Main Menu
| BERC Is Part of Grant-Winning Team to Study Biomass Sustainability and Carbon Policy |
 |
 |
|
The Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC) is part of an inter-disciplinary team assembled by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences that was recently awarded a grant to study and make recommendations to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources (DOER) for an integrated approach ensuring effective and responsible development of biomass energy in Massachusetts. The 'Biomass Sustainability and Carbon Policy Study' will address a wide array of scientific, economic, and engineering issues to provide a sound basis for DOER to identify the kinds of policies that will be most effective at reducing carbon while ensuring the sustainability of biomass harvesting. The project will culminate in a 'white paper' summarizing the research and peer-reviewed, science-based information gathered over the next six months. In addition to BERC and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, project team members include: the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, The Forest Guild, and various leading consultants with expertise in natural resource and forest economy and ecosystem modeling. An independent advisory panel consisting of nationally recognized experts will assist the core research team in the project design and interpretation and presentation of findings. BERC will play a key role in assessing existing energy policies that impact the permitting, siting, and development of biomass facilities in states where these types of policies are already well developed. A particular emphasis will be on gaining valuable insight into their strengths and weaknesses by exploring the potency of the underlying scientific, engineering, and economic rationale for these policies. “Beyond looking at the very critical issues of sustainability, the results of this study will address the broader policy of how Massachusetts can foster the development of biomass in order to deliver optimal reductions in carbon emissions from energy and maintenance of carbon in the forests,” said Christopher Recchia, BERC’s executive director. The project comprises a series of tasks, each multi-faceted, covering a variety of pertinent aspects to this research as follows: 1) US and International Policies with regard to Forest Management and Biomass Carbon Neutrality; 2) Technical Assessment of the Projected Development of Wood Bioenergy/Biofuels Facilities in Massachusetts; 3) Sustainable Forest Management and Implications of Biomass Harvesting; 4) Carbon Sequestration of Forests with and without Forest Management; 5) Net Carbon Balance of Forest Biomass Energy; and 6) State Agency Discussion and Public Outreach Sessions. Back to Announcement page |
