Forest Service Chief Touts Ethanol to Power Cars

An AP article describes how the U.S. Forest Service chief is proposing replacing 15 percent of the nation's gasoline with ethanol made from wood, while doubling the amount of carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by public and private forests. See more here.

Biomass Gas & Electric to Build Largest Wood-Fired Power Generating Plant in U.S.

Biomass Gas & Electric Company LLC, working with Progress Energy Florida, will be constructing a 75 megawatt waste wood fired electricity plant in Florida. IT will be the largest of its kind in the country. More here.

Wyoming plant set to produce 1.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year

A plant operated by Western Biomass Energy Co. in Upton, Wyoming is set to begin scaling up its ethanol production to a pilot scale. The plant uses primarily wood residues and other forest debris. The Rapid City has a nice report on the plant.

From Business Tennessee....

Crop Formations? Will the current national focus on alternative energy research last, and if so, how much does Tennessee stand to benefit from it? Article Here

China to establish 13.33 million hectares of forest by 2020 for energy

Biopact has a summary of the Chinese Forestry Administration's recent announcement that they will be establishing large forests for energy production in the next 13 years.

Dr. Joe Bozell, UT Biochemist on Cleveland Public Radio

Appearing on The Sound of Ideas: Biomass Technology on Monday, July 23, Dr. Joe Bozell of the UT Forest Products Center, discussed the role biomass can play in our energy future. He also talked about polymers based on biochemicals and how fuels are not the only benefit to biomass use. You can listen to the hour-long show on the web or download it as a podcast to your iTunes. The website is http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/soi/2007/07/23/

Battle over ethanol benefits

Another CNN-Money.com piece
This article looks at the battle between groups that promote corn-based ethanol and those that criticize it. The groups highlighted here include Food & Water Watch, New Energy Choices, the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School, and Ethanol Across America.

Farm bill planting energy seeds

From CNN-Money.com
"As the five-year spending plan heads for a full House vote this week, advocates praise bipartisan effort while foes still find weaknesses." This article is a brief summary of the new farm bill that came out of the House Ag committee. See the article here.

Mascoma and Michigan State to partner

Mascoma and Michigan State University are partnering to build a commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant. this plant would be a $100 million investment. See more from the State News.

Website looks at Cellulosic Investment

A new website, http://www.investincellulosicethanol.com/, details various corporate activities relating to cellulosic facilities around the world. It captures a good picture of the current status of all projects currently under way. It seems like a good resource.

US Biomass Power Producers Alliance has a new website

This group of 80 or so biomass-fueled power plants has a new website at http://www.usabppa.com/Index.htm

Xethanol Announces Advanced Biomass Characterization Lab at Virginia Tech

Xethanol and Virginia Tech have expanded their partnership. There is an article here that describes the program.

An update on Range Fuels....

USAToday has a nice article looking at the progress that Range Fuels is making in Georgia. Basically, the company has made it through the permitting process and plans to break ground this summer with full operations beginning sometime next year.

Interesting CNN article on the Renewable Fuels Standard

CNN.com takes a look at the Renewable Fuels Standard and the emphasis on cellulosics in addition to corn.

ORNL-UT Partnership wins a DOE Bioenergy Center

Tennessee’s efforts to be a leader in biofuels research and development took another leap forward as the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will manage a new $125 million bioenergy research center.
The center, one of three funded by the DOE's Office of Science from more than 20 proposals, was announced on June 26......[more]. You can visit the new BioEnergy Science Center at http://www.bioenergycenter.org/.

Researchers Appointed Directors for the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative

Drs. Kelly Tiller and Tim Rials of the University of Tennessee's Agricultural Experiment Station have been appointed the directors of the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative. Dr. Tiller will serve as Director of External Operations and Dr. Rials will serve as Director of Research. The full press release is here.

World Energy Statistics

BP has published their 2007 Review of World Energy. It has current usage data as well as historical data. It looks ata variety of energy sources, but does not delve into renewable energy too far.

Extreme Enzymes

Sandia National Laboratories has a research program that looks at using enzymes from extreme environments for breaking cellulose away from lignocellulosic materials. Science Daily has a well-written article about it. Renewableenergyaccess.com also has one here.

Will cellulosic ethanol help the forest products industry?

The Biofuel Review has an interesting article that discusses the Lignol technology and looks at its potential impact on the North American forest products industry.

Tennessee Biofuels Initiative Funded

With the passage of the Tennessee State Budget this week, the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative is off and running. The funding, outlined here, provides for the construction of the biorefinery and for operating and research.

For more information of the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative, visit the project website.

Pilot Corporation Introduces E-85 to Knoxville

On Wednesday June 6, the Pilot Store at Walker Springs Road in Knoxville TN began selling E-85. On Friday June 8, E-85 was selling for $0.30 less than gasoline and sales were brisk (article here).

This E-85 location is part of a larger effort by the State Government's Green Island Corridor program to make biofuels more available in the state. To find out more about the program and the locations of biofuel stations it has funded, visit the website.

Wood Energy Subsidies in Texas

The State Legislature of Texas recently passed a bill that provides a subsidy of $20 per dry ton of wood waste that is used in power facilities. There has been some coporate concern in the forest products industry about the bill and others. You can read more about it in the Lufkin Daily News.

Bioenergy and the Pulp-Paper Industry

Scott Miller of Price BIOstock Services and renowned blogger has an interesting article on the "U.S. Paper & Pulp Industry Assesses Its Bioenergy Future." Scott attended the TAPPI sponsored International Conference on Renewable Energy - 2007 and has written a nice summary article on the industry here.

Tennessee Biofuels Initiative

The Metropulse Newspaper in Knoxville has a lengthy article here on the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative.

ORNL gains $1 million biofuels grant

The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports here that ORNL has received just over $1 million for work on poplar genetics.