts divided by the total carbon mass in the feedstock. Bitte aktivieren Sie JavaScript. But within a year, “I started having a lot of respiratory problems, I was getting sick all the time.” From being in excellent health, she added, “I have emergency inhalers, I was on all kinds of things. We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content and ads. An analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project found that at least eight of the 15 largest US wood pellet facilities have had fires or explosions since 2014, while 21 mills exporting to Europe emit excessive greenhouse gases and pollutants. The global demand for biomass power and heat is increasing rapidly, primarily because of government support policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions, achieving energy independence and supporting domestic industries. Current environmental evaluation methods have limitations when comparing various technologies. Por favor, active JavaScript. Some communities living near wood pellet mills have also protested about the fumes that waft over their homes. Accordingly, we proposed an index for the environmental impact of biomass preprocessing (EIBP), which includes carbon footprint reduction, pollutant impacts from byproducts and pollutant impacts from residuals. This result implies that AD is likely to maintain its environmental impact advantage for a decade. With good practices and growth standards, it has the potential to be a carbon neutral method of power generation. Energy and environment performances show weak correlation for these processes. This project analyses the likely growth in global and EU demand for wood used for electricity generation and heat. A higher EIBP value implies a worse environmental impact. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. The bucolic charm of her rural home in the Piney Woods forest region of east Texas is undercut by the big German Pellets manufacturing plant just beyond the bottom of her garden. When looking at the impact of biomass on the environment, it is often described as being a process that is “potentially carbon neutral.” This means with sustainable growing practices in place, the organic matter grown for biomass can offset the carbon release that occurs when it is burned to generate electricity. The carbon benefits of good biomass are clear. Accordingly, we proposed an index for the environmental impact of biomass preprocessing (EIBP), which includes carbon footprint reduction, pollutant impacts from byproducts and pollutant impacts from residuals. Si prega di abilitare JavaScript. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies.