DATE: August 15, 2008
CONTACT:
George Kessler, (864) 656-4836
gksslr@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Peter Kent, (864) 656-4355
pkent@clemson.edu
Four million tons of green energy unused in Upstate
CLEMSON — Every year, four million tons of green energy go unused in the Upstate. Now, government and private energy leaders, along with Clemson University Extension forestry researchers, have formed the Western Piedmont Woody Biomass Marketing Committee to develop ways to help communities in 11 Upstate counties find ways to use woody biomass as fuel.
The group will hold a meeting for wood producers and resource managers Aug. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Farm Bureau office in Laurens. The meeting will inform wood producers and resource managers about forest biomass for energy efforts in the 11-county area of the western Piedmont. Call Piedmont Pulp at (864) 682-9663 to attend.
The USDA describes woody biomass as small diameter trees and underbrush, the residues of the logging and forest products industries and urban wood waste. All make excellent biomass fuels and can be used in a wide variety of biomass technologies. Combustion of woody fuels to generate steam or electricity is a proven technology and the most common biomass-to-energy process.
In their Billion Ton Report, USDA analysts estimated more than 367 million tons of woody biomass is produced each year in the U.S. It is the number one renewable energy technology for creating steam, heat and electricity.
Potential customers would be community colleges, prisons, other public facilities and additional medium-scale energy users because they have the capacity to store the wood chips. And, their heating and cooling systems incorporate the appropriate emissions controls to protect air quality. Currently, the University of South Carolina is using woody biomass to replace natural gas.
George Kessler of Clemson University’s Department of Forestry and Natural Resources is one of the leaders of the S.C. initiative. For more information, contact him at (864) 656-4836 or gkssler@clemson.edu.
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