Typically when trees are harvested for lumber and pulp, the limbs and branches (commonly termed “forest residuals”) are left on the forest floor or collected in slash piles and burned. If these forest residuals were used instead to produce products such as biojet fuel, what effect would that have on our environment and how can we manage the …more
Posted by Michael Wolcott, NARA project co-director
NARA is well represented at CAAFI’s flagship meeting around alternative aviation fuels. We are joining a majority of the biofuels industry, the US air carriers, Boeing, FAA, USDA, DOE, NIST, …more
Front page of NARA Matrix
The US Department of Energy recently posted a link on their website to NARA’s Energy Literacy Principles Matrix.
The “Matrix” is a collection of educational resources related to biofuel solutions that are economically viable, socially acceptable, and meet the high environmental standards of the Pacific Northwest.
You can use …more
1:00 pm EST, January 14, 2014. Presented by: David Swenson, Iowa State University Host: Mike Jacobson, Penn State, NEWBio
While we often articulate the overall benefits of biofuels development in the U.S. along lines of environmental improvement coupled with a vague notion of energy security, most state and regional interest in biofuels development hinges on one primary outcome: Jobs.
The promises of job creation associated with biofuels expansion have, however, been significantly less than boosters, politicians, and other vested interests promised. …more
On November 6th 2013, the US Department of Agriculture awarded nearly $10 million to fund research to develop renewable fuel and biochar production using insect-killed trees in the Rocky Mountain region as a sustainable feedstock. The award was provided to the Bioenergy Alliance of the Rockies (BANR): a consortium of academic, industry and government organizations led by Colorado State University.
BANR’s website can …more
It has been just over two years since the USDA invested $80 million to facilitate the development of a sustainable wood to biofuels and co-products industry in the northwest United States. This investment created the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) and Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest (AHB): two projects with multiple partners focused on softwood and hardwood feedstocks respectively.
These …more
On October 31st, a day especially favored by kids in the US, NARA and Facing the Future, a NARA member organization, presented to the global teaching community a lesson plan entitled “Fueling Our Future: Exploring Sustainable Energy Use”.
This set of lessons is timely because it accommodates the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Literacy Principles, which emphasize …more
Thinning and harvesting forests in the Pacific Northwest generate lots of residual woody biomass. Currently, much of that biomass is left in slash piles while a small percentage is used to heat buildings or generate electricity. By law, those slash piles left unused are burned to reduce forest fire hazard. This process contributes to smoke and air pollution. NARA is helping to develop an industry that converts this …more
Researchers at Weyerhaeuser are finding ways to make valuable products from the lignin-rich material leftover after slash piles have been converted to biojet fuel. Finding commercial uses for this material is an essential part of producing economically competitive biojet fuel. One promising product generated from this lignin-rich material is activated carbon. Activated carbon is derived from any organic substance with high carbon content …more
NARA researchers Tammi Laninga and Michelle Vachon will present at the Follow the Energy conference in Idaho Falls, ID. tomorrow October 10th. Below is a reprint of their abstract:
We are presenting our asset mapping approach for examining a region’s potential for participating in the wood-based biofuels industry. Every region has its own unique set of tangible and intangible assets or resources that can be used in pursuit of economic development.
A community capitals framework is used …more