Biomass Week - November 11, 2011

Maine university, school partner for biomass district heat With a $2.6 million USDA grant set to cover almost the entire cost, a high school and nearby university in Maine will construct a biomass heating system with expected fuel savings of up to 80 percent. READ MORE SHARE
Svebio teams up with Minnesota's biobusiness alliance The Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) and The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota (BBAM) have teamed up to jointly increase the use of bioenergy in Minnesota. READ MORE SHARE
	ReEnergy will purchase five Boralex biomass power plants Boralex announced Nov. 7 that it will sell its five U.S. biomass power plants to ReEnergy Holdings LLC for $93 million, yielding after-tax proceeds for Boralex of about $81 million. READ MORE SHARE
Biomass Secure Power names torrefied pellet plant site Biomass Secure Power Inc. has named the location of its previously announced torrefied wood pellet plant, a 30-acre site at Cowichan Lake on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. READ MORE SHARE
ABC seeks member support for biogas tax credit bill The American Biogas Council is encouraging its members to help support one of its highest legislative priorities, a bill that would create an investment tax credit for biogas. READ MORE SHARE
EPA, DOE to study contaminated lands for bioenergy potential As part of the RE-Powering America Initiative, the U.S. EPA is investing about $1 million to determine the capability of 26 different contaminated sites to host renewable energy projects. READ MORE SHARE
Producer enrollment begins in January for PFI Standards Program The American Lumber Standard Committee, the new accreditation body for the Pellet Fuels Institute's Standards Program, expects to begin the producer enrollment process for the program in January. READ MORE SHARE
NEF's new planting system speeds up miscanthus development Energy crop developer New Energy Farms says it has developed a new system for establishing miscanthus that takes one-third the time of previous planting methods. READ MORE SHARE
Study confirms biogenic emissions result in no net carbon release A new study found that energy produced from forest biomass merely returns recently absorbed carbon to the atmosphere, and essentially results in no net release of carbon, provided overall forest inventories are stable or increasing. READ MORE SHARE
Vilsack announces renewable energy funding recipients USDA has selected 67 projects for funding that focus on helping rural agricultural producers reduce energy consumption and costs; use renewable energy technologies in their operation; and/or conduct feasibility studies for renewable energy projects. READ MORE SHARE
Experts discuss biomass's place in the U.S. power industry The U.S. electricity industry includes about 300 gigawatts of coal-fired power, generated from large-scale power plants with electric capacities of anywhere from 200 to 4,000 megawatts. Most of these plants can easily use biomass to some degree. READ MORE SHARE
ISU engineers create panel to advance a carbon negative economy A national panel led by Iowa State University engineers is launching an effort to research and develop technologies that capture, use and sequester carbon while enhancing food production, ecosystems, economic development and national security. READ MORE SHARE