University of Tennessee Selected to Lead Energy Work for Industrial Sector

The University of Tennessee (UT) has been selected to take the lead on RFP 2008-005 “The State of Wood-based Bio-Energy/Technologies and Industries in North America.”   “We are especially pleased to have the UT Office of Bioenergy Programs collaborating with the USDA Forest Service and the Sun Grant Initiative to undertake this important work,” said Carlton Owen, Endowment President.  Among major project features will be several elements including a “state of the science”; case studies of “best of class” technologies; an assessment of opportunities and barriers to sustainable growth of the sector; and a continually updated database of industrial facilities across Canada and the U.S. that use wood and wood byproducts to create energy or biofuels.  Partners joining the Endowment in support of this project are the American Forest & Paper Association, Canadian Forest Service, the Forest Products Association of Canada and the USDA Forest Service.  Discussions are underway for a companion work that will address the non-industrial/non-residential community scale uses of woody energy use.