The Canadian chapter of Greenpeace yesterday released a report that highlights the dangers of the large-scale use of wood and tree harvesting for heating, electricity generation or liquid biofuels. The report is called ‘Fuelling a Biomess’ and it argues that burning woody biomass on an industrial scale could severely (more…)

More demand for wood as a source of biomass could drive more acquisitions of land in developing countries with food security problems, says a new report by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). The organization suggests greater public scrutiny and debate. (more…)

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) have made a discovery that could increase the production of ethanol and lower its costs.

They say they have pinpointed the gene that controls ethanol production capacity in a (more…)

The burning of wood is currently the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating, and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity. The use of wood as a fuel source for heating is as old as civilization itself. (more…)

International demand for cleaner sources of energy has spawned a surging wood biomass industry in British Columbia, where 11 plants now produce wood pellets for a global market.

The market growth has so far largely occurred in Europe, where use of pellets as a coal substitute has (more…)

College campuses across the United States are taking the lead in the transition to a clean energy future, thanks both to their roll as developers of new technologies and ideas, and to the activities of students themselves who are determined to create a more sustainable world. But as more and more colleges and universities move to reduce their reliance on coal (more…)

As the expected environmental benefits of biofuel made from food crops such as corn, rapeseed and wheat have not materialized, the race is on to find a competitive second generation of biofuels whose raw material is wood, grasses and non-edible parts of plants, which do not compete with food crops and forest coverage. (more…)

Brazil, the world leader in sugar cane ethanol production and consumption, has announced that its national Development Bank (BNDES) and the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP) have signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement, pledging R$1 billion between 2011 and 2014 for a Joint Plan to Support Industrial Technological Innovation in the sugar-based Energy and (more…)

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) recently launched by the UK government has been met with mixed reactions.

The £860bn pound scheme is expected to increase green capital investment by £4.5bn by 2020 and will stimulate a new market in renewable heat. The number of industrial, commercial and public sector (more…)

Biomass generation plants primarily burn waste wood, but as their role in clean energy is expanding, more wood will be needed. Where will it come from?

Xcel energy has developed a demonstration project to test which tree species, soils and climates will be most conducive to “biomass plantations” – trees (more…)