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There is currently interest in South Carolina from renewable fuels companies looking for locations for gasification systems that would use woody biomass to generate power, and there is interest among forestry companies willing to partner with such companies, the forestry association’s Scott said. He calls this prospect “exciting,” but cautions that South Carolina has a limited amount of wood byproducts that could be used for these processes.
“There’s a perception among a lot of people in the industry that there’s an unlimited supply of wood waste, but there’s not an infinite supply,” Scott said. “We have room for growth in this area, but we have to be cautious in putting out good hard data, so mills that are considering coming to South Carolina can make an informed decision. There are certain pockets of the state where there is a sustainable supply of wood, but you have to find these areas because transportation costs are too high otherwise.”
While widespread commercial use of wood waste gasification for energy is on the horizon, it has been used by saw mills and lumber companies for about two decades in their own boiler systems, Scott said. Now other nonforest products companies are looking at this as a real possibility. In fact, the University of South Carolina has recently installed, and is now operating, a wood gasification system that generates power based on wood waste to provide heat for the campus.
In addition to the agribusiness study at the Palmetto Institute, biofuels-related research is also being conducted at the University of South Carolina and at Clemson University.
“This is an excellent example of an opportunity that’s coming to South Carolina in terms of a whole new market for wood products,” Scott said. “Being able to convert wood into energy helps us (the United States) achieve the goal of energy independence. Of course, there’s not going to be any single area that’s going to solve our energy problems; we’re going to have to look at biofuels, nuclear, solar, wind. There’s no silver bullet. It’s going to take a combination of a number of new sources to help us achieve energy independence; wood is just a component.”
Another opportunity for landowners, foresters, traders and investors comes in the form of carbon sequestration credits. Essentially, because of work from the Chicago Climate Exchange, a voluntary member company carbon broker, landowners may receive financial credits for the carbon extracted from the atmosphere by the trees on their property. Trading operations of the CCX began in 2003 with 13 charter members, including MeadWestvaco Corp., who entered into legally binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
These contracts are the commodities that are traded at CCX and each represents 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. Landowners can receive credits in the amount of about $5 or more per metric ton of sequestered carbon.
However, the exchange is still a fairly new concept and the long-term financial value of the credits to landowners is still somewhat controversial. Still, Scott believes the concept is worth exploration.
“This represents a tremendous opportunity for landowners to grow pine trees,” Scott said. “The trees are doing all the work and the landowner is reaping all the benefits.”
Kristen Poland is a staff writer for SC Biz magazine. E-mail her directly at
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South Carolina Forestry Facts
Who owns South Carolina’s timberland?
5% by the public
5% by national forest
16% by forest industry
74% by non-industrial private landowners
Timber is South Carolina’s largest cash crop, with an annual delivered value of over $876 million.
Wood products are the 3rd largest manufacturing industry in the state, employing over 32,000 residents and contributing $8.5 billion annually to our economy.
Forested timberlands occupy approximately two-thirds (12.3 million acres) of South Carolina’s land area.
In the 2000-01 planting season, tree seedlings were planted on 145,251 acres in South Carolina.
Approximately 48 percent of South Carolina’s forests is pine, 52 percent is hardwood.
Pine plantations account for nearly 25 percent of SC timberland.
Over 300,000 acres were regenerated annually between 1993-2000.
There are over 88,000 forest land owners.
South Carolina ranks 12th in trees planted in the USA in 1998.
South Carolinians planted some 90 million tree seedlings in 2000-01.
Forest products are grown and processed in every county.
Approximately 78 million seedlings were produced by forest tree nurseries in South Carolina in 2000.
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