USDA announces guaranteed loan to Range Fuels for biorefinery
Posted on Wednesday, March 3, 2010The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in a press release this week that Range Fuels, Inc., a Colorado based firm with a planned biorefinery located near Soperton, GA, is the recipient of a loan guaranteed by USDA Rural Development to make cellulosic biofuel from wood chips. The deal, recently finalized, was first announced last year and represents the first ever loan guarantee by USDA to a commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel plant. This project is expected to provide biorefinery jobs, construction jobs and support the timber industry.
Wood-to-energy projects in Maine receive ARRA funds
Posted on Friday, February 19, 2010Six school and university oil-to-wood heating projects in Maine are receiving more than $3.2 million in grants under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA). The six energy-conversion grants will be managed by the Maine Forest Service and are intended to create and retain jobs, achieve energy savings through wood-to-energy installations, reduce dependence on non-renewable energy resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support sustainable forestry.
Woody Biomass Feedstock Yard Business Development Guide
Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010A new publication prepared by the Federal Woody Biomass Working Group provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities to establish a woody biomass feedstock yard in the United States. The Woody Biomass Feedstock Yard Business Development Guide (PDF) includes information on biomass sourcing; facility site selection and equipment; biomass sort yards; biomass collection, concentration, and distribution; biomass handling, sorting, and economic considerations; business planning; marketing and distribution; financial feasibility analysis; and sources of technical assistance and funding.
Reexamining the Biomass Crop Assistance Program
Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010From the Washington Post: "In a matter of months, the Biomass Crop Assistance Program -- a small provision tucked into the 2008 farm bill -- has mushroomed into a half-a-billion dollar subsidy that is funneling taxpayer dollars to sawmills and lumber wholesalers, encouraging them to sell their waste to be converted into high-tech biofuels. In doing so, it is shutting off the supply of cheap timber byproducts to the nation's composite wood manufacturers."
Wood2Energy.org: new database of wood-energy industries in North America
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2010A new searchable database of industrial and selected community-scale users of wood to energy facilities across North America is now available for anyone with interest in the state of wood to energy conversion at a national, state/provincial or local operating level. The site, www.wood2energy.org, was developed by the University of Tennessee Office of Bioenergy Programs with funding from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities; American Forest and Paper Association; Forest Products Association of Canada; as well as the respective federal natural resources agencies from the U.S. and Canada, the USDA Forest Service and Natural Resources Canada. Additional assistance was provided by the Sun Grant Initiative.
Wyoming group puts pine-beetle-killed wood to work
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2010An informal array of residents and officials have joined to help find a market for beetle-infested timber that is expected to be removed from the Medicine Bow and Routt national forests over the next several years. The group, which has no formal title, includes Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapser and Jerry Paxton, Carbon County Commission vice chairman, as well as current and retired Forest Service officials. The group spearheaded the effort to convert a former mill site and is looking to bring in industries that canmake use of the dead timber.
Endowment issues RFP focused on biomass
Posted on Friday, January 8, 2010The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities has announced its first Request for Pre-proposals (RFP) for 2010. The RFP seeks concepts to rapidly move promising local-scale wood-to-energy conversion technologies from lab to demonstration and a separate work track that would identify and test new models for wood procurement for energy that would also serve to further retention of working forests.
Massachusetts rethinking emphasis on wood-burning plants
Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009Wood has long been part of Massachusetts' portfolio of renewable energy sources but ramped up criticism from environmentalists has led state officials to rethink their investments in biomass power plants. "Difficult questions about biomass have arisen in the past year," said State Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles. "We are asking those hard questions and asking them in a way that no other states have asked them."
Nevada experimenting with biomass energy to power Las Vegas
Posted on Wednesday, November 4, 2009Nevada utility NV Energy is experimenting powering Las Vegas with a mixture of coal and wood chips to help meet the state goal for using renewable materials to create energy. Ponderosa from the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona makes up five percent of what goes into the boiler. MORE: watch a video on the process.
Wood making comeback as power source
Posted on Friday, October 16, 2009USA Today reports that power plants across the country are turning to wood to make electricity. The move is spurred by state mandates to encourage renewable power and by bills moving through Congress that require more renewable electricity nationwide.
