Peter Hall
Position: Senior Scientist and Project Leader, Scion. Field: Renewable Energy.
Peter now specialises in resource assessment and the use of forest residues for energy production. In recent years, he has demonstrated the significant potential of forestry as a source of renewable energy for New Zealand.
Peter Hall and George Estcourt
Peter Hall with George Estcourt, energy engineer at Scion.
Peter Hall developed his interest in science while working within the New Zealand forestry industry. While he was working with the Logging Industry Research Organisation, he became interested in residues – the off-cuts and leftovers from felled trees that were of no use to the timber industry and would usually be piled up and left in the forests to rot. He was interested to find out whether there was a way to make use of this potential resource.
Clean and green fuels
Not all biofuels are equal – some produce less greenhouse gases than others, some utilise greenhouse gases (such as methane) that would otherwise go into the atmosphere. Some biofuels are less environmentally friendly than others because they come with an overall high environmental cost (such as use of fertilisers, water, cultivation of soil, use of farm machinery). Some products are also intensive in their production and use only a small part of the plant to make biofuel.
Peter started measuring the residue to determine the size of the resource and its composition. He received a grant to study forestry-based bioenergy systems in other countries and discovered that the use of forest residues is widespread, particularly in the Scandinavian countries in the north of Europe, and that each country had different systems in place that catered to the type of terrain, whether they were using plantation forests or natural forests, the size of the trees, the climate and each country’s policies around bioenergy.
Peter Hall’s interest in biomass
Peter Hall from Scion explains how he became interested in biomass. What was once a curious interest became serious research as Peter tried to reduce waste produced in wood harvesting.
While working as a forest manager, Peter Hall noticed that waste wood off-cuts were not processed for anything and were just left in the forest to decay. This inspired him to investigate how much wood was left to decay and whether this wood could be used for something else. He started recording the quantities of waste wood in his spare time, and this interest eventually led him to do several research projects.
In his work at Scion, Peter is continuing to examine how biomass products such as woody biomass, agricultural plants, household wastes and even algae can be converted into energy products (such as heat, electricity and liquid fuel). He also looks at the nature and issues associated with different conversion technologies in order to identify and address barriers and issues around the implementation of bioenergy in New Zealand.
Life cycle analysis
Peter Hall from Scion explains the importance at looking at the big picture when comparing the impact of different products and processes used to make biofuels.
Life cycle analysis looks at the big picture – it is an assessment of the environmental impacts of a product due to its existence – so when Peter Hall and his colleagues are evaluating biomass resources, they have to consider every step in the process from growing, processing and transporting to the disposal of waste products. For this type of analysis, everything must be accounted for – the use of fertilisers and water, and the emissions caused, not just by using the product, but also through transport and production.
Useful link
More information about Scion’s research on their website.
This article is based on information current in 2008 and in 2018.
