USA

Maine Governor Paul LePage signed an executive order directing that “any new or expanded state buildings shall incorporate green building standards that give certification credits equally to forest products grown, manufactured and certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiativ

The U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) has issued a draft report response to the EPA’s Accounting Framework for Biogenic CO₂ Emissions from Stationary Sources. The framework was first issued by the EPA in September.

With temperatures dropping below zero, Colby’s new biomass plant goes into normal operations this week. The plant—a key part of the college’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2015—burns forestry byproducts, including wood chips, bark and treetops, which would otherwise have been left on the forest floor. During this period of peak usage, the College is expected to save $250,000 monthly at current market prices.

Biomass, which is an especially logical choice for Maine due to the existing forestry operations, offers a number of benefits.

Developing countries (including China) are expected to account for more than 90% of global energy growth in the next 30 years.

Assumptions that forest thinning treatments help sequester carbon are not grounded in science — instead, recent research shows that thinning act