U.S. Industrial Pellet
Association
Message Architecture
September 2013
Executive Synopsis
 The following is the message architecture for USIPA member
companies to use as the foundation for communicating to external
audiences (media, regulators, policymakers) in Europe and the
United States.
 The document is designed to ensure that USIPA representatives
communicate a consistent message to all audiences.
 The message architecture is adaptable.
Page 2
USIPA Message Architecture
Top-line Message – What it offers
Industrial wood pellets from the United States are an essential component
of Europe’s power mix and provide an abundant, sustainable and carbon
beneficial energy source that provides reliable baseload power to Europe.
Pillar: Carbon
Beneficial
Pillar: Energy Mix
Pillar: Sustainable
Supply
Industrial wood pellets
are carbon beneficial
when compared to
fossil fuels.
Industrial wood pellets
are a vital part of the
energy mix.
Sustainability is an
integral part of the U.S.
industrial wood pellet
industry.
Proof Points and Examples
Sub-Message: Carbon Beneficial
Main Message
• Wood pellets are carbon beneficial when compared to fossil
fuels.
Sub-messages
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Sustainably managed industrial wood pellets are carbon beneficial. Biogenic carbon emissions
are fundamentally different from fossil carbon emissions because they represent carbon that was
recently pulled from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
Fossil fuel emissions represent carbon that is removed from permanent storage in the earth and
added as new carbon into the atmosphere. Fossil carbon storage can never be replaced.
The use of sustainably produced wood pellets in place of fossil fuels keeps that quantity of fossil
fuel and its embedded carbon deep underground, preventing it from ever entering the earth’s
atmosphere.
Production emissions from wood pellets are far less than combustion emissions from fossil fuels.
The UK Environment Agency found that switching to bioenergy from coal can reduce carbon
emissions between 74 and 90 percent.
Industrial wood pellets are part of the climate change solution. U.S. forestry stocks are
consistently growing, with the number of new trees exceeding the number of harvested trees,
which means the nation’s carbon stocks are steadily increasing.
Industrial wood pellets provide a needed market that gives landowners an incentive to work and
grow their forests — leading to greater carbon sequestration.
Sub-Message: Carbon Beneficial
Main Message
• Wood pellets are carbon beneficial when compared to fossil
fuels.
Proof Points
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Studies by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) have shown
that co-firing industrial wood pellets alongside coal reduces emissions of air pollutants like
ash, nitrogen, sulfur, mercury and other heavy metals that are harmful to the environment.
Industrial wood pellets are low in sulfur, chlorine and nitrogen. Bioenergy also has lower
concentrations than coal of trace metals, including arsenic, beryllium, cadmium and lead.
Burning industrial wood pellets releases less of these harmful elements and metals into the
atmosphere than fossil fuels.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishes 5 pollutants which are used as
criteria to determine emissions: carbon, particulates, SOx, NOx and non-methane
hydrocarbons. In all cases, with the exception carbon monoxide and non-methane
hydrocarbons, which are low for both coal and industrial wood pellets, replacing coal with
industrial wood pellets was shown to reduce emissions.
Sub-Message: Energy Mix
Main Message
• Industrial wood pellets are a vital part of the energy mix.
Sub-Messages
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•
•
•
•
•
Industrial wood pellets from the U.S. are helping Europe meet its climate change commitments and
renewable energy targets.
Industrial wood pellets can be used in the same furnaces that currently fire coal. Co-firing industrial wood
pellets alongside coal enables utilities to use existing infrastructure without having to make costly
investments in new technologies and new facilities. This keeps costs low and stable for consumers.
Currently, industrial wood pellets are the only readily available renewable energy alternative that is
capable of providing consistent energy to meet consumer demands. Industrial wood pellets can be
quickly deployed to fill gaps in supply, and easily adjusted to meet daily fluctuations in energy demand.
Industrial wood pellets are a complementary technology and its use is intended to work alongside other
energy sources like wind and solar to balance the grid.
While wind and solar are an important part of the renewable energy mix, projects are often capital
intensive and take years to bring online. Industrial wood pellets are the perfect complement to fill the
gaps created by energies that are weather dependent and intermittent in nature.
European utilities require a full suite of energy sources to deliver needed supply and lower emissions.
While no one technology or energy source provides a single solution, industrial wood pellets have proven
to be an important part of the renewable energy equation.
Sub-Message: Sustainable Supply
Main Message
•
Sustainability is an integral part of the U.S. industrial wood pellet
industry.
Sub-Messages/proof points
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Forest cover and carbon sequestration are steadily increasing in the U.S.
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The U.S. has more than 750 million acres of forest. The net volume of trees per acre has
increased in all regions of the U.S. for more than 50 years, and the total acreage of
forestland in the U.S. is within one percent of what it was 100 years ago.
In the Southeast U.S., where the largest supply of industrial wood pellets shipped to Europe
is produced, the net volume of trees per acre has increased 94% since 1953, meaning net
growth has exceeded removals on a consistent and long-term basis.
Forest carbon sequestration in the U.S. has increased 31% since 1990. CO2 sequestration
from forests was 701 million metric tons in 1990, compared to 922 million metric tons in
2010.
U.S. forests capture more carbon than the annual emissions produced by the United
Kingdom and Spain combined.
Sub-Message: Sustainable Supply
Main Message
•
Sustainability is an integral part of the U.S. industrial wood pellet
industry.
Sub-Messages
•
U.S. forests are protected by many international recognized certifications and
laws.
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Federal laws, such as the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act,
the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act govern forestry
practices in woodlands and swamps.
Further protections exist at the state level through water quality and best management
practices enforced by state forestry and regulatory agencies.
Producers of industrial wood pellets use the same internationally recognized forest
sustainability certifications that others in the forest products industry use, and are subject to
independent third-party audits.
Sub-Message: Sustainable Supply
Main Message
•
Sustainability is an integral part of the U.S. industrial wood pellet
industry.
Sub-Messages
•
The U.S. forest industry uses sustainable forestry management practices to
maintain healthy forests.
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Best Management Practices have been established by the U.S. forest industry and have been in
place for decades. Industrial wood pellets meet the same standards as every other product coming
from U.S. forests.
Common forest management practices of thinning and sustainable rotational harvesting mean there
is a continuous cycle of new growth in the forest. Just like crops and gardens, forests have to be
weeded and maintained.
As trees age, their rates of carbon capture slow. Managed forests have trees of various ages and
species, including young, fast-growing trees that absorb more carbon than older trees.
Thinning of forests clears out the smaller, and often less healthy, trees to ensure the remaining
trees get the necessary sunlight and soil nutrients, and that new growth continues to occur.
The industrial wood pellet industry gets its supply from forest thinnings, parts of trees that other
industries leave behind or that lack a local market for pulp and paper, or parts of trees that cannot
be used for wood converted to lumber.
Sub-Message: Sustainable Supply
Main Message
•
Sustainability is an integral part of the U.S. industrial wood pellet
industry.
Sub-Messages
•
Industrial wood pellets have revived a depressed forest products industry.
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According to the U.S. Forest Service, 25% of all forest sector mills in the Southern U.S. have
closed since 2005 and the demand for forest products has decreased since the economic
downturn.
87% of forests in the Southeast U.S. are owned by small forest owners. Timber markets, now
made stronger with the industrial wood pellets-to-energy market, provide economic
incentives to ensure that landowners keep their forests well maintained, and do not sell or
convert their land to other uses, such as commercial development.
Providing new demand in the forest industry creates thousands of jobs, both directly and
indirectly, throughout the supply chain, increases exports, and helps revitalize rural areas.
A thriving forest industry is vital to the United States. For many states forestry is the largest
industry and the largest economic driver. This is further incentive for those states to ensure
that there is continuous, sustained growth of forest for generations to come.
Sub-Message: Sustainable Supply
Main Message
•
Sustainability is an integral part of the U.S. industrial wood pellet
industry.
Sub-Messages
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Pellet producers are environmentalists.
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From an environmental standpoint, industrial wood pellet producers ensure that their product
is sustainable and emissions are low during sourcing, production and transport. Every step
from the forest to the furnace is environmentally friendly. All producers are contractually
obligated to commit to this within their legal agreements with European utilities.
From an economic standpoint, industrial wood pellet producers must preserve the forests for
their own survival. Clear-cutting forests leaves no product for the next shipment, and
producers would be out of a job. That simply does not make good business or environmental
sense.
U.S. Industrial Pellet
Association
Message Architecture
September 2013