Sunday, April 7, 2013

32. Wood: The fuel of the future – Environmental Lunacy in Europe



On April 6th, an article was posted on the Economist discussing the business of the European investments in wood as a “renewable” source of energy. The author presents the argument for why European nations considered wood as a renewable energy, even though it sounded ludicrous, and then he explained how it would hypothetically work. Each step of the progress to elevate wood as a main renewable energy is presented, showing what companies were able to take advantage of this label and how they did it. The author explains the way companies intend to profit from the use of wood and predicts the estimated amounts companies would gain from that business. However, halfway through the article, the author says that this method of using wood as a source of renewable energy is not efficient since the process to convert the wood into wood pellets and to transport it from other places outweighs the amount of carbon absorbed from replanted trees. He also says that the theory disregards other facts about carbon emissions and concludes that using wood as a renewable energy source is more costly, does not decrease carbon emissions, and discourages other more effective renewable energy sources.

The author’s purpose in writing this article is to inform their readers and to persuade them to believe that wood should not be considered a renewable source of energy. He uses statistics as well as quotes from large companies and professionals to explain the side of the issue that supports the use of wood as well as to explain the side which refutes the idea. The author appeals to logic to explain his reasoning and uses definition in the article to use terms appropriate to the topic. The tone is informal with the use of contractions and certain words, but the author maintains a good posture in his writing presenting his own views on the subject.

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