Energy forestry

Energy forestry is a form of forestry in which a fast-growing species of tree or woody shrub is grown specifically to provide bio-fuel for heating or power generation. The two forms of energy forestry are short rotation coppice and short rotation forestry. Short rotation coppice are crops of Poplar or Willow grown for 2 to 5 years before harvest. Short rotation forestry are crops of Alder, Ash, Birch, Eucalyptus, Poplar, and Sycamore; grown for 8 to 20 years before harvest.

The advantages to using grown fuels as against fossils fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil is that while they are growing they absorb the equivalent in carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas that will later be released in their burning, whereas by burning fossil fuels we are increasing atmospheric carbon by burning carbon that was added to the carbon sink in a time when the Earth would have had a very different climate, and this is a prime cause of global warming.