New Projects/Programs
Vermont Fuels for Schools
BERC is partnering with Vermont's state energy, forestry, and education agencies to put together and carry out an initiative to accelerate the pace at which schools in Vermont install wood heating systems. Currently, over ten percent of all public school students in the state attend wood-heated schools.
Boulder County Transportation Campus Heating
BERC is the technical adviser to Boulder County for the design and integration of a central wood heating plant to serve the buildings of a new Open Space and Transportation Complex in Longmont, Colorado. The system will be fired in 2005.
Richford Wood Initiative
BERC is carrying out a study of the potential for using wood residues from local forests to supply energy to the small town of Richford, Vermont. We are looking at wood-fired district energy for downtown buildings, and at installing a wood-fired CHP system at an industrial facility on the outskirts of town. The Richford Wood Initiative is motivated by a strong desire in the town for economic development based on forest resources. BERC also carried out a study of converting Richford's two public schools to wood heat.
Johnson State College
BERC is working with college administration and facilities staff to study the potential for integrating a wood boiler into the existing campus central heating system of this state college in Johnson, Vermont. BERC allocated DOE funds for the initial study. BERC then worked with the Vermont Legislature to get an appropriation for the college to continue the study and integrate it into a long-term planning process.
The Northern Forest Biomass Energy Initiative
The overall purposes of the Northern Forest Biomass Energy Initiative (NFBEI) are to:
· Explore the potential for woody biomass from the Northern Forest to provide an increased source of renewable, sustainable energy for the region, and
· Determine what needs to happen for that potential to be realized.
The Initiative was convened in January 2006 by the Biomass Energy Resource Center and the Northern Forest Center (a regional non-profit organization dedicated to creating healthy communities, economies, and ecosystems throughout the Northern Forest region). The conveners are joined by The Carsey Institute of the University of New Hampshire (with a focus on research and policy development that helps rural communities in the region and throughout the nation).
The following files are key presentations from the working session conference that was held November 2-3, 2006 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
(Levesque) Overview of Woody Biomass Resource Base, Supply, Demand and Markets in the Northern Forest Region (6.38MB PDF)
(Publicover) Incorporating Biomass Harvesting Into Sustainable Forest Management: Issues and Guidelines (0.1MB PDF)
(Brown) Prospects for the Biomass Power Industry (0.1MB PDF)
(Kingsley) Wood-Based Bio-Fuels: The Long Emerging Market (2MB PDF)
(Maker) New Opportunities in Community Scale Biomass Heat and Power (0.7MB PDF)
(Maker) Envisioning Uses for Biomass Energy From the Northern Forest/i> (0.3MB PDF)