Biomass Thermal Heats Up

Very interesting podcast! There is for sure a large potential in the residential area aswell as the comercial market. Some pellet heating companies from Europe are currently transfering there knowledge to the US. I saw one example at Maine Energy Systems. They are selling a product which will be manufactured in the States under license of Okofen who is the largest manufacturer of residential pellet boilers in Europe. See www.okofen-usa.com for further information.
Maybe we will see an interesting market development for biomass in the next few years.

Yes, a lot of European companies see the incredible potential the U.S. market offers. They will likely dominate the commercial market for some time to come. But there are a few American companies trying to get a slice of the pie as well!

I know a some companies in the US press pellets in Georgia and then shipped to England. Not very green.

The technology is fine if the pellets are waste product, and the production (both wood and power) is local. Aside from that it's a fossil fuel without the fossilization.

Heating with biomass is very efficient. Most of the energy content can be used. If you work with condesing techniques which is common in many places, for example in Sweden you will get extreme god results.
The transport of pellets does not use much energy.
Without any problem transport from USA to Europe can be done. It is even without energy balance problem to transport from western Canada to Europe.
Another thing is that you also should do it with economy and this is obviously also ok because the trade has been going on for 10 years now.

Why burn for just carbon nutral energy, when you can char for carbon negativity & soil productivity?

Senator Baucus is co-sponsoring a bill along with Senator Tester (D-MT) called WE CHAR. Water Efficiency via Carbon Harvesting and Restoration Act! It focuses on promoting biochar technology to address invasive species and forest biomass. It includes grants and loans for biochar market research and development, biochar characterization and environmental analyses. It directs USDI and USDA to provide loan guarantees for biochar technologies and on-the-ground production with an emphasis on biomass from public lands. And the USGS is to do biomas availability assessments.
WashingtonWatch.com - S. 1713, The Water Efficiency via Carbon Harvesting and Restoration (WECHAR) Act of 2009
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_1713.html#commentform



Biochar Fund News:

Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon

http://scitizen.com/screens/blogPage/viewBlog/sw_viewBlog.php?idTheme=14&idContribution=3011

http://www.carboncommentary.com/2009/10/01/761/comment-page-1#comment-2558

1500 broad smiles say it all ( that , and the size of the Biochar corn root balls in their hands)

http://biocharfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=75

Mark my words;
Given the potential for Lauren's programs to grow exponentialy, only a short time lies between This man's nomination for a Noble Prize.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Reducing abrupt climate change risk using
the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory
actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/10/09/0902568106.full.pdf+html

Every 1 ton of Biomass yields 1/3 ton Charcoal for soil Sequestration (= to 1 Ton CO2e) + Bio-Gas & Bio-oil fuels = to 1MWh exported electricity, so is a totally virtuous, carbon negative energy cycle.

Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.

This podcast fails to explain how US energy policy is rigged to cause the failure of biomass energy (and all renewable energy). The rule is biomass fuels are most competitive when used as they are (pelletizing is too expensive) and in larger systems (because they are capital intensive and benefit from economy of scale). So what do America's pols do (with lobbying from utility monopolies)?

The US offers subsidies only to small residential and commercial boilers. Since these systems are the most expensive, capital costs must be minimized by using inconvenient fuel feeding equipment and fuel costs must be increased by pelletizing for easier feeding. Consumers would rather just use simple low-cost natural gas boilers.

Large industrial and commercial systems, including district heating, are discouraged from using biomass fuels by local gas utilities, which cross-subsidize their lower natural gas prices by shifting the costs onto small residential and commercial consumers.

Electric utility monopolies are allowed to block the largest and most economical electricity market. They pick what and who gets fair prices and that is mainly only unreliable windpower generated by their friends. In Minnesota, utility monopolies are telling independent producers that they must convert their biomass to biogas for piping to the utility for power generation.

Europe has large biomass markets because they try to encourage it, including with feed-in tariffs for electricity generation. As this podcast mentions, 45 other nations are now moving to feed-in tariffs.

But why not the US? The podcast says the excuse used by critics (who are mostly the utility monopolies and utility sell-outs in the windpower industry) is that feed-in tariffs can't respond to market conditions. What a joke, as if this nation had anything even approaching free energy markets. It would serve this nation right to get flooded by melting icebergs!

We have a high efficiency bio-methane (and other fuel) inexpensive Genset ("RET") for under $.05/kWh generation. It hybridizes with other renewable energy stock. First objective is to make farms as small as 20 head of dairy cow energy self sufficient. ROI is short. Even using purchased fuels (natural gas most btu/ $) major savings accrue from fuel savings. Perrenial renewable production of close to 200 MM btu/ acre is doable in warm climates, a lesser amount, but still significant amount of bio-methane per acre. The lesser cost installed KW is a critical factor as well.JR Sannerwind@gmail.com.

We are intent to commerialize a high efficiency, low cost, multifuel Turbine-Genset, "RET", RET can accept biomethane (which production also produces high quality fertilizer), or most external thermal heat source, bio, solar thermal, geothermal. Biomethane production using Anerobic digestion of biowaste / biomass is highly efficient and with an off-grid RET Genset even small farms with small number of cattle can become energy self sufficient. The ROI is 2 years for the RET Genset. Also usable with diesel/NG as standby, emergency power, or 24x7. Its not the technology, its the politics, and cost/kWh produced, ROI etc. Can be manufactured in the regions where sold; The name RET is a placeholder, which we will consider selling the naming rights; - even cost justified products require funds to gain widespread distrubtion, Sannerwind@gmail.com

We export a lot of wood products including pellets. Some coal fired power plants will use wood chips if you give it to them, the fed should subsidize wastewood to fuel and biofuel just like ethanol. I am unemployed ,I would like a job in the wood chipping business. But NASA has a new project..
Constellation. They need $287 Billion dollars , we need to be the first to set foot on Mars. I need a job planting trees right here on earth , so I can stay warm , my heating bill was $500 last month. good luck guys.