In the fight to find alternative
sources of energy and decrease dependence on coal and oil, the use of
biomass has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. Biomass in
the form of wood pellets, produced by US and Canadian forests, has
become the main source of energy in several European countries and by
far the most prominent type of alternative energy. This semester my
group has throughly researched the production and use of wood
pellets, and the implications of these processes. We have found that
although wood pellets may seem like a better option than oil or coal,
the wood pellet industry as it is today should not be characterized
as a “green” source of energy. This is due to the actual
questionable production of the pellets from companies that claim to
use waste products to manufacture the pellets. Although, without any
regulations on industry standards and rules, many wood pellets are
manufactured from the trees of the dwindling forests of the US and
Canada. Along with this, these pellets are being produced for buyers
in Europe. This is the main issue with the current context of the
industry, the biomass is shipped across the atlantic, which
dramatically increases the amount of carbon dioxide associated with
wood pellets. From an economic standpoint, the wood pellet industry
is beneficial to US and Canadian economies because demand for wood
pellets is increasing and more and more jobs are being created to
fill this demand. Spending on developing the wood pellet industry
could instead be used to develop an actual sustainable source of
energy, which is not wood pellets. From a political standpoint, these
European countries have become dependent on North American biomass
under the pretense that it is a green alternative source of energy.
When in reality, the actual use of biomass isn't sustainable on a
widespread level and the production and transportation emits
relatively high amounts of carbon dioxide. As a group we concluded
that the use of wood pellets, if necessary, should be domestic to the
manufacturer and the government has a responsibility to create
policies to regulate the processes of production to prevent
deforestation and harm to the environments affected.
All this information was complied
by my group by researching online, utilizing our course textbook, and
sharing our own background knowledge of climate change. For each post
my teammates and I split up our duties and researched different
elements of the issue, this made for a wide-range of sources and
approaches on the issue. We split up the duties according to who had
the most background knowledge or interest in an argument or claim.
For example, Zarine knew the most initially about the basics of
biomass and the production and transportation issue to the integrity
of wood pellets so she focused on the introduction and summary in the
first blog post and the production specifics in the second blog post.
We decided to split the work this way because we thought it would
produce the most efficient and highest quality work possible. We
found this to be true because working in a group is hard but
splitting up the work so that each person contributes a skill or
personal knowledge benefits the group overall. For my contributions,
I did research using online databases like Fusion and
reputable online news sources like Deutsch Welle which
allowed me to include current events and research and statistics
presented in scholarly journals. Working in a group allowed me to see
the issue in different ways and helped me be more curious about the
issue in ways I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.
Before
this assignment, I didn’t even know what a wood pellet was, let
alone have any knowledge of the implications of its use. I already have a
basic knowledge of environmental science and I quickly understood the
reasoning for the argument against wood pellet use in Europe. In
doing my research I learned that narrowing my searches in large
databases gave me more useful information. I also learned how to use
APA format for citations which I had never used before. It was more
of a challenge and learning experience working with a group on a
written project such as this one. I found it was harder to put
together each part written by different people than I anticipated
because of the various tones in writing. I also found that it can be
frustrating working in a group because each member has a
responsibility that the group is depending on them to fulfill on
time. If one person doesn't follow through the other people have to
pick up their slack, which is always frustrating. The good thing
about working with this group was despite any issues we had, we learned how to produce quality posts that we found relevant and interesting.
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