Biomass

Biomass includes plant materials and animal waste that are used for biopower, biofuels, biogas, and bioproducts. We include articles on the role of biomass in clean energy efforts and legislative actions to replace fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions. Information on the Biomass Power Association (BPA) is also included.

Alternate Energy Choices and Challenges in Vermont

Alternate Energy Choices and Challenges in VermontThe small state of Vermont isn’t often a hotbed of national news. Nonetheless, the Green Mountain State does pride itself on its ...

August 1, 2011

Biomass-Powered Data Centers: Next Step for Green IT?

Biomass-Powered Data Centers: Next Step for Green IT?Over the past several years, those of us in the data center industry have seen dramatic strides in Green IT, primarily focused ...

July 28, 2011

Weyerhaeuser Installing Waste-Heat-to-Energy Plant

Weyerhaeuser Installing Waste-Heat-to-Energy PlantWeyerhaeuser Company is building a waste-heat-to-energy plant at its mill in Greenville, N.C. The installation will capture waste heat from a kiln where cut lumber ...

July 26, 2011

Boeing, Alaska Air Press for Biofuel Research

Boeing, Alaska Air Press for Biofuel ResearchOilseed, forest residues, municipal solid waste and algae are all promising feedstocks for the future of aviation, according to an industry research initiative that ...

May 31, 2011

GM Landfill-Gas Powered Plant Saves $1.1 Million in Energy Costs

GM Landfill-Gas Powered Plant Saves $1.1 Million in Energy CostsGeneral Motors Orion assembly plant in Orion, Michigan, is powering 40 percent of production of the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano with landfill gas ...

May 20, 2011

EL Pro Policy & Regulatory Briefing: Boiler Rule Delay, Coal Ash, Waste-to-Energy

Policy & Regulatory Briefing: Boiler Rule Delay, Coal Ash, Waste-to-EnergyThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is delaying the implementation of standards for industrial boilers and incinerators. The EPA released the final Clean Air Act standards ...

May 18, 2011

EL Pro Anheuser-Busch Improves Recycling, CO2, Energy Use

Anheuser-Busch Improves Recycling, CO2, Energy UseAnheuser-Busch InBev increased its relative recycling rate by 24 percent in 2010, while improving energy use, CO2 emissions and water consumption, according ...

April 27, 2011

Obama Calls for Increased Natural Gas, Biofuel to Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence

Obama Calls for Increased Natural Gas, Biofuel to Reduce Foreign Oil DependencePresident Barack Obama yesterday announced a plan to cut U.S. oil imports by a third by 2025. Speaking at Georgetown University, the president ...

March 31, 2011

GM Leads Pack as Clean Patents Jump by Record 170%

GM Leads Pack as Clean Patents Jump by Record 170%Clean energy patents hit a record high in 2010, as GM took the leadership position from Honda, according to a patent index published by ...

March 31, 2011

Paper By-Products Fire Sappi Mill, Help Feed Cows

Paper By-Products Fire Sappi Mill, Help Feed CowsSappi Fine Paper is using black liquor, a residue from the pulping process, to generate energy equivalent to 100,000 barrels of fuel oil. The company’s ...

March 29, 2011

Drax Power Eyes Complete Switch to Biomass

Drax Power Eyes Complete Switch to Biomass Drax Power, Britain's biggest coal burning power station, envisions ...

March 11, 2011

Environmental Enforcement: Biomass Plants Fined $835,000 For Clean Air Violations

Environmental Enforcement: Biomass Plants Fined $835,000 For Clean Air ViolationsThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District have settled claims brought against two biomass power plants in California's Central Valley, the agencies announced yesterday. The companies have ...

February 17, 2011

Environmental Enforcement: Court Grants Brief Boiler Rule Extension to EPA

Environmental Enforcement: Court Grants Brief Boiler Rule Extension to EPAA federal District Court judge in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20 issued an order extending by 30 days the Environmental Protection Agency's deadline to issue emission ...

January 25, 2011

Milk and Fruit to Help Power Unilever Plant

Milk and Fruit to Help Power Unilever PlantUnilever has started building a system to derive energy from wastewater at a Dutch Ben & Jerry’s factory. The Paques bio-digester will ...

January 20, 2011

EPA Defers GHG Rules for Biomass and Biogenic Sources

EPA Defers GHG Rules for Biomass and Biogenic Sources The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is granting an exemption under its controversial greenhouse-gas requirements that will provide a three-year reprieve for biomass facilities that ...

January 13, 2011

University’s $3.5M Dry Bio-digester is First in Nation

University’s $3.5M Dry Bio-digester is First in NationThe University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, which ranked 35th on Sierra Magazine’s “Cool Schools” for its green energy initiative, is just months from completing the first US ...

January 5, 2011

Job Growth, Environmental Well-Being Tied to Biotechnology Advancement

Job Growth, Environmental Well-Being Tied to Biotechnology Advancement Prospects for adoption of a national Renewable Portfolio Standard appear to have dimmed for the foreseeable future. That is at least the prevailing ...

January 5, 2011

Colby College Building $11 Million Biomass Plant

Colby College Building $11 Million Biomass PlantAs part of a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2015, Colby College in Maine has begun construction on a biomass plant that will replace ...

January 3, 2011

Biomass to Power Dow’s Aratu Complex

Biomass to Power Dow’s Aratu ComplexThe Dow Chemical Company's largest manufacturing facility in Brazil, the Aratu Complex, has plans to add biomass to its energy mix. Upon completion in December ...

December 2, 2010

US Farmers Ready to Grow Energy Crops on Underutilized Land

US Farmers Ready to Grow Energy Crops on Underutilized LandA survey of U.S. growers showed that 71 percent of respondents were very interested or interested in growing dedicated energy crops to produce biomass ...

November 24, 2010