Shows that whereas there may be significant net benefits to the global carbon budget when forest products are used for energy or other purposes, it may be difficult for the forest manager or forest products industry to claim credit for all of these benefits. Many of the strategies proposed for using forest management to mitigate the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 are characterized by C emissions reductsions which are not uniform over time. This paper illustrates the effect of a carbon discount rate on the net present value of future carbon flows and addresses the question whether the timing of emission reductions matters. This paper compares the net effect on C emissions to the atmosphere for the two approaches over a range of values of forest productivity and the efficiency of product use. Outlines a standard methodology for comparing the greenhouse gas balances of bioenergy systems with those of fossil energy systems.
Emphasis is on careful definition of system boundaries.
Includes recommendations on how bioenergy systems should be optimized from a greenhouse-gas emissions point of view. Modeling the Effects on Carbon Storage, pp. Discusses the carbon implications when plantation grown wood is used to displace wood from unsustainable harvest of mature forest. The results are compared with a basic scenario which assumes that biofuels and wood products from the plantation displace fossil fuels and alternate, more energy-intensive materials. Discusses forestry project for carbon sequestration in the context of Joint Implementation.