I used a wood-pellet grill for the turkey yesterday. Danes have also gone in that direction. They have dramatically increased their use of wood, straw and waste for electricity and heating needs (https://rgo.dk/en/in-denmark-we-depend-on-braing-to-step-off/), mostly by importing wood from other countries. Bioenergy is now 21% of electricity generation and about 11% of all Danish primary energy use (2022 Denmark Energy Statistics) as per OurWorldInData.org in the graph below.
An important reason is that Danes have found a loophole in CO2 emissions accounting: CO2 emissions don’t count when you burn trees, and that trumps all other downsides. That's why an average Dane is now burning about one tree a year.
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Burning wood for a campfire creates that rustic feeling, and I love my smoker. But I would not like to be exposed to that smoke for an extended time. 2.3 Billion people who cook with wood, dung and sticks have little choice today, but if they did, they would quickly change to clean-burning propane.
An increasing concentration of PM2.5 (2.5 micron) particles now lurks around Scandinavian cities from industrial-scale plants that can burn wood and from home wood-burning stoves. A recent study shows this can shave months off Scandinavians’ life expectancy:
Among the four studied cities, the contribution of RWC induced PM2.5 from local sources was highest in the Oslo metropolitan where the maximum annual average concentration of PM2.5 due to emissions from RWC is 7.22 µg m−3 (Fig. 2). Among the four studied cities, the highest annual average PM2.5 concentration due to emissions from RWC was detected in Oslo (6.68 µg m−3 ), followed by Umea (2.58 µg m−3 ), Copenhagen (2.42 µg m−3 ) and Helsinki (1.10 µg m−3 ) (Fig. 2).
CO2 is not a pollutant, but PM2.5 is a real killer. Mothers and children in Sub-Saharan Africa are amongst many of its victims.
Is this rich country taking a step back by exaggerating the risk of CO2 while ignoring the risk of PM2.5?
