The State of Institutional Woody Biomass Facilities in the United States, a report just released by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, is available at www.usendowment.org. This report, based on research by Katie Premo, Endowment intern, and Kate MacFarland, USDA Forest Service (USFS) staff, fills the gap and points to the growth in use [...]
USFS Awards Colorado Stewardship Contracts
Stands of dead timber in the Medicine Bow/Routt National Forest near Steamboat Springs will be among those harvested during the next decade under a stewardship contract announced this week by the U.S. Forest Service. The $4.75 million contract awarded to Confluence Energy of Kremmling is one of two such contracts totaling $13.4 million. A second, [...]
U.S. Forest Service Awards Nearly $4 Million For Renewable Wood Energy Projects
The U.S. Forest Service recently announced the award of nearly $4 million in grants for wood energy projects around the country to help expand regional economies and create new jobs. The grants, totaling $3.92 million, will be distributed to 20 small businesses, community groups and tribes to develop renewable energy projects that require engineering services. [...]
Forest Products Lab To Open First-Of-Its-Kind Pilot Plant
The Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis. this week opened a $1.7 million nanocellulose pilot plant that will help support the emerging market for wood-derived renewable materials. A grand-opening ceremony was held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the laboratory at 1 Gifford Pinchot Drive, with presentations by officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and [...]
Forest Products Lab Hosts Important Wood-To-Energy Roundtable
Arthur “Butch” Blazer, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, paid a visit to the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, Wis., recently to convene an important roundtable discussion on wood-to-energy concerns in Wisconsin and the Midwest. Among the participants were wood scientists and technology transfer authorities from FPL and [...]
SAF Report Covers Carbon, Energy Benefits Of Forests and Biomass
A recent report provides new ideas surrounding carbon and energy benefits forests and forest products provide. The report, Managing Forests Because Carbon Matters: Integrating Energy, Products, and Land Management Policy, summarizes and analyzes the most recent science regarding forests and carbon accounting, biomass use, and forest carbon offsets. The report emerged from the Society of [...]
U.S. Forest Service Awards Grant To Biomass Council
The Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) and Resource Professional Group (RPG) recently announced that they were awarded a $70,000 grant by the U.S. Forest Service’s Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC). The planned project will promote energy cost savings and environmental improvement of commercial buildings by educating building architects and biomass appliance manufacturers on wood [...]
Wood Biofuel Industry Rising In Pacific Northwest
A recently awarded U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant will help launch a viable, sustainable biofuels industry in the Pacific Northwest. The $40 million grant directs Washington State University and the University of Washington to create the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA). The substantial grant will help the nation develop renewable energy resources from forest [...]
USDA Awards $3 Million For Woody Biomass
A U.S. Forest Service award of nearly $3 million in Woody Biomass Utilization Grants went to 17 small businesses and community groups on June 22 for the development of wood-to-energy projects, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Each of these projects requires engineering services, which will help expand regional economies and create new jobs. [...]