New Rules Project - Democratic Energy - Biomass: Which Road to Take?

April 13, 2005

Biomass: Which Road to Take?

A strategic report on developing a sustainable biomass policy, prepared for a foundation in 2001, offers a vision that is still relevant today.

Prepared by ILSR's vice president, David Morris, Biomass: Which Road to Take offers a seven-point strategy for biomass covering these points:

1) Make language consistent
2) Strive to design policies that encourage and enable the highest value end products and the greatest flexibility for producers and manufacturers
3) Accept and grapple with the fact that a significant near term expansion in the use of biomass to generate electricity depends on a partnership with the forest products industry and coal-fired power plant operators
4) Analyze more comprehensively and adequately the environmental impacts of various forms of biomass and biomass processing
5) Make farmers active and enthusiastic partners
6) Consider the issue of scale when designing policies
7) Adopt a nuanced approach to genetic engineering

Morris concludes by saying in part, "Plant matter must be an important element in a sustainable economy because it is the only renewable resource from which we can fashion physical products."

Click and read the full report, Biomass: Which Road to Take?

More

ILSR's Carbohydrate Economy Clearinghouse - a library of biomass-related resources from ILSR's archive.