The wood pellet industry in the United States South: an exploratory regional comparison of resident environmental, social, and economic perceptions

Main Article Content

Mason T. LeBlanc
Richard P. Vlosky https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0126-0907

Keywords

pellets, resident perceptions, United States, regional comparisons, Gulf South, Mid-Atlantic

Abstract

This article is a companion to another article published in the same issue of the Journal of Forest Business Research.[1] As such, to preclude duplication, much of the background and literature review are not repeated in this article. While that article focuses on comparing rural and urban resident perceptions of the wood pellet industry, in this piece, we examine and compare residents by major pellet production sub-region in the US South across three dimensions: environmental, social, and economic attributes. The Southern region overall is the world's largest producer and exporter of wood pellets. The sub-regions are the Gulf Coast (Louisiana and Mississippi) and the Atlantic Coast (South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia). Two rounds of a web-based survey were sent to 7,500 residents in the two pellet-producing sub-regions within the US South. Within these regions, surveys were sent to randomly selected residents by zip code, 18 years or older. Overall, Gulf Coast respondents were more accepting of the pellet industry than Atlantic Coast respondents across the three attributes.


[1] LeBlanc MT, Vlosky RP. 2023. What do people think about the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the wood pellet industry? An exploratory study of residents living near pellet plants vs. urban residents in States with pellet manufacturers. J.For.Bus.Res. 2(1): 20-37.

Abstract 144 | View Full Text Downloads 0 Download PDF Downloads 64

References

Armstrong JS, Overton TS. 1977. Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. Journal of Marketing Research, 14(3), 396-402.
https://doi.org/10.1177/002224377701400320

Bearden WO, Netemeyer RG, Haws KL. 2011. GREEN consumer values. In Handbook of Marketing Scales. 3rd ed., pp. 172-173. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Bruner GC Jr, James KE, Hensel PJ. 2001. #147 environmental paradigm. In Marketing Scales Handbook. Vol. 3, pp. 229-230. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association.

Dillman DA, Smyth JD, Christian LM. 2014. Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: the tailored design method, 4th Edition. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394260645

Dunlap RE, Van Liere KD, Mertig AG, Jones RE. 2000. Measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: a revised NEP scale. Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 56, No. 3, 2000, pp. 425-442. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00176

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO). 2018. Forest Products Annual Market Review 2017-2018. Geneva: United Nations.

Greene J. 2019. US wood pellet exports increased 17% in 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2019, from https://blog.forest2market.com/us-wood-pellet-exports-increased-17-percent-in-2018

Henderson JE, Joshi O, Parajuli R, Hubbard WG. 2017. Research paper: a regional assessment of wood resource sustainability and potential economic impact of the wood pellet market in the US South. Biomass Bioenergy, 105, 421-427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.08.003

LeBlanc MT, Vlosky RP. 2023. What do people think about the environmental, social, and economic impacts of the wood pellet industry? An exploratory study of residents living near pellet plants vs. urban residents in States with pellet manufacturers. J.For.Bus.Res. 2(1): 20-37.
https://doi.org/10.62320/jfbr.v2i1.18

Thrän D, Peetz D, Schaubach K. 2017. Global wood pellet industry and trade study 2017. Paris: IEA Bioenergy Task 40.