From Woody Waste to Biofuel
New York State DEC Gets Grant to Recycle Logging Waste
New York is studying the economic viability of collecting the woody waste leftover from the Adirondack logging industry and converting it to biofuel.
Every year, a million tons of green energy rots on the Adirondack forest floor. Now, New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has gotten a grant from the U.S. Forest service to explore the feasibility study of converting all that woody waste to bio-fuel. The $64,000 award will fund a one-year project to evaluate whether there would be enough potential users in and around the Adirondack Park to make woody biomass – mainly what’s left after the logging companies leave – a viable economic venture.
"This is an idea we really want to explore,’’ DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said, in a recent interview. "As we look for innovative ways to enhance the economic and environmental health of North Country communities, harnessing locally grown energy sources such as low-grade wood might be part of the answer. Also, the program could help private forest land owners in the Adirondacks find new markets for low-grade wood, contributing to a sustainable economy for the Adirondacks and reducing the region's reliance on fossil fuels."
Typically, the stuff leftover after logging consists of the tops of hardwood and softwood trees, including maple, birch, beech, white pine, spruce and fir. The study would focus only on private lands.
Currently, about two million tons of wood chips harvested from private Adirondack lands go into the low-grade wood market, as pulp or biofuel. Some of that goes to two co-generation facilities in the North Country. Grannis estimates that there’s still about another one million tons that is not currently used in any way.
Community colleges, prisons, other state facilities and additional medium-scale energy users will be the end-users the study will focus on, primarily because they have the capacity to store the wood chips – but also because their heating and cooling systems incorporate the appropriate emissions controls to protect air quality. Switching them from oil to wood chips would seem to be a strategy that could result in financial savings, as well as an environmental one.
The study would evaluate interest, storage capabilities, heating systems and engineering concerns. It also would look at whether prospective customers could switch to wood and meet air emissions standards. Plans also include hosting at least two regional workshops.
New York State has set a goal to have 25 percent of its electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2012. Woody biomass is one potential source. The grants were awarded through the U.S. Forest Service’s Wood to Energy ``Jump Start’’ program.
"These grants are another step for the conservation of the hundreds of thousands of family forests in the Empire State. The future of private forests depends on markets that keep timberland valuable for use other than development,’’ said Anne F. Archie, U.S. Forest Service Northeast Field Representative for State and Private Forestry, in a statement regarding the grant.
