Forest energy

If all the fossil fuel used in Maine (oil and natural gas) were converted to the energy equivalent in oil alone, each person in Maine uses 50 barrels of oil per year. The 17 million acres of Maine forest will yield a steady harvest (both round wood and residues) of about 0.62 dry tons per year. If this were all converted to energy in a most efficient way, we would have the energy equivalent of about 20 barrels of oil per person per year. There would be no paper industry, no saw logs – just convert the entire forest to energy, and we would achieve less than one-half of the energy we now consume.