Weston Roundtable

media release: SAGE is pleased to announce the return of the Weston Roundtable Lecture Series for the Fall 2022 Semester! Lectures will be held in 1163 Mechanical Engineering from 4:15-5:15 p.m.

Clear Cut: Burning Forests for Energy Doesn’t Stack Up

Speaker:  Bob Musil, President & CEO, Rachel Carson Council 

Wood pellets! This fast-growing, but little-known source of energy has flourished in the past two decades. With tax-breaks and subsidies, corporations in the United States clear-cut forests and produce industrial scale wood pellets. They then ship their product to Europe and the UK to be burned in former coal-fired utilities. What is the result –do wood pellets stack up as a renewable energy source? This lecture provides data to argue that the result is worse than coal and is exacerbating the climate crisis.

The Weston Roundtable is made possible by a generous donation from Mr. Roy F. Weston, a highly accomplished UW-Madison alumnus. Designed to promote a robust understanding of sustainability science, engineering, and policy, these interactive lectures are co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Office of Sustainability. These lectures build on the tremendous success in past years of the Weston Distinguished Lecture Series and the SAGE Seminar Series.