Energy forestry Energy forestry Energy forestry is a form of forestry in which a fast-growing species of tree or woody shrub is grown specifically to provide biomass or biofuel for heating or power generation. The two forms of energy forestry are short rotation coppice and short rotation forestry: The main advantage of using "grown fuels", as opposed to fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil, is that while they are growing they absorb the near-equivalent in carbon dioxide (an important greenhouse gas) to that which is later released in their burning. In comparison, burning fossil fuels increases atmospheric carbon unsustainably,
Natural gas and some off-grid engine-generators use natural gas. Particularly high efficiencies can be achieved through combining gas turbines with a steam turbine in combined cycle mode. Natural gas burns more cleanly than other fuels, such as oil and coal. Because burning natural gas produces both water and carbon dioxide, it produces less carbon dioxide per unit of energy released than coal, which produces mostly carbon dioxide. Burning natural gas produces only about half the carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour (kWh) that coal does. For transportation, burning natural gas produces about 30% less carbon dioxide than burning petroleum. The US Energy Information Administration