Vermont develops tool to assess biomass supply

02/29/2008- Energy Current

USA: A Vermont-based non-profit agency has developed a tool aimed at avoiding the over-harvesting of biomass for energy sources, according to a recent article in Biomass Magazine.

The tool developed by the Vermont Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC) takes into consideration the sustainable development of Vermont's forest resources.

It combines data including the growth rates and species mix of trees, and subtracts out the wetland areas before arriving at a conservative estimate to assure the availability of biomass for various projects.

The tool can help policy makers to match the market to the biomass source, in order to reduce any unnecessary harvesting of trees. Once a net annual growth rate of new forest wood is established, a spatial look will tell planners where the greatest concentration of wood is, "so you don't end up trucking wood across the state, burning a lot of fossil fuels in the process," Program Manager Adam Sherman said.

Vermont now promotes the use of biomass-powered heating systems in schools under the Fuels for Schools program.