Although MECS data report that coal supplied only 10 percent of the pulp and paper industry’s energy requirements in 2002, NEI data show coal as contributing to 43 percent of the sector’s energy-related CAP emissions. As MECS reports more than 50 percent of the sector’s energy coming from “other” fuels (which includes biomass), NEI data show that biomass (wood waste) is a less emissions-intensive energy source than coal. For wood products, combustion of wood/bark waste is the dominant energy-related source of CAP emissions. The trend of increased renewable energy (biomass) consumption and decreased coal consumption projected by CEF and AEO.
