To the editor: What could be the sacred Messiah of clean energy and the prevention of forest fires? According to Noah Haggerty, our Savior seems to be biomass energy (“California needs biomass energy to meet its forest fire objectives. His projects continue to the south,” September 30). But this article does not mention the research mountains that warn against the damage of the capture and storage of carbon to the atmosphere, the ecosystems and the people to whom such practices are intended to serve.
Crucially, the mere processing of the biomass material, through forests, cutting trees in wooden splinters and transport of materials at long distances, emits alarming amounts of carbon in the atmosphere. In combination with high energy combustion and biomass gasification, “carbon neutral” or “carbon” claims lose their land as the land such as Net atmospheric carbon emissions exceed those that propose to kidnap.
On the other hand, public financing must prioritize Renewable energy sources backed by research such as solar energy and wind to resolve emissions and public health crises.
Jojo Pak, Berkeley
