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Money doesn't grow on treesMoney doesn't grow on trees, but bioenergy might
Climate change. Recycling. Bioenergy. Sustainability. The agenda for PricewaterhouseCoopers' 22nd Annual Global Forest and Paper Industry Conference in mid-May read like it could have been written for a Greenpeace meeting.
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Sunday, 14th of June 2009: An Italian court has ordered the recall of 10,000 tonnes of wood fuel pellets imported from Lithuania over fears that they could have dangerous levels of radioactivity, newspapers reported on Sunday.
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Sonntag, 14.6.2009: In Italien sind 10.000 Tonnen Holzpellets aus Litauen wegen möglicher radioaktiver Verschmutzung vom Markt genommen worden. Wie die italienische Tageszeitung "La Stampa" heute berichtete, wurde die Rückrufaktion am Vortag von der Staatsanwaltschaft im norditalienischen Aosta angeordnet.
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Wood pellets for Europe from Papua New Guinea?Conservation International (CI) and the Medco foundation joined in a partnership to develop spatial planning scenarios for wood pellet plantations in southern Papua.
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International wood pellets markets - a retrospection on 2008The use of wood pellets as fuel for domestic stoves and boilers and for co-firing in thermal power plants has been an amazing success story over the past 10 years. Recently, the exorbitant speed of growth caused supply problems and a slowdown of markets, but the next boom is waiting, says Christian Rakos.
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Sweden consumes more than 20% of the world’s wood pellets and demand is growingThe decision by EU to use a minimum of 20% renewable energy by 2020 has driven a rapid increase in wood pellet production in Europe. Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the UK are expected to have the fastest growth in consumption the coming 10 years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly.
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Industrial woody biomass gasification for VancouverVANCOUVER, Sept. 10 /CNW/ - Nexterra Systems Corp. (www.nexterra.ca), aleading supplier of biomass gasification solutions announced today that it has
been selected by the City of Stamford, Connecticut to develop a biomassgasification system for the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority("SWPCA"). The energy system will supply Stamford with clean renewable thermal energy that will reduce Stamford's fuel costs and carbon footprint.
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Filling a Need: Forest Plantations for Bioenergy in the SouthThe growing number of renewable energy projects in the Southern U.S. utilizing woody biomass will require the development of short-rotation bioenergy plantations.
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Potential Grows for Biomass Energy in the USSAN FRANCISCO — Woody biomass provides just 0.94 percent of all U.S. energy now, supplying the equivalent of 3.5 million American homes. But Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, a group in Portland, Maine, that represents about 80 plant-burning incinerators in 16 states, says available raw material would allow the industry to double its output. New incinerators are already being planned in many states.
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Biokraftstoffboom bedroht ErdklimaBiokraftstoffe gelten als klimaneutrale Alternative zu fossilen Brennstoffen wie etwa Erdöl. Deshalb tauchen sie in den bisherigen Klimaregelungen nicht auf. Aber ihr zunehmender Anbau droht die Erdatmosphäre einer Studie zufolge bis Ende dieses Jahrhunderts massiv mit Treibhausgasen zu belasten.
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Ever thought about the real costs of Biomass?The biorefinery crowds, indeed many in the entire "private" energy research arena, are running around calling their efforts the new "Manhattan Project." They could not be further from the truth. It really deserves to be called the "Amtrak Project"--let me explain.
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Who says it's green to burn woodchips?Kenya: Out of the Forest And Into the Oven
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Wood Pellets Catch Fire as Renewable Energy Source Some of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy in the world are the wind, the sun -- and the lowly wood pellet.
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Firewood imports to Ireland
Many foresters are now questioning the wisdom of allowing the importation of firewood from Eastern Europe into Ireland. They are concerned that this may pose a threat to our current disease-free status.
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Pellets from Russia; PelletsImplementing the strategy of production technology development at the sawmill implied increasing volume of production wastes, while traditional deliveries of the sawmill wastes (chips) to pulp mills came to nothing. Today one can say that the direction chosen was absolutely correct. According to the results of the two last years, the pellet plant of “DoK “Enisey” is the largest pellet producer in Russia – an optimized production consisting of 3 lines (hourly capacity 3.5 ton each). Pellets are exported from Russia, consumers being very much satisfied with the quality of Siberian pellets.
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Some Overview in Forest Investments of Forest Energy Plantations in 2009Forests are a growing investment prospect as climate incentives place new value on wood chips and standing trees, say fund managers. An economic recovery will also drive demand for more traditional products such as pulp and lumber, investors say.
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Carbon accounting used in the Kyoto Protocol and other climate legislation currently neglects CO2 emissions from the production of biofuels, a loophole that could drive large-scale destruction of tropical forests and exacerbate global warming, warned researchers writing last week in the journal Science.
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Bio-fuel levy the last straw for NZ forest ownersA NZ Government decision to make big companies pay for some of their greenhouse gas emissions when using wood pellets and other biofuels is seen as the last straw by many in the forest industry. Reports Friday Off Cuts
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What? Burning the forest creates ‘green’ energy?
CAN SOMEONE please explain how you can tear down millions of trees, burn them in a furnace and claim what comes out of it is "green energy"? Because that is what NewPage Port Hawkesbury and Nova Scotia Power Inc. want to do.
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Britain cuts down forests to keep ‘green’ power stations burningBritain is set to plunder the lungs of the world to feed its growing hunger for wood to burn in power stations.
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Biomass is driving forest plantations!As this blog has been sponsored by Greenwood Management, I wanted to have a direct discussion with the management team at Greenwood in order to get a feel as to how they saw the forestry industry at present, and what direction Greenwood Management saw forestry trends moving towards generally.
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Renewable forest energy - updateWood Energy features in the news from India and the United States. An Indian power generation company has recently announced that negotiations are ongoing with “Green Energy Resources” with respect to a supply of more than 7 million tons of wood chips, valued at over $576 million over a 12-mo
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Issue date: Thursday, 14 January 2010 Bioenergy important to forestry’s future Bioenergy is going to play a central role in the transformation of the forest sector, although the fledgling industry is not by itself sufficient to ensure the sector is attractive to investors, forest industry analyst Don Roberts said Thursday.
The sector will increasingly need to look at how it can produce more products out of the timber it harvests, including bio-chemicals, Roberts told the seventh annual B.C. Natural Resources Forum.
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White River Forest Products is eager to start up in 2010White River Forest Products is eager to start up the former Domtar sawmill in White River, Ontario in 2010.
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Hekotek to win the Russian market: new order from Siberia for pellet plant November 2009 AS Hekotek (Estonia) and Novoeniseysk LKhK (Russia, Krasnoyarsk area) signed an agreement on construction of a pellet plant with sawmilling wastes to be used as a raw material. The plant is to be launched summer 2010.
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RWE Innogy to establish one of the biggest wood pellet plants in the South of USRWE Innogy is to build a factory to produce biomass pellets in the southern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 750,000 tonnes, making it the biggest and most modern of its type in the world, the company says. Around 1.5 million metric tonnes of fresh wood are needed each year to produce 750,000 tonnes of pellets.
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Will US programme increase the supply of woody biomass?The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), a new federal program in the US that is intended to increase the usage of renewable energy by covering some of the costs related to the collection of woody biomass and agricultural residues, has been in effect for a few months and has created much interest, as well as confusion, within the forest industry, reports the North American Wood Fibre Review/Wood Resources International LLC
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Arkhangelsk region to focus on Bio-energy Bio-energy becomes one of the innovative trends for the Arkhangelsk timber industry. Until recently wood wastes haven’t been considered as available cheap resource for byproducts.
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British Airways – Putting on Green FlightsA deal has been struck by British Airways to build the first plant in Europe to produce jet fuel from waste matter.
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Jatropha biofuels: the true cost to TanzaniaBilled as wonder crop, the establishment of jatropha plantations on the ground in Tanzania has been far from successful, or, in some cases, ethical
Biofuel investment and production in Tanzania is a highly contentious issue.
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Jatropha biofuels: UK investors sell controversial crop as 'green'UK fund managers are selling investments in jatropha plantations as a wallet-swelling, planet-saving financial bonanza. But the reality for poor farmers is very different
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Jatropha is no miracle plant for hungry farmersEveryone wants an alternative to fossil fuels, but in our rush to develop biofuel alternatives, we risk creating even worse problems for ourselves
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Weyerhaeuser & Mitsubishi jointly exploring biomass
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The New US Federal Program BCAP is Intended to Increase the Supply of Woody Biomass
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Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Worldwide Consumed 75 Million Tons of Woody Biomass for Energy in 2009Seattle, USA--February 23, 2010--Over the past few years, there has been a rapid, worldwide expansion in the consumption of renewable energy by the pulp and paper industry. Numerous pulp and paper plants have made the strategic decision to invest in the equipment needed to make the switch from fossil fuels to woody biomass fuels. Global consumption of biomass increased by 51% between 2006 and 2009, according to an analysis done with FisherSolve™ (Fisher International).
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EU rules out binding green criteria for biomass The European Commission yesterday (25 February) ruled out binding EU-wide sustainability criteria for biomass, offering member states recommendations for national action instead.
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Canada: Biomass District Heating and Beyond These days residents of Finnish cities, towns and villages, nestled among thick forests and thousands of cold lakes, are kept warm by wood.
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Indonesian Firm Picks Green Fuel Not MillJAKARTA—PT Medco Energi, Indonesia's largest private oil-and-gas producer, has scaled back plans for a large pulp and paper mill and other forestry investments in Indonesia's remote Papua province at a time of growing global concern over the impact of deforestation on climate change.
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Nova Scotia Power and NewPage propose renewable co-generation projectNova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) and NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. (NewPage) today announced agreements to develop a new 60 MW biomass co-generation facility.
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Finnish paper firms fear renewables reform-reportHELSINKI, April 16 (Reuters) - Finnish forestry companies UPM-Kymmene and Stora Enso fear that the government's plan to subsidise use of wood as a source of renewable energy will increase its price and serve another blow to the struggling industry.
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Significant Government Investments in Senneterre Power StationBoralex Power Income Fund is pleased that its Senneterre, Québec power station project will benefit from significant investments by the federal and provincial governments.
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Renewable Electricity Plan concerns Forest IndustryForest Products Association of Nova Scotia (FPANS) has concerns with Nova Scotia's new Renewable Electricity Plan released on Friday (April 23rd) by the provincial government (.pdf).
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Making your thinnings pay
Prices for timber are good right now and it makes sense to sell when market conditions are in our favour. But it's not always that easy, especially if the area to be thinned contains mixed species or is under 10ha in size -- or both.
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Värö world’s first fossil-fuel-free pulp millSödra Cell has completed the investments, which make its Värö mill the world’s first fossil-fuel-free pulp mill.
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Poor want biomass, not biodiversity, finds studyPreserving biodiversity may be the goal of conservationists and environmental activists, but preserving biomass is a more important priority for the poor, says a literature review. The finding, which researchers said was unexpected, was the result of one of three reviews pre
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90 Scientists Urge Congress Not to 'Cook the Books' in CO2 Accounting for Biofuels, Other Bioenergy Sources Concerns Expressed About Treatment of Bioenergy Sources in U.S. House and Senate Climate/Energy Bills; Improper Accounting Could Lead to Large-Scale Destruction of Forests, Undercutting of Other Climate Change Gains.
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Tomsk region to develop pellet production LLC Sandzhikles (Tomsk region) - harvesting and woodworking mill – put an advanced sawmilling plant in 2010, which allows selling high quality sawn timber.
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Ensyn Technologies Inc. and Tolko Industries Ltd: to build world's largest commercial fast pyrolysis plantOTTAWA and VERNON, BC, June 7 /CNW/ - ENSYN TECHNOLOGIES INC. AND TOLKO INDUSTRIES LTD. announced today that they have formed a partnership to build the world's largest commercial fast pyrolysis plant in High Level, Alberta.
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NV Energy hopeful waste wood will become an energy sourceBy 2025, a quarter of Nevada’s energy must come from renewable sources
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Biomass confusion in the U.S.
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Good Practice Guidance on the Sustainable Mobilization of Wood in Europe According to a new publication, if Europe is to achieve its renewable energy objective of 20% by 2020, it must step up the supply of wood from its sustainably managed forests. In Europe, only 60% of the annual natural growth of the forests is currently being harvested.
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Finland puts emphasis on renewable wooden energy in order to mitigate climate changeFinland’s forests are a substantial carbon sink. In 2008 Finland’s forests sequestrated 35 million tons of CO2. In Finland strong emphasis has been put on the mitigation issues by promoting the use of wood.
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Nexterra wins British Columbia Technology Industry Association award for best application of technologyVANCOUVER, June 15 /CNW/ - Nexterra Systems Corp., (Nexterra) a leading supplier of advanced, renewable biomass gasification heat and power solutions, today announced that it has received the Best Application of Technology Award fr
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Govt looking seriously at ethanol from molasses project – JagdeoPresident Bharrat Jagdeo said more land may be made available for sugar cane cultivation since his administration is now “seriously” looking at producing ethanol from molasses, in keeping with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which promotes the use of biofuels.
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Our View: Future of wood-fired plants key energy issueA study that says biomass plants are worse than oil is not the last word on this subject.
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University Sees Biomass as Future for Energy GenerationBiomass has been in use at the University of Missouri power plant since 2005. The power plant boilers have been cofiring wood waste up to 5 percent with coal in the existing plant boilers, consuming between 5,000 and 6,000 tons of woody biomass this year.
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Soot is second leading cause of climate change: studyA new U.S. study probing the role of soot emissions in driving global climate change highlights the severe impact that black carbon in the air and dirty snow on the Earth’s surface have in melting Canada’s Arctic sea ice.
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Regulators hit pause on biomassA regulatory hearing on Nova Scotia Power Inc.’s application to build a $208-million biomass energy project in Port Hawkesbury has been put on hold pending a review of other renewable energy projects.
The decision was reached Thursday after testimony from John Antonuk of Liberty Consulting Group in Pennsylvania at the provincial Utility and Review Board.
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Biomass power plant finds wood to burnThe company that wants to build a controversial wood-burning power plant near Shelton has signed a fuel-supply contract with Mason County’s largest private timberland owner – Green Diamond Resource Co.
Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but Adage spokesman Tom DePonty said the agreement should provide about 20 percent of the 604,000 tons of wood debris the company needs to power its plant each year.
It is the first fuel-supply contract signed by Adage and a forest landowner for the $250 million project.
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Why isn't Australia keen on 'woody biomass'The former Rudd Government's Emissions Trading Scheme has been all but swept under the carpet, with neither Julia Gillard's government or the Opposition committing to such a scheme.
If or when the idea of a carbon tax returns to Australian politics, there's one form of renewable energy that many in Australia's forestry industry want government to consider.
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Omsk to develop bio-energyMinistry of Industry of the Omsk region is to produce bio fuel from lignum fossil and woodworking wastes. The project is to be realized in cooperation with LLC Proryv-Invest.
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Dow Corning’s Midland Manufacturing Site Considering Biomass PlantMIDLAND, Mich. -- Dow Corning’s Midland manufacturing site is considering the installation of a biomass-powered energy facility to provide a renewable, reliable and cost-effective supply of steam and electricity necessary for the site’s operations.
Cirque Energy, LLC, which would build, own and operate the plant for Dow Corning, recently filed for appropriate environmental permits with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, which is the first step in the process of installing the facility.
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Beijing plans $3B on alternative energy, treesBeijing has worked out a plan to invest up to 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in the next decade on forestation and develop alternative energies.
Wu Jian, a senior engineer with the State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference that the trees will fight climate change by absorbing carbon and will produce material for bio-diesel and ethanol fuels by 2020.
The plan aims to have 23 percent of the country covered with forests in 10 years, up 3 percent increase from the current level.
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Enviva LP Signs Long-Term Wood Pellet Supply Agreement with Utility Electrabel, Group GDF SUEZEnviva Will Supply Biomass to Meet Half of a Major Power Plant's Fuel Requirements, Powering Hundreds of Thousands of Homes with Renewable Energy.
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Project turns wood into oil substituteMississippi could become the first place in the world where simple woodchips are turned into a commercial crude oil substitute.
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On Thursday the province announced it has directed Ontario Power Authority to negotiate an agreement with Ontario Power Generation, the plant’s owners, to buy the power produced at the Atikokan plant.
MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said with the plant making up 40 per cent of Atikokan’s municipal tax base, the province’s decision to keep it open means the town’s survival.
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Biofuels Firms Buy Up African Land, Cause Deforestation, Food Output Loss
Biofuels companies from the U.K. to Brazil and China are buying up large swaths of Africa, causing deforestation and diverting land from food to fuel production, the environmental group Friends of the Earth said.
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China removes tariffs on wood products from LDCsAccording to the office of Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China had decided to remove tariffs on 4,762 commodities imported from 33 of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Commodities with zero tariffs include wood products. The zero tariff treatment came into effect on 1 July 2010.
The countries involved are 26 African countries and 7 other countries, including Ethiopia, Benin, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Maldives, Nepal and Bangladesh.
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Federal renewable fuel regulations will require 2 billion litres of renewable fuelFederal regulations requiring an average renewable fuel content of 5% in gasoline have been finalized and will come into effect starting December 15, 2010. The 5% renewable fuel content requirement in gasoline will require about two billion litres a year of renewable fuel across Canada, a volume estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about one megatonne a year.
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China drafting forestry bio-energy planA ten-year plan (2011-2020) to boost bio-energy development in the forestry industry is being drafted by Chinese government authorities, which would put forward a goal that some 20 million hectares of forestry farms be planted to provide feedstock for bio-energy over this ten-year period, the
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Nova Scotia Power wants to keep its biomass analysis privateTomorrow, a hearing will reconvene in Nova Scotia over Nova Scotia Power's request to spend $208 million to build a wood burning power generating plant with NewPage Port Hawkesbury.
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The Growing Potential and Rooted Limitations of BiofuelsAs oil and natural gas reserves are being depleted, the world's attention is increasingly turning to plant-based energy sources.
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Biomass direct energy plant proposed for Dryden, OntarioTwo Dryden business owners, Bryan Tardiff and Louie Ricci, are partnering with German owned Lambion Energy Solutions to propose Far North Biomass - a biomass driven, direct energy plant in Dryden, Ontario.
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Russian Technologies to Build Biofuel Factory
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Clinton's Plan to Help the Poor and the Planet With StovesOn Tuesday, Secretary Clinton announced the U.S. plan to contribute $50 million to help send fuel-efficient stoves to developing countries.
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UN-backed ‘clean stove’ initiative to save lives and heal environment21 September 2010 – A United Nations-backed intervention involving cook stoves holds the promise of saving lives, uplifting health, improving regional environments, reducing deforestation, empowering local entrepreneurs, speeding development, and helping to stem global climate change.
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Biomass Burning Rules in Massachusetts Could Have National ImpactIn a move that could have wide ramifications for the future of biomass power nationwide, Massachusetts regulators have proposed to strictly regulate the ability of wood-burning incinerators to earn renewable power certificates.
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Criteria and indicators for sustainable woodfuels The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, c
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ECO2 Forests Global Forestry Plan Expands to Biomass for Renewable EnergyBOULDER, CO and QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, Sep 20, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- ECO2 Forests Inc. () today announced the addition of Biomass for Renewable Energy Power Generation to the products to be derived from Kiri Tree forest operations.
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Pinnacle Pellet breaks ground on new plantPinnacle Pellet has officially broken ground on a new pellet plant to be built near Burns Lake, British Columbia.
The plant will produce wood pellets from mountain pine beetle killed wood.
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Biomass project meeting draws a skeptical throng
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Swedes look into black pellet production in B.C.Vattenfall, a company owned by the government of Sweden, is exploring the idea of turning wood from British Columbia's northwest, into pellets to burn in European power plants.
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University of Montana plans to construct biomass boiler to heat, light campusThe University of Montana is literally getting fired up about renewable energy.
UM is making plans to produce its own energy in the future by building a $16 million, wood-fired biomass boiler alongside its existing heating plant on the east side of campus.
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Stora Enso and Neste Oil launch a new renewable diesel plantStora Enso and Neste Oil launch environmental impact assessment for a new renewable diesel plant. Stora Enso's and Neste Oil's joint venture, NSE Biofuels Oy, is to commence environmental impact assessments for a commercial-scale biorefinery at Porvoo and at Imatra in Finland.
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ArcelorMittal invests to expand production of charcoalArcelorMittal Bio-energy is responsible for the production and marketing of the renewable commodities such as charcoal, wood, seeds and seedlings from the formation of Eucalyptus forests.
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Nova Scotia approves NewPage plan to burn trees for powerThe Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has just announced that its approval of the NewPage Port Hawkesbury and Nova Scotia Power's proposal to burn trees to create power.
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Wood biomass will heat 5 public buildings in PEIPrince Edward Island has approved two proposals that will see five public buildings in the province heated by wood biomass.
Atlantic Bioheat will supply biomass-based heat to M. E. Callaghan and Hernewood junior high schools.
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Rated output reached at Novoyeniseysky LKhK Project manager of Novoeniseysky LKhK pellet mill construction (Krasnoyarsk Kray) Alari Roosi has visited the enterprise again after a month and a half since the launch of production.
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Officials show locals Burlington biomass siteBURLINGTON - While 25 people from Pownal signed up to take a bus trip to the McNeil Station, a 55-megawatt biomass power plant located at the north end of Burlington, only about a dozen attended.
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Woody biomass prices in the US increasePrices for woody biomass, whether it was sawmill by-products, forest residues or urban wood waste, were higher in the 3Q/10 than the previous quarter in most regions throughout the US reports Wood Resources International LLC.
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EU Biofuels Goals May Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Lobby Groups SayBiofuels targets in the European Union could raise emissions of greenhouse gases because forests and wetlands will be destroyed to grow the crops necessary, nine environmental groups said in a
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What woodfuels can do to mitigate climate changeThe designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, c
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RWE INNOGY BUILDS FIRST BIOMASS COGENERATION PLANT IN SICILYEssen, Germany - RWE Innogy Italia will build the first biomass cogeneration plant in Sicily. The biomass cogeneration plant has a capacity of 18.7 megawatts and is designed for a power generation output of 128000 megawatt-hours. The investment volume amounts to EUR61 million.
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Maine announces wood-to-energy conversion grantsThe Maine Department of Conservation says eight wood-to-energy conversion projects are receiving more than $5.55 million in federal stimulus funding.
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Biomass opponents mostly air the negative at Mass. meetingWILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- A panel of speakers spoke against the use of biomass as fuel for electricity generating purposes Saturday, in Fellowship Hall at the First Congregational Church of Williamstown.
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Biomass Plant Permit Hearing Set For La PineLA PINE, OR -- The state Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public hearing Tuesday evening to review a permit for a proposed biomass plant planned for the La Pine area. The plant, which Biogreen wants to build on Reed Rd., would generate electricity by burning wood materials from forest management activities. The plant is expected to generate about 24 MW of electricity. The DEQ air quality permit would limit the amount of air pollution the plant would be allowed to produce.
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Plantation Energy Australia signs first Asian export dealA landmark, AU$70 million supply agreement has been signed between Plantation Energy Australia and the Japanese company, Mitsui & Co.
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