2018

December 2018: Simulating water quality and hydrology responses to growing biomass feedstocks in the Mississippi River Basin Read More

11-12 October, 2018: Landscape planning incorporates bioenergy crops for ecosystems services
Joint FAO-IEA Bioenergy Task 43 Workshop: SustainableLandscape Management for Bioenergy and the Bioeconomy
11-12 October 2018, Rome, Italy Read More

11-12 October, 2018: Cellulosic-based biofules are strengthening rural investment & development in the United States or Opportunities for wood pellet production for energy in the Southeast US October 11-12, 2018 Rome, Italy Read More

14-15 June: Invited presentation for 13th Annual Energy Conference on Bioenergy & Natural Systems, New York Institute of Technology: Food Security Challenges for Bioenergy (K.Kline) https://www.nyit.edu/events/energy_conference

16 May: Stupak, Smith, Kline, et al. Governing Sustainability of Biomass Producing Landscapes and Biomass-Based Supply Chains: Key messages from a conference on state of the art and future prospects (PPT prepared for the EU Bioenergy Conference and Exposition (EUBCE), Copenhagen.

O7 May: Maggie Davis presented the Special Topic, “Sustainability Standards Landing Page” (Kline coauthor) for the BETO- A&S Monthly Lab Call.

17 April: Kline, Langeveld, Dale and Efroymson: Understanding Indirect Effects of Bioenergy: Science-based ILUC Assessment. For the IEA Bioenergy Workshop on sustainability governance in Copenhagen. An Abstract was also submitted and published in proceedings.

18 April: Dale, Kline, Parish, Hodges – IEA Bioenergy Workshop on sustainability governance in Copenhagen; “Governance and issues related to wood pellet production in the Southeast United States”

19 April : Kline K, Dale V, Richard T, Karlen D, Belden W, (2017) Stakeholder perceptions on bioenergy development in midwestern U.S. state of Iowa.  Abstract published in workshop proceedings and Book of Abstracts for IEA Bioenergy, “Governing sustainability of bioenergy, biomaterial and bioproduct supply chains from forest and agricultural landscapes” April 2018.

11 April : Kline K, Chordia M, Brandao M, Cowie A, Dale V, Langeveld J: Examining Evidence for Drivers of Indirect Land-use Change Associated with Biofuel Policies. Oral presentation for the International Association for Landscape Ecology – US Annual Meeting.

06 April: Kline prepared summary slides for two projects that comprise part of the new “Landscape Ecology and Regional Analysis” research team, led by Matt Langholtz, in Environmental Sciences Division of ORNL.

05 April: Kline and Eaton provided an overview on BT16 Vol1 and Vol2 results to the consultant team working with the RSB on an Airbus collaboration to identify sustainable feedstock potentials in Alabama.

26 March, Golden CO: Keith presented and discussed recommended next steps with the NREL team on the “Input-Output Framework for Assessing Effects of US Bioeconomy.”

23 March, Chicago, IL:  Invited presentation prepared by Kline and Oladosu, presented by Oladosu: Food AND fuel not food vs fuel, updated science perspectives. For the US Grains Council Meeting and Japanese Ethanol stakeholders.

20 March, :Energy and Land Use. Presented by Francis Johnson on behalf of Uwe Fritsche, Kline, Dale, et al., for World Bank Conference on Land & Poverty special session on “Leveraging Land Governance and Sustainability.” https://www.conftool.com/landandpoverty2018/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=574#paperID883

14 March: “Assessment of Environmental Sustainability Indicators: ORNL Contributions to Landscape Design for Sustainable Bioenergy Systems, presented by Esther Parish (coauthors Kline, Dale, Baskaran and Efroymson) Des Moines, Iowa for Landscape Design Project stage-gate Review.

27 Feb:  Kline prepared and presented “Bioeconomy Scenarios, Indicators, Economic Analysis & ORNL research related to framework for assessing effects of expanding US Bioeconomy” to identify potential collaborations, in the NREL Workshop on a “Framework to assess effects of expanding Bioeconomy.”

5 Feb: Esther Parish presented the Special Topic, “ORNL’s Research into the Sustainability of Southeastern United States’ Wood Pellet Production” (Kline and Dale, coauthors) for the BETO- A&S Monthly Lab Call.

2017

Coming Soon

2016

April 2-8, 2016
International Association for Landscape Ecology
Theme: Landscape Change

Symposium: Reshaping Landscapes: Bioenergy and Biodiversity II
Organizer: Henriette Jager email

Objective: We convened an IALE Bioenergy-Biodiversity symposium in 2010 when bioenergy sustainability research was re-emerging after a long hiatus. Six years later, this follow-on symposium convened landscape ecologists who have studied responses of birds, wildlife, pollinators, and aquatic biota to different bioenergy feedstocks and management practices during the intervening years. By shifting the economy away from fossil fuels, bioenergy is also shifting the landscape of ecosystem services. Future landscapes will likely include an array of dedicated bioenergy crops and residues from conventional crops and forests as bioenergy feedstocks. Our research, as landscape ecologists, will guide the emerging bioeconomy toward spatial arrangements and decisions that support higher biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The goal of this symposium was to reach a common understanding of how bioenergy landscapes can be designed to benefit wildlife and aquatic habitat. Because these questions feed into policy and processes that guide sustainable practices, we also invite research that uses spatial optimization, ecological valuation, and outreach to stakeholders to guide landscape management decisions. View Presentations

August 9, 2016 – S. Nair “Landscape Typologies: A new approach to enhancing understanding of landscape services Presented at the CBES Forum on August 9, 2016.

August 01, 2016 – Keith L. Kline

Science-based Approaches to improve understanding of LUC and guide decisions toward positive outcomes. View Presentation

2015

June 24 – Keith Kline gave a presentation titled “Thirty years later: Reflections on the past and future of biomass utilization” for ASTM International Committee E48 on Bioenergy and Industrial Chemicals from Biomass. Committee leadership requested this topic to commemorate that 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of Committee E48. The talk also introduced concepts to be considered in subsequent work sessions on a new “Standard Practice” to support more consistent and comparable approaches for sustainability assessment.

June 15-17: Virginia Dale gave a talk on “Approach for sustainability assessment of southeast pellet production.” at the Forestry Technical Session at the 2015 Southern Regional Meeting of the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) in Greenville, SC

May 17-21: Natalie Griffiths gave a talk on “Effects of short-rotation pine management for bioenergy on water quality in the southeastern United States” at the Society for Freshwater Science conference in Milwaukee.

April 17: Yetta Jager gave a presentation to the National Science Foundation Scholars, “Preparation of Data Driven Mathematical Scientists for the Workforce” at the East Tennessee State University titled “Biomass, Birds, and Better Water: Virtual tools illuminate pathways toward a sustainable bioeconomy.”

March 4-6: Keith Kline presented a summary of the 1st BETO Workshop on Landscape Design held in New Bern NC entitled “Biomass Standards“.

March 2-5, 2015 – Natalie Griffiths gave an overview talk on the short-rotation woody biomass sustainability project at the Interagency Conference for Research in the Watersheds meeting in Charleston, SC.

January 29, 2015- Keith Kline presented a talk titled Bioenergy sustainability criteria and oil palm while participating in meetings for NSF PIRE Project in Tabasco, Mexico.

January 26, 2015 – Keith Kline participated in meetings for NSF PIRE Project, “Sustainability, Ecosystem Services, and Bioenergy Development across the Americas” to share experience with sustainability indicators among interdisciplinary teams in Tabasco, Mexico.  Dr. Kline also presented a talk titled Bioenergy sustainability criteria and oil palm.

2014

Dec 2, 2014 – Keith Kline gave an invited presentation on “Integrating pellet production into sustainable landscape design for the Southeastern USA” for a workshop involving BE-Basic and other European stakeholders and utility representatives.

Dec 1, 2014 – Keith Kline presented an invited seminar titled, “Biomass for bioenergy: an overview of research at ORNL” for the Copernicus Institute and BE-Basic Sustainable Bio-Economy team at Utrecht University, Netherlands.

November 17, 2014 – Yetta Jager presented “Designing Landscapes for Wildlife” to the BETO Hydrology/Water Quality Modeling Group webinar.

November 2-5, 2014 – Esther Parish spoke on the topic of “Designing Bioenergy Systems for Multiple Environmental Services and Socioeconomic Benefits” during a bioenergy symposium that was part of the American Society of Agronomy International annual meeting in Long Beach, Calif.

October 19-23 – Keith Kline and Maggie Davis presented “Incorporating bioenergy into sustainable landscape design,” and “Brazil’s strategic role in future biofuels – a joint assessment” respectively; and coauthored “Food Security and Biofuels: Can Policy Flexibility Mitigate Food Price Crises for the Poor?” at the 2nd Brazilian Bioenergy Science and Technology Conference in Campos do Jordão

October 9-17, 2014– Keith presented “Biomass for bioenergy: resources today and in the future,” as invited lecturer in the “São Paulo Advanced School on the Present and Future of Bioenergy” at University of Campinas (http://www.nipe.unicamp.br/espca/)

October 5-11 – Virginia Dale spoke on “Opportunities to Design Sustainable Bioenergy Systems” at the International Union of Forest Research Organization World Congress in Salt Lake City, Utah.

October 1-3, 2014 – At the annual meeting of the USDA AFRI CAP project, Southeastern Partnership for the Integrated Biomass Supply Systems (IBSS), Esther Parish and Virginia Dale presented “Bioenergy Sustainability: How to Define and Measure It.”

September 19, 2014 – Tim Theiss presented The Role of Biofuels in the US Sustainable Transportation Challenge”
Dama Abulebdeh poster presentation “Measuring SOC in USA and Brazil: Varying methods and implications

July 19, 2014 – Laurence Eaton  presented “Enhanced National Feedstock Supply Modeling of Woody Crops for Bioenergy and Bioproducts” at the 10th Biennial Short Rotation Woody Crops Conference in Seattle, WA .

July 17-19, 2014 – Natalie Griffiths attended the Short-Rotation Woody Crop Operations Working Group meeting in Seattle, and gave an overview presentation on their project titled ‘Environmental sustainability of woody biomass production for bioenergy in the southeastern United States’

June 25, 2014 –  Keith Kline presented a summary of the 1st BETO Workshop on Landscape Design held in New Bern, North Carolina, on March 4-6 at the 2nd BETO Workshop on “Incorporating Bioenergy in Sustainable Landscape Designs: Agricultural Landscapes” at Argonne, Illinois.

June 4-7, 2014 – Virginia Dale was invited guest speaker at the 4th Pan-American Congress on Plants and Bioenergy in Guelph, Canada. She spoke on “Opportunities to Design Biofuel Systems for Multiple Environmental Services and Socioeconomic Benefits.”

April 21, 2014 – Keith Kline presented “Multi-Disciplinary Research: Bionenergy, Land Use Change and Food Security.” Plus Global Calculator at the Climate Change Science Institute.

April 7, 2014– Virginia Dale and Esther Parish were invited to participate in a Knoxville Climate Resilience Roundtable Discussion chaired by Knoxville Mayor Rogero who is serving as a member of the President’s State, Local and Tribal Leaders’ Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.  The discussion focused on implications of climate change for East Tennessee and how the Federal government can assist local communities in preparing for those impacts.

April 3, 2014– Joe Hughes spoke about a chapter he is working on with Dan Hayes and Virginia Dale on “Potential effects of climate change on natural disturbances in the southeastern upland hardwood forest region” at the Symposium on Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation in Central Hardwood Forests at the annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

April 1-4, 2014 – Keith Kline attended the Global Sustainable Bioenergy (GSB) and Latin America, Caribbean and Africa (LACAf) project (http://bioenfapesp.org/gsb/) meetings, South Africa, and chaired the session on “Geospatial Analysis in Africa: can land use be optimized?”

February 24-28, 2014 – Keith Kline presented on Biomass, Bioenergy and Land Use for the “Pathways to Climate Solutions: Assessing Energy Technology and Policy Innovation” in Aspen, CO. The primary objectives of the meeting were to review current pace and scale of the climate challenge and identify viable pathways to decarbonize the economy , including technological and policy options.

February 25, 2014 – Virginia Dale gave a presentation on “Incorporating Bioenergy into Sustainable Landscape Designs” at the National Institute for Mathematics and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

February 5-7, 2014 – Keith Kline gave a presentation on “Vital Signs Trade-Offs Workshop: Review of selected research at ORNL” at Oxford, United Kingdom.

2013

Coming soon

2012

P. Schweizer, H. Jager, L. Eaton, R. Efroymson. “Watershed valuation – understanding spatial variation in value derived from fish diversity.” Presented at the 2012 Annual Symposium of the US Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, Newport, RI. 

November 8th, 2012 – Virginia Dale presented “Environmental and Socioeconomic Indicators for Bioenergy Sustainability as Applied to Short Rotation Woody Crops” at the Short Rotation Woody Crops Operation Working Group Workshop hosted by Mark Downing (ORNL) and Tim Rials (UT).

September 18, 2012 – Rebecca Efroymson presented “Sustainability Indicators for Bioenergy Systems and Applicability to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)” at the 12th International Symposium on Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms in St Louis, MO.  The talk was in a session entitled “Symposium on Biofuel Crop Risk Assessment – Regulatory, Industry, and Academic Perspectives.”  Rebecca participated in a panel discussion, along with the other speakers from USDA, Canadian Forest Service, Ceres, Inc., Virginia Tech University, and University of Florida.

August 5-10, 2012 – Several ORNL staff participated in the 2012 Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

  • A Special Session, “A Debate on the Sustainability of Biomass Production for Energy”, focueds on the proposition “Producing bioenergy can be sustainable for habitat availability and biodiversity, and can eschew the risk of new invaders.” This formal debate allowed opening statements by each of six experts, followed by rebuttals, with audience questions entertained during the final 30 minutes.  The audience was polled before and after to determine the winners.  H. Jager was an organizer and R. Efroymson represented the “for” position.
  • Virginia Dale spoke in the Symposium “Bioenergy and Biodiversity: Oxymoron or Opportunity?” on “Environmental and socioeconomic indicators of bioenergy sustainability.”

2011

Fundamental for Life: Soil, Crop and Environmental Sciences
October 16 – 19, 2011 San Antonio Texas
2011 American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America (ASA-CSSA-SSSA) International Annual Meetings in conjunction with the Canadian Society of Soil Science.

May 24th, 2011 – Stephen Kaffka and Keith Kline -: Vantage Point: Views on Food, Fuel and Land Use

May 24 2011 – Keith Kline – : Bioenergy, Land-Use Change and Food Security

May 24 2011 – Kaleb Little – : Experts: Bioenergy leading to more efficient and environmentally friendly energy future
Stephen Kaffka – May 24 2011: National Biodiesel Board: Food and Fuel

2010

November 29-December 6, 2010: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) organized a study tour for approximately 30 representatives of the China National Energy Administration and Chinese bioenergy companies. Tour stops included bioenergy related sites in Nebraska, Iowa, and Tennessee and meetings with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C. Yun Wu of ORNL served as an official host and translator throughout the duration of the tour; Erin Webb co-led organization of the study tour; Becky Bowman assisted with coordination of the tour and organized Tennessee events; Robin Graham, Brian Davison, Keith Kline, and Laurence Eaton gave technical presentations highlighting ORNL bioenergy research. Other Tennessee activities for the China delegation included a tour of the DuPont Danisco biorefinery and Genera Energy switchgrass production sites in Vonore.
– ORNL Presentations

December 2010 – Lawrence Eaton, et al – : The economic effects of biofuel feedstock production on gamefish distribution

November 2010 – ‘Debo Oladosu, et al – : Empirical Analysis of the Sources of Corn Used for Ethanol Production in the United States: 2001-2009
Jonathan Overly from the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition (DOE Clean Cities) gave an overview of the RFS2 standard and the implications on the use of biofuels in the US on May 14, 2010, at the National Transportation Research Center
– RFS2 – A Bridge to a More Sustainable America

October 31 – November 3, 2010 – Biomass Energy Systems: Research Needs to Address Policy Issues – Mark Downing (ORNL) and Michael Casler (Agricultural Research Service [ARS] Research Geneticist, Madison, Wisconsin) organized a symposium, Biomass Energy Systems: Research Needs to Address Policy Issues, at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America (ASA-ASSA-CSSA) Joint Convention in Long Beach, CA.

Presentations Included: – Are Our Research Needs Driving Policy? or Is Policy Driving Our Research? given by Mark Downing. – Bioenergy Research and Strategic Planning: The Need for Both Proactive and Reactive Research given by Robert Mitchell, USDA-ARS; Kenneth Vogel, USDA-ARS. – The Tyranny of Big Ideas in Environmental Policy given by Alan Lucier, National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI). – TNC Perspective given by Jimmie Powell, The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

April 6-10, 2010 – 2010 U.S. International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE) Twenty-fifth Anniversary Symposium April 6-10, 2010
One symposium, Reshaping Landscapes: Bioenergy and Biodiversity, included a presentation by Laurence Eaton, Peter Schweizer, Rebecca Efroymson, Henriette Jager entitled, Assessing watershed benefits of bioenergy crops: Recreational and subsistence value of fishes,” and another presentation by Peter Schweizer, Henriette Jager, and Latha Baskaran entitled, “Forecasting changes in water quality and aquatic biodiversity in response to future bioenergy landscapes in the Arkansas-White-Red River basin.”
US chapter of the International Association of Landscape Ecology
– Reshaping Landscapes: Bioenergy and Biodiversity
– Reshaping Landscapes: Bioenergy and Land-use Change

A second symposium, Reshaping Landscapes: Bioenergy and Land-use Change, included a presentation by Gbadebo Oladosu, and Keith Kline entitled, “Modeling direct and indirect effects of US bioenergy policy on global land use,” and another presentation by Keith Kline, Virginia Dale, and Gbadebo Oladosu entitled, “Models, science, and the precautionary principle: Land-use change and the sustainability of biomass systems.”