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The growing interest and investment in forest biomass for energy production in Minnesota has created the need for accurate estimates of supply. This report estimates the total physical supply of residual forest biomass in Minnesota using a spreadsheet based Forest Age Class Change Simulator (FACCS) to model changes in forest growth and productivity at different harvest target levels, biomass retention levels, forest type, ownership, and biomass attribute (e.g., bolewood, limbs and tops).

The North Central Regional Sun Grant Center is located at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. The Center consists of 10 states including Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Minnesota stands at a crossroads. The forest products industry of past decades is rapidly changing, creating both short-term challenges and short- and long-term opportunities for the state. Minnesota has the opportunity to excel in manufacturing sustainable, renewable forest-based products, including biochemicals, biofuels, and biomass heat and power.

Urbana—Representatives from academia, government, industry, and the private sector have joined together to form the Illinois Biomass Working Group (IBWG), a coalition organized to study near-term uses for biomass in Illinois.

This report is compiled annually by Minnesota DNR – Forestry Division, Resource Assessment and
Utilization & Marketing Program staff. Publication began in the mid 1980s by John Krantz, former
Utilization & Marketing Program Coordinator. The report is intended to answer frequently asked questions
about Minnesota’s forest resources such as: current conditions and trends in forest resources, and forest
resource industrial use. Foresters, other natural resource managers, planners, people employed in forest

All provided information is based on the Proximate Analysis testing for solid fuels in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials(ASTM).

The compiled information should be used only as a general comparative guide for agricultural renewable fuels.

The evaluated agricultural renewable fuel groups include grains, crop residues, fibers, and agricultural processing co-products.

Agricultural products naturally contain variability which is dependent on geographical regions, grain/plant varieties, and seasonal changes.

Transportation fuels are the major component of our energy portfolio. Of the 20 million barrels of petroleum consumed each day in the United States, 68 percent is used in the transportation sector. The Western states are in position to become key producers and beneficiaries in the emerging alternative-fuels economy. We have abundant resources that have great potential as domestic sources for transportation fuels.

This White Paper summarizes the issues surrounding indirect land use change (iLUC) and identifies ways to address weaknesses and areas of controversy in current approaches to modeling iLUC and potential iLUC mitigation options. It specifically identifies data requirements and potential collection methods that could improve modeling efforts and identifies potential ways to improve the assessment, quantification and verification of iLUC.

Ethanol use in vehicle fuel is increasing worldwide, but the potential cancer risk and
ozone-related health consequences of a large-scale conversion from gasoline to ethanol
have not been examined. Here, a nested global-through-urban air pollution/weather
forecast model is combined with high-resolution future emission inventories, population
data, and health effects data to examine the effect of converting from gasoline to E85 on
cancer, mortality, and hospitalization in the U.S. as a whole and Los Angeles in

Oil prices and government mandates have catalyzed rapid growth of nonfossil transportation fuels in recent years, with a large focus on ethanol from energy crops, but the food crops used as first-generation energy crops today are not optimized for this purpose. We show that the theoretical efficiency of conversion of whole spectrum solar energy into biomass is 4.6-6%, depending on plant type, and the best year-long efficiencies realized are about 3%. The average leaf is as effective as the best PV solar cells in transducing solar energy to charge separation (ca. 37%).

In an effort to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, expand domestic energy production, and maintain economic growth, public and private investments are being used to pursue dedicated feedstock crops for biofuel production.

Biomass can be used as a renewable (green or CO2 neutral) energy source, locally and readily available in large parts of the world. Many studies have been carried out that quantify the potential of the world to produce bioenergy (e.g. (Leemans et al. 1996; Fischer et al. 2001a; Hoogwijk et al. 2004; Smeets et al. 2004a, b). Results indicate that various world regions are in theory capable of producing significant amounts of bioenergy crops without endangering food supply or further deforestation.

The Society convened a working group of leading experts to consider the science and technology prospects of delivering efficient biofuels for transport in the broader context of the environmental protection and sustainability.

Since the fuel crisis in the 1970’s, the Pacific Northwest region has been investigating the use of plant matter and biotic wastes to produce energy. However, within the last five years, the investigations have reached an unprecedented level of interest and support. Governments, private industries, and academics have partnered together to show that there are many ways of producing energy from these biological sources. In many ways, these processes are superior to using fossil fuels as energy because they are able to be harvested continuously or annually.

Although much is known about ecosystem services, a number of research gaps exist, and there are opportunities to strengthen collaboration. One of the major goals of this workshop was to discuss the current work of federal agencies in ecosystem services’ R&D related to sustainability while, at the same time, identify opportunities for program/project collaboration. Ecosystem services are the ecological processes that sustain and fulfill human life. General distinctions exist between provisioning, cultural, and regulating ecosystem services.

Issue 1: Ability of Modern Bioenergy to Provide Energy Services fo the Poor
Issue 2: Implications for Agro-Industrial Development and Job Creation
Issue 3: Health and Gender Implications of Modern Bioenergy
Issue 4: Implications for the Structure of Agriculture

Issue 5: Implications for Food Security
Issue 6: Implications for Government Budget
Issue 7: Implications for Trade, Foreign Exchange Balances and Energy Security
Issue 8: Impacts on Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management
Issue 9: Implications for Climate Change

With the development of renewable energy sources to meet the
challenges of energy security and climate change, wood bioenergy
and biofuels have the potential to become a much larger part
of the nation’s energy future. There is concern that efforts to
expand the production and use of this energy source could have
unintended environmental and economic consequences for forests
in several regions of the United States. However, there are
policy options at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as

On February 9-10, 2009, the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment
(Heinz Center) and the Pinchot Institute for Conservation (Pinchot Institute) convened a
dialogue session focusing on the intersection of policies affecting biomass-based energy
and those concerning forest policy and management.1 This meeting was convened as the
first in a dialogue series intended to help ensure that, as the nation expands its capacity
for production of forest-based energy sources, it will do so in a manner that promotes the

Biofuels are presented in rich countries as a solution to two crises: the climate crisis and the oil crisis. But they may not be a solution to either, and instead are contributing to a third: the current food crisis.