What is woody biomass?
When oil prices peaked at over $140 per barrel, alternative energy gained a new urgency. One alternative particularly relevant to the Rockies is woody biomass from forests. Burning wood for energy is hardly a new idea—wood has warmed humans since we learned to use fire—but now it is heralded a safe, renewable way to generate electricity or even liquid fuel. In 2008 alone there more than 65 major new wood energy projects in North America and as many as 50 more in the planning stages. Many of these plants have been sited in the Rockies, including an $88-million dollar plant in Grand Junction, Colo., to convert trees to liquid fuel. However, not all projects are large. The Fuels for Schools program has converted nine schools in Montana to heat with wood, and two more are in progress. The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal to increase domestic biofuels use from about 2.1 billion gallons to 51 billion gallons by 2030 and to more than double bioenergy use. A substantial portion of the
