News & Events

June 27: New paper synthesizes decades of research to define and measure sustainability.

May 23 CBES seminar—Dr. Timothy Rials of UTIA provides an overview of the University of Tennessee’s Center for Renewable Carbon.

May 1-3 Workshop in Athens, GA (UGA): “Adequacy of Spatial Databases for Conducting Risk Assessments of Sustainable Wood Sourcing Practices of the U.S. Industrial Wood Pellet Industry Supplying European Energy Demand” IEA Bioenergy and University of Georgia in collaboration with University of Toronto, University of Copenhagen, ORNL and Pinchot Institute for Conservation. For more information and to register, see: https://www.hotel.uga.edu/events/bio-energy-conference

April 25 CBES Seminar—Dr. Jennifer Dunn of Michigan Technological University presents “The Importance of Suppliers for Bioenergy Development: A Socio-Political Case Study.”

March 28 CBES seminar—Dr. Gerald Tuskan of ORNL provides an overview of ORNL’s Center for Bioenergy Innovation

FUEL, FIBER, AND CHEMICALS – IT’S STILL ALL ABOUT THE BIOMASS
Dr. Sam Jackson, VP of Business Development at  Genera Energy Inc.

When:  3:30-4:30 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2019

Where: ORNL Building 1505, Room 189 (Ocoee Room)

Dr. Jackson will speak about Genera’s biomass experiences, the challenges the industry has faced, some exciting developments on the horizon, and new initiatives around bio-based materials from cellulosic feedstocks, including ag-based fiber and compostable food service and packaging products.

The article below describes how indicators were selected and prioritized, as well as how a project can achieve stakeholder engagement goals despite a lack of funding for formal outreach or surveys in the field. The stakeholder engagement process and its documentation (led by ORNL) were highlighted by an external review report, issued last month, as being major contributions to the multi-agency Landscape Design Project in Iowa, with is led by the Antares Group. The Stage-Gate Review reaffirmed the value of the Landscape Design Project and strongly recommended the work continue.

• Dale VH, Kline KL, Richard TL, Karlen DL, Belden WW. 2018. Bridging biofuel sustainability indicators and ecosystem services through stakeholder engagement. In a Special Issue on “Biofuels and Ecosystem Services” Biomass & Bioenergy 114: 143-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2017.09.016 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953417303100

• October 18 – BioEnergy Day Flier Read More
• July 2017: Analysis of Forest Service data shows that benefits accrue when sustainable forest management provides wood pellets for energy that keep fossil fuel in the ground. Read More
• 2017: International report presents status and prospects for renewable energy using wood pellets from the southeastern United States. Read More
• March 28, 2017: Workshop on Visualizing Progress toward Bioenergy Sustainability at Oak Ridge National Laboratory hosted by Mike Hilliard, Virginia dale, Esther Parish, and Keith Kline regarding development of a tool to support visualization of complex information
• March 6-9, 2017: Peer review of projects supported by Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) in Denver, Colorado.
• February 27, 2017: Virginia Dale discusses bioenergy sustainability: Read More

The 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16), Volume 2: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from Volume 1, jointly released by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is a pioneering effort to analyze a range of potential environmental effects associated with illustrative near-term and long-term biomass-production scenarios from the 2016 Billion-Ton Report, Volume 1.

• This is posted as a chapter-by-chapter located here:
• From the main BT16 page:
• A news release was published:

Fourth Annual Bio-Energy Day October 19, 2016, UT Arboretum.