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 reports the following emissions in million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the world for 2012: Coal-fired electric power generation emits around of carbon dioxide for every megawatt-hour (MWh) generated, which is almost double the carbon dioxide released by natural gas-fired generation. Because of this higher carbon efficiency of natural gas generation, as the fuel mix in the United States has changed to reduce coal and increase natural gas generation, carbon dioxide emissions have unexpectedly fallen. Those measured in the first quarter of 2012 were the lowest of any recorded for the first quarter of any year since 1992. Combined