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Publication #FOR136

Wood to Energy: Economic Impacts of Generating Electricity1

Alan W. Hodges and Mohammad Rahmani2

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Southern forests represent an important potential energy resource for heat, power, and electricity. Wood is not a resource that will be appropriate for every community, nor will the same sources of wood be available to every community. But many communities and industries already use wood, and the potential for others to use woody biomass for energy is significant. There is a great deal to learn about the many ways people are using wood for energy in the South.

The Wood to Energy Outreach Program developed a number of fact sheets, case studies, and community economic profiles. Community leaders and citizens can use this information as they explore the possibility of using wood for heat, power, and electricity. This fact sheet, Economic Impacts of Generating Electricity, presents an analysis of the regional economic impact in jobs and dollars of using wood instead of fossil fuels for a 20 megawatt (MW) or 40 MW power plant. A selection of 28 counties across the South was used for this analysis.

The Wood to Energy Outreach Program is a collaborative effort of the University of Florida, School of Forest Resources and Conservation; USDA Forest Service, Centers for Urban and Interface Forestry; Southern Regional Extension Forestry; and the Southern States Energy Board. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the USDA.

Additional fact sheets, community economic profiles, case studies, and information are available in individual pdf files at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu under Woody Biomass.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FOR 136, one of the series, Wood to Energy, Circular 1526, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_SERIES_Wood_to_Energy, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, and is FE697, one of a series of the Food and Resource Economics Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original Publication Date: September 2007. Visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu .

2.

Alan W. Hodges is an Associate Extension Scientist and Mohammad Rahmani is the Coordinator of Economic Analysis. Both are in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.