by Bruce Goodman

The biomass power industry can help reduce the spread of forest fires by cleaning highly flammable debris from the forest floor and harvested areas.  Forest fires can be fueled by small trees and brush that create fire ladders that direct fires into the crowns of  larger trees.  Biomass energy plants use this and other material to create renewable energy.  They encourage good forest management by creating a market for the excess small trees, slash and brush that can foster forest fires.  Michigan has seven biomass-fired power plants and the resources for more.  A number of coal-fired generators are looking to co-fire biomass.  Reducing the risk of Michigan forest fires by improving forest health can even reduce greenhouse gases, as decomposing dead brush and slash  releases methane.  Managed forest resources provide the state with its own source of renewable domestic fuel and Smokey the Bear with a modified slogan:  “Only you, with the help of the biomass power industry, can prevent forest fires – use it or lose it.”

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by Bruce Goodman

Biomass power technologies include direct firing, cofiring, gasification, anaerobic digestion and other technologies. Although many current biomass power plants are small, industrial cogeneration or heating applications, utility-scale plants with capacities in excess of 80 megawatts have been commissioned. In the United States, biomass power plants currently represent 11,000 megawatts of capacity, the second largest amount of renewable energy in the nation.  Michigan has a number of wood fired electric generating facilties, some operating for more than 20 years.  In addition it has two major waste to energy projects fired with municipal solid waste. 

Interest in biomass power is on the rise. Although the primary driver to consider biomass power has been its potential to lower heating and power production costs, the anticipation of global carbon markets and renewable power mandates is spurring a new wave of investment in this sector. Perhaps most critical to this new interest is that these facilities can generate electricity at any time (24/7), unlike some of the current most popular renewable sources of energy.

In addition biofuels plants are becoming true biorefineries, incorporating the production of fuels, chemicals and power at a single location.

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by Bruce Goodman

Just as pork has been advertised as “the other white meat,” wood-fueled electric energy projects might do well to label themselves “the other renewable energy.” People forget about biomass and focus on wind and solar when thinking about renewable energy. Yet firing wood biomass provides perhaps the best chance of getting the most immediate bang for the renewable energy buck. Biomass and wood waste energy projects are receiving significant funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Here is a carbon neutral strategy that utilizes fuels that need not be imported from other states or countries. Michigan’s sustainable forestry management research and planning should put the state at the forefront of this effort.

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