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| PEOPLE MISTAKENLY THINK PAPER MAKING IS A VORACIOUS ENERGY CONSUMER. BUT LOOK MORE CLOSELY AND YOU'LL DISCOVER SOME SURPRISINGLY SMALL STATISTICS ABOUT PAPER AND ENERGY....
As industries go, paper making is a large scale undertaking and you'd expect it to generate some frightening statistics. It doesn't. On average it takes 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to produce 200kg of paper, the average amount of paper that each of us consume each year.
The paper industry is one of the biggest users of renewable, low carbon energy and over half the energy used to make paper in Europe comes from renewable sources. (5)
' The pulp and paper industry is the bio-energy driver in Europe. 52% of the energy used in the industry is biomassbased and the sector is responsible for 27% of the total production of biomass-based energy in the EU.'
CEPI Paperonline 2010
What is Biomass Energy?
Biomass energy is produced by the pulp and paper industry by burning wood and waste materials from the pulping process to provide energy for the manufacturing process itself. Often excess heat & power is produced which is sold to the grid or used by the local community. Using wood for paper first and energy last creates four times more value.
What is the difference between Biomass and Fossil Fuels?
The vital difference is one of time scale. Biomass takes carbon out of the atmosphere while it is growing and returns it as it is burned. Managed on a sustainable basis biomass is a completely replenishable crop. This maintains a closed carbon cycle and preserves valuable fossil fuels.
Does 500 kilowatt-hours, 200kg of paper, the average amount each of us use every year, sound a lot? It's the equivalent to:
_ Powering one computer continuously for five months
_ Burning a 60w light bulb continuously for one year
_ The energy consumed by a typical household leaving its electronic equipment on stand-by for a year
Paper & The Environment, ATS Consulting August 2007
(5) CEPI, Forest Fact Sheet, 2008
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