july2017

240 241 sapling into a mature plant, it has, all the while, been absorbing carbon dioxide fromthe atmosphere and giving off oxygen,in the process of photosyn- thesis.The carbon is stored in the tree’smolecular structure as wood.Once the tree reachesmaturity,it’s no longer growing and no longer absorbing carbon dioxide fromtheatmosphere thewayitdidwhen it wasyounger.So,it’shelpful tochopthat treedownand allowayounger tree togrowin itsplace inorder to drivemorecarbonabsorptionfromtheatmosphere. “When you harvest amature tree,half of that tree goes into the lumber industryand is sequestered safely in the formof housing or structural timber. This could be for the next two or three hundred years or however long the structure lasts.The other half of it was traditionallywasted and it’s that half that we nowconcern ourselves with because that’s our rawmaterial for pellet fuel. “The process of producingwood pellets,admit- tedly,uses fossil fuels and electricity,but in the full analysis,it still produces less than 70 percent of the carbon dioxide produced bycoal.Once you burn wood pellets at the power station,the CO2 liberated from that burning becomes the essential rawmate- rial reabsorbed by the young growing replacement trees.If you left everything as it was-didn’t work the forest-you’d end upwith a systemof mature trees that wasn’t absorbing asmuch CO2 and converting this to oxygen.That systemwould also,more than likely,bemore susceptible to fire and disease.So,the extraction of mature trees,and the simultaneous re- growth of younger trees in their place,provides the absorption engine for removing the carbon diox- ide from any biomass that you subsequently burn. An operating group of The Andersons, Inc., the Rail Group ranks eighth in size among privately-owned fleets in the U.S. We sell, manage and lease a fleet of 24,000 various types of railcars and locomotives, which allows us to meet virtually all of your bulk shipping needs. Because we have been a shipper for more than 70 years, we under- stand the importance of providing excep- tional customer service with reliable equip- ment, where and when you need it, and flexible leases. As managers of our own fleet, we’re well versed in the complexities of such issues as taxation, government regulations and railroad equipment. We are flexible in providing equipment and/or services in order to meet your business needs including Full Service Leases, Net Leases, Fleet Management Services, and Per Diem Leases. We are able to provide you with access to short- line railroad reporting marks for our per diem leases as well. We lease all railcar types. We propose a smart solution for the busi- ness that needs cars, but no longer wants to own them. Sell your used equipment to us and lease it back after we have upgrad- ed it in one of our Railcar Repair Shops. You remove the pressures of ownership while generating capital for your business. We also offer on-site repairs and our geo- graphical footprint allows us tot ravel throughout the U.S. to make any necessary repairs. We are also an industry leader in steel fabrication, sandblasting and paint- ing services. WWW.ANDERSONSRAIL.COM PINNACLE RENEWABLE ENERGY INC.