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research, generating white papers related to
biomass thermal energy, as well as to identify
international and U.S. regulatory and permitting issues that can hinder commercialization of biomass for thermal energy applications and offer solutions to those issues.
The nine founding members of the
Biomass Thermal Energy Council are Bear
Mountain Forest Products Inc., Portland, Ore.;
BioHeatUSA, Oak Creek, Colo.; Energex
Corp., Davenport, Okla.; Forest Energy Corp.,
Show Low, Ariz.; International WoodFuels
LLC, Portland, Maine, and San Diego; Marth;
New England Wood Pellet LLC, Jaffrey, N.H.;
PelletSales.com LLC, Manchester, N.H.; and
Woodstone USA, Hingham, Mass.
NASULGC Launches
Energy Initiative
The National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
(NASULGC, A Public University Association)
has launched a new initiative to maximize
and advance the contributions of public
research universities to the energy independence effort. NASULGC President Peter
McPherson announced March 24 a 15-person
Energy Initiative Advisory Committee,
co-chaired by E. Gordon Gee, president of
The Ohio State University, and Elsa A. Murano,
president of Texas A&M University. The committee will provide leadership and advice to
the initiative.
In addition to Gee and Murano, the
15-member advisory committee includes
U.S. public university presidents and chancellors from the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas; University of Tennessee; South
Carolina University; Arizona State University;
University of Michigan; Iowa State University;
University of Hawaii; The University of North
Dakota; The University of Maine; Louisiana
State University; University of Maryland,
College Park; and University of California
(two).
“America’s public research universities
have long played a significant role in the
research, development and deployment of
energy science and energy technologies,”
McPherson said. “Collectively, we can
channel the way for making more of these
contributions a reality.”
Recycling Waste Heat
Discussed in American
Scientist
Thomas R. Casten, economist and
chairman of Recycled Energy Development
in Westmont, Ill., and Phil Schewe of the
American Institute of Physics, wrote an
article on existing and developing methods
of harnessing urban waste heat for the
January-February edition of American Scientist.
In a March 27 report on the article, Science
News notes that two-thirds of the energy
locked in fuel used by power plants ends
ups as waste heat. The report quotes Casten
as suggesting that if power plants weren’t
so distant from their customers, some of
that waste heat could literally be put to work.
He pointed to Con Edison’s steam system
in New York and the Gothenburg, Sweden,
hot water district heating system, which uses
heat from a waste-incineration plant, as fine
examples of recycled energy.
Casten argues that many industrial
processes could be sources of recycled
energy – which would yield better results,
for example, than such techniques as topping
buildings with white roofs and using photovoltaic cells to generate electricity. He claims
one would need to string together all of the
solar cells produced in the U.S. over three
years to generate the same amount of power
as the steel plant in Indiana does.
“Recycling energy is the best-kept secret
around,” he maintains.
U.S. Citizens Learn,
Report From Sweden
In two recent newspaper articles,
Americans have reported on their recent
visits to Sweden to observe the country’s
renewable energy systems, including district
heating networks. In the March 27 Brattleboro
Reformer, three high school students from
Brattleboro, Vt., wrote about touring Sweden
with graduate students from Marlboro
College’s MBA program in Managing for
Sustainability. The trip included visits to
biomass plants; meetings with regional
politicians, as well as scientists and business
executives; and various presentations on
renewable energy and green technology,
one of which highlighted the local district
heating system in Vaxjö, which is fueled by
lumber industry waste.
The students pointed out that in Sweden
sustainability is not achieved through one
perfect, overarching technology but through
a series of regionally implemented solutions.
They wrote that they believe the U.S. should
take a cue from the Swedes, put political
and corporate interests aside, and unite to
address problems of economic and environmental inefficiency.
In the March 29 Mankato Free Press of
Mankato, Minn., John Frey, a former dean
at the Minnesota State University College
of Science, Engineering and Technology,
reported his observations from a visit to
Sweden through the BioBusiness Alliance
of Minnesota. He cited that between 1992
and 2007, Sweden had reduced its carbon
dioxide output by 9 percent while increasing
Reflections from
Joe Brillhart
Service Branch Manager
Building Efficiency
Johnson Controls
“It’s very gratifying for me personally
to work in an industry that can play such
a pivotal role in shaping the future of our
earth's environment. We are surrounded by
opportunities. The opportunities consist of
existing buildings that could be many times
more energy efficient than what they presently
are. Using technology that exists today –
technology that resonates throughout the
exhibition hall and meeting rooms of IDEA
– these buildings can be transformed to
dramatically reduce the world's energy
requirements. This transformation does not
require more fossil fuel, a bigger grid or
more power plants. District energy systems
can help reduce buildings’ energy use and
carbon emissions and conserve our precious
water resources. Come to IDEA and learn
how this can be done! Let's make the planet
a better place for our children.”
