Survey Results Rank Priority Needs for Improving Forest Health and Creating New Markets for Low-Value Wood
GREENVILLE, SC, October 3, 2014 — The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment), the USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI (FPL), and the Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, Savannah, GA (Herty) today released the results of a survey designed to aid the Consortium for Advanced Wood-to-Energy Solutions (CAWES) in establishing its near-term work priorities.
Deteriorating forest health conditions–due to overstocked stands, insect and disease killed timber, and extremely limited market options for low-value forest biomass—have led to increasing size, intensity, and acreage of wildland fires that are collectively consuming more than $3 billion in federal tax dollars annually in suppression costs and billions more in economic and environmental loss as well as loss of human life. CAWES has identified torrefaction as a potential breakthrough technology for improving forest health by creating markets for low-value wood. This endeavor will be one of its major priorities.
Other insights from the survey revealed that biomass availability, the development of a credible life cycle inventory and the need for demonstration-scale facilities that can validate both process technologies and target markets are essential to a successful commercialization strategy. Retaining the social license to utilize woody biomass and hazardous fuels on federal lands while ensuring that the resource can be used sustainably were also considered to be critical factors by the respondents.
“We asked experts in the wood-to-energy sector to rank the highest priority needs that must be addressed in research and development as well as emerging production facilities to advance market readiness and commercialization of torrefied wood — a product with significant potential to create family- wage jobs, enhance forest health, and provide a new green energy product,” said Endowment President & CEO Carlton Owen. “This work is the first step in ensuring that we target our limited financial and humanresources to those areas that offer the greatest benefit to advancing the objective.”
The survey focused on selecting and prioritizing key information gaps and barriers that needed to be overcome to successfully commercialize torrefied woody biomass. Five major areas of interest and need were prioritized including conversion and densification technologies, raw material supply and logistics, markets and economics, and regulatory/social issues. “The survey is telling us that we need to demonstrate the process, validate the technology and get products into the market as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Alexander Koukoulas, President and CEO of Herty. “Through CAWES our partners can leverage their resources and make this happen.”
CAWES is an open-platform collaboration of institutions in the public and private sectors representing green energy, forest management, research and development, philanthropy, and private industry. Its purpose is to advance sustainable, scalable, distributed wood-to-energy solutions that stimulate forest restoration and rural economic development through research, development, and deployment of commercially-viable advanced wood-to-energy solutions.
“Public-private partnerships such as CAWES are effective ways to bring together the inherent strengths of the public and private sectors to expeditiously solve problems, create jobs, and develop market-based solutions that aid in improving the health and resiliency of America’s forests,” said Dr. Ted Wegner, Assistant Director of the Forest Products Laboratory.
The report and information on CAWES are available on the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communitieswebsite.
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For more information contact:
Carlton N. Owen, President & CEO, 864-233-7646, carlton@usendowment.org
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic,transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests and forest-reliant communities – www.usendowment.org
Ted Wegner, Assistant Director, 608-231-9434, twegner@fs.fed.us
The USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) has for over 100 years, worked with academia, industry, and other government agencies to lead to ground-breaking discoveries with great benefit to the public — www.fpl.fs.fed.us
Alexander Koukoulas, President & CEO, 912-963-2553, akoukoulas@herty.com
The Georgia Southern University Herty Advanced Materials Development Center in Savannah, GA was established in 1938 to honor Dr. Charles H. Herty who spearheaded the use of southern pine forests in paper and wood products manufacturing. Since 2012 it has operated as a division of GSU as a world-class research and development facility focusing on high performance materials and bio-based products –www.herty.com
