World Changing

worldchanging.com is an excellent source for reliable up to date environmental and sustainable news and information. The web page has links to focused topics. These topics range from industrial design, architecture, planning, politics, community development, business, and ecology.

Energy from wood or natural gas?

A Seattle energy company is starting a construction project to convert its boilers from their old natural gas boilers to hybrid wood waste/natural gas boilers. Some say that these boilers will produce more emissions than the natural gas boilers but the company says that waste wood (which consists of construction scrap, saw mill waste, and old pallets and crates) is carbon neutral because the trees converted carbon and CO2 while living. It may not be the cleanest energy source but in many ways it seems to be a positive change because it is a move from nonrenewable energy to a renewable energy that thrives off of the waste of other industries. I feel that the energy price increase will continue to motivate energy companies to take advantage of these newer systems due to the economic incentive. Slowly sustainability is becoming economical and effective.