[Forest_Biomass] Forest Biomass newsclip roundup

[WEEKS Kevin]

Forest Biomass News subscribers:
Wanted to share three news clips related to forest biomass which appeared in the Roseburg and Eugene newspapers during the past few days.

Kevin Weeks
Oregon Department of Forestry
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1) Biomass emerges as hopeful energy source / Roseburg News-Review, 01-10-10 

Carbon reduction, renewable energy and less dependence on foreign oil have quickly become almost dog-eared topics amongst national pundits.

Douglas County's history as timber capital may seem diametrically opposed to such conversations, but some don't think so.

Douglas County Commissioner Joe Laurance has called his county "the Saudi Arabia of biomass," organic material from plants and trees.

If that's true, there's a sea of splintery crude and opportunities to reap.

The use of biomass for energy and heat goes back to whichever caveman first discovered fire. Biomass is coming back into vogue as the country searches for energy to power it through the future.

Discussion on those opportunities and the possible pros and cons of amping up the old energy source to meet current demand will be on tap at 12:30 p.m. this Tuesday as the Lunch Bunch hosts a discussion of "Forest Biofuels" at the Roseburg Country Club

Three panelists will discuss the topic from their respective fields, which include chemical engineering, soil science and biomass.

Jim Long helped coordinate the event and was excited Thursday by the more than 30 people planning to attend, as well as the breadth of interests they represent, from wood products to finance to community development.

He expects more than 50 will eventually show up.

"I keep emphasizing a community discussion," he said. "We have options, we have resource people to help us explore each of those options and we want to create a base for decision making."

The discussion is the fourth in a series of public panels on Energy Options in Douglas County. Earlier panels focused on the smart electrical grid, transportable nuclear power and technologies to generate electricity from ocean waves. 

Jim Archuleta will discuss the biomass project he's working on at the Umpqua National Forest.

Archuleta is a soil scientist with the U.S. Forest Service at the Toketee Ranger Station and is currently involved in biomass research with the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Idaho, the University of Idaho and University of Montana.

On Tuesday he'll discuss the project, which included fast pyrolysis demonstrations in Douglas County last summer. Fast pyrolysis is the process of quickly heating and cooling organic matter to produce oil, char and gas.

Researchers are working on ways to use the otherwise unmarketable trees, slash and other brush that will benefit both the forest and the community.

"We're looking at it as kind of a grass roots initiatives," Archuleta said.

The oil could be used as a substitute for petroleum and the char could be used as a soil amendment to pipe nutrients from downed trees back into the soil to restore the health of a forest, he said, adding that finding a marketable way of using the fuel will also reduce wildfire hazard.

The demonstrations this summer used chipped slash from the forest. This coming June, a larger transportable biomass processing plant will come back to the Umpqua, likely the Lemolo Sand Shed, and spend 20 days processing about 1 ton a day.

"We're lousy with (slash)," Archuleta said. "Ultimately we'll be targeting a 15-tons-a-day operation. Right now we're just looking at a step up from the work table."

Researchers are also looking at the financial component.

Archuleta said USFS's involvement is to help figure out how to get the biomass in a form that's easy to move for future private businesses to process. Right now that transportation is a major drawback, limiting production to transportable operations with small capacity.

Long said as a small woodland owner he was especially interested in how Oregon could make better use of forest waste.

On another front, Long is part of the Umpqua Bio Alternatives Cooperative. Now in its third year, the organization has since processed waste oil from restaurants and is beginning to process bio-oil from windfall fruit blackberries and grapes, distilling the oil into ethanol.

The biomass oil and char has piqued UBAC's interest, but the group is still looking into it, he said.

He also said the co-op has been informed that there are distribution options beyond producing biomass products, as the federal road system is interested in using bio char to improve soil and plant growth along road cuts.

Archuleta said, aside from the tightened time frame and the cleaner emissions, energy from biomass isn't that much different than petroleum-based energy - it is or once was organic matter.

"What we're doing is hopefully shortening up the amount of time between the capture of photosynthesis and the use for our energy needs."

* You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby at nrtoday.com <mailto:dbixby at nrtoday.com> . 

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2) Schools warming up to biomass, Roseburg News Review 01-10-10

Two local districts are riding the growing biomass energy wave.

Days Creek and Elkton received word shortly before the winter break that they had both received grant funding to convert their current boiler systems to biomass boilers.

The grants, awarded by the State Energy Program through American Recovery and Reimbursement Act stimulus funds, total more than $230,000.

The Douglas County schools are two of six Oregon districts to receive the boon.

Days Creek Superintendent Laurie Newton began looking at renewable energies early last year.

"At first I felt very alone and then I heard Elkton was interested and (Commissioner) Joe Laurance was very interested and then it just started rolling," Newton said.

Cost savings for the school districts is a major driving factor for both.

"One of our main reasons is that our 8,000-gallon underground storage tank is 40-plus years old," said Brian Kruse, Elkton's maintenance director.

The decision the district looked at was either replacing the old tank or starting anew.

Kruse said he guessed their current boiler, using No. 2 diesel, costs about $55,000 a year to heat both district buildings.

A biomass boiler that burns locally produced wood pellets will run around $14,000 to $15,000 annually, he says.

Newton said Days Creek is hoping to develop the infrastructure that will not only heat the classroom buildings but also pipe heat down to the Days Creek FFA Chapter's two greenhouses.

"That's a huge propane consumption," she said, adding December's bill for heating the greenhouses in December alone reached $1,700.

Both districts will have to pony up costs for the full installation.

Kruse said Elkton's out-of-pocket expenses were unclear at this time, but there would be some money from last year's facilities bond set aside for the current boiler that can be used for the new boiler. The district is still feeling out more grants and looking at combining buying power with the other Oregon districts getting the same grant.

Elkton expects to install the new system this summer.

Newton said Days Creek is currently drafting plans and discovering their building maybe able to support the conversion easier than they first anticipated, driving their portion of conversion costs lower.

She said the district will likely release requests for proposals later this month and decide in February, keeping the momentum up for quicker installation.

The biomass boilers will reduce the district's carbon footprints, too.

Kruse said tours he took of a Harney County hospital using a similar system showed him how efficient and clean it was.

"When that system there is running, you can't see anything coming out of the stack" he said. "It's just like a pellet stove in your house, if it's running the way it should, you shouldn't see anything coming out of the chimney."

Elkton Superintendent Mike Hughes and Newton are both excited about the science, energy and natural resource education opportunities the new technologies will present for students.

"Talk about hands-on science," Newton said. She hopes to have some kind of calculation - perhaps future homework for students - on the schools emissions and energy output.

Hughes said the high school and middle school science teachers would integrate information into the charter district's new natural resource curriculum.

* You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby at nrtoday.com <mailto:dbixby at nrtoday.com> . 

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3) When it comes to renewable energy, wood holds promise 
By Greg Corbin
Saturday, Jan 9, 2010
Eugene Register Guard
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Woody biomass as a fuel to produce renewable energy provides a solid alternative to fossil fuels. It's one of the world's oldest sources of energy, and here in the Pacific Northwest, it's a nice complement to intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar.

An excellent example of this is moving forward right here in Eugene. The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency recently approved a permit for Seneca Sustainable Energy LLC to build a new 18.8 megawatt renewable energy biomass plant. When completed, the plant will help Eugene Water & Electric Board customers by providing a new and reliable energy facility to help meet future growth needs and offset power requirements that may have come from fossil-fueled facilities.

But that's not the end of the story. Throughout much of Oregon, there are at least two other good reasons to use woody biomass for energy production. It would create new jobs for Oregonians and improve the health of our forestlands.

Most of Oregon's federal forestlands are in deep trouble because they are overstocked with trees that are sickly, stressed and often infested with bugs that kill them. Although the Seneca plant won't use much biomass from federal lands, many of those forests would benefit from such use.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, nearly 40 percent of Oregon forestland is classified as Class 3, or at "high risk" of intense fire. Another 45 percent is classified as Class 2, or at "moderate risk" of fire. Officials estimate that between 9 million and 13 million acres of these forestlands are in need of improvement.

Harvesting excess woody biomass under laws that already are established is a sensible form of forestry management that can help improve these forests' ecological health and reduce the chance that severe fire will completely destroy them, their wildlife habitat and their watersheds.

And when used as a source of renewable energy, it also would keep the lights on when the sun goes down or the wind does not blow.

Let's remember that the Oregon Legislature has established a renewable energy standard that requires the state's utilities to meet 25 percent of their energy needs from renewable energy supplies by 2025. Renewable electric energy from woody biomass such as Seneca's plant will play a part.

The state's long-range objective was set with eyes wide open, knowing full well that there are always some environmental impacts to energy production. But in the case of woody biomass generation, it holds promise to help forests, provide employment and produce new sources of renewable energy.

Portland attorney Greg Corbin has a master's degree in forest science and is a member of the Society of American Foresters. Forest product companies are among his clients.

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Questions about the Forest Biomass News service?

Contact:
Kevin Weeks
Oregon Department of Forestry
(503) 945-7427