Alternative fuel use by the wood products industry could reduce the industry’s dependence on fossil fuels and decrease its emissions. A new resource guide created by the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP), the Penn State College of Engineering, and the Mid-Atlantic Clean Energy Applications Center (MACEAC) promotes the use of one such alternative fuel: combined [...]
Penn State University Awarded $10 Million To Develop Next-Generation Biofuels
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently awarded Pennsylvania State University a five-year research grant valued at roughly $10 million to develop biomass supply chains for the production of liquid transportation and aviation biofuels in the Northeast. This is the sixth such award made through USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), aimed at developing regional, renewable [...]
New Biomass Heating System For Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Smoldering wood chips in oxygen-starved chambers will be used to generate steam heat for most of the buildings at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The new energy-efficient process also provides a market for low-grade wood that loggers would otherwise leave on the forest floor, officials said. The cutting-edge biomass gasification plant replaces four worn-out boilers that [...]
U.S. Teams With India On Massive New Biofuel Project
The U.S. has just launched a five-year, $125 million alternative energy research project with India, aimed partly at developing biofuels from non-food crops. The biofuel project, funded by the Department of Energy and led by the University of Florida, has the goal of managing climate change and reducing U.S. dependence on petroleum products, and that [...]
Federal Agencies Implement Hundreds Of Renewable Energy Initiatives
Governmentwide, 23 agencies and their 130 sub-agencies reviewed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) implemented nearly 700 renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010. The Departments of Defense (DOD), Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE), and the Interior were collectively responsible for almost 60% of all initiatives. The initiatives supported a range of renewable energy sources, [...]
Tribal Clean Energy Projects Awarded $6.5 Million By DOE
As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to strengthening partnerships with Tribal Nations and supporting tribal energy development, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced that 19 clean energy projects are to receive more than $6.5 million. These competitively selected projects will allow Native American Tribes to advance clean energy within their communities by assessing [...]
U.S. Department Of Energy Releases ‘Billion-Ton’ Study
The U.S. Department of Energy recently released a report, the 2011 U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry, detailing U.S. biomass feedstock potential nationwide. The report examines the nation’s capacity to produce a billion dry tons of biomass resources annually for energy uses without impacting other vital U.S. farm and forest [...]