I live in the countryside in Sweden with its 87 billion trees/10 million population (yes, 8.7k trees per resident).
I also do not think it is absurd to burn wood for energy. The things you need to do:
- Burn wood that is sourced somewhat locally (for me, typically 1-2 km, but I think even hundreds of km would make sense)
- Dry the wood well (like for a year) after logging. Not doing this will lead to higher particle emissions, because you can't reach high burning temperatures.
- Burn the wood quickly at a high temperature to minimize particle emissions. This is quite effective.
CO2-wise: It's ~neutral. We've been doing it in this way/scale in a responsible way (replanting) for much longer than the time it takes to grow the trees.
I also do not think it is absurd to burn wood for energy. The things you need to do:
- Burn wood that is sourced somewhat locally (for me, typically 1-2 km, but I think even hundreds of km would make sense)
- Dry the wood well (like for a year) after logging. Not doing this will lead to higher particle emissions, because you can't reach high burning temperatures.
- Burn the wood quickly at a high temperature to minimize particle emissions. This is quite effective.
CO2-wise: It's ~neutral. We've been doing it in this way/scale in a responsible way (replanting) for much longer than the time it takes to grow the trees.