Penn State Live - Fuels for Schools to hold public meeting on biofuels at Timber 2009

Fuels for Schools to hold public meeting on biofuels at Timber 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

University Park, Pa. -- Pennsylvania Fuels for Schools and Beyond, a statewide working group promoting local, renewable energy alternatives for Pennsylvania schools and businesses, is holding a public meeting from 10 a.m. until noon on May 30, in the Special Events Building at Penn State's Ag Progress Days site at Rock Springs, nine miles southwest of State College on Pa. Route 45. The meeting is being held in conjunction with Timber 2009 -- Forest Products Equipment and Technology Exposition.

Any individual, organization or business interested in discovering how sustainably harvested native grasses, wood and energy crops -- often called biomass -- can be utilized to provide commercial heat at significant cost savings over imported fuel oil or other fossil fuels is invited to attend. Admission is free to both the public meeting and Timber 2009.

The meeting will provide an introduction to the use of biomass for energy and why it is good choice for space heat; the technology and equipment used in a typical installation; and the economic cost benefits of selecting such a system. Case studies of successful projects in Pennsylvania that have achieved significant annual cost savings will be discussed.

After the public meeting, participants can view in-the-woods biomass harvesting equipment demonstrations and visit with Timber 2009 vendors of equipment utilized in biomass energy production. Timber 2009 is the state's biennial trade event for the forest-products and emerging biomass-harvesting industries. The event will feature nearly 70 exhibitors, equipment demonstrations and business seminars. More information about Timber 2009 can be found at http://patimbershow.cas.psu.edu.

Timber 2009 is hosted by the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association and Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Timber 2009 sponsors include the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Hardwoods Development Council and AgChoice Farm Credit.

With 17 million acres of forestland in the commonwealth, there is an abundance of underutilized wood throughout the state. A recent research project by the Hardwoods Development Council estimated that there are 6 million tons of wood that can be utilized sustainably on an annual basis for wood-to-energy purposes in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Fuels for Schools and Beyond is a partnership of more than 50 state and federal agencies, organizations, businesses and industries. To learn more about the initiative, contact Sue Berkowitz, Pocono Northeast RC&D Council, at (570) 282-8732 ext. 4 or by email at Sue@pnercd.org.

Additional information, including other dates and locations for public meetings and workshops, also can be found at http://www.pafuelsforschools.psu.edu.

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