¦EDITOR’S NOTE
Meeting Exploding Biomass Demand Sustainably The production cycle for this issue of Biomass Magazine fell smack dab in the middle of the International Biomass Conference & Expo, which our team just wrapped up. More than 1,200 of you joined us in Minneapolis, and I’m not alone when I suggest that this year’s event was the strongest in the conference’s sixyear history. Our efforts to establish the International TIM PORTZ Biomass Conference & Expo as the preeminent annual VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT venue for the varied sectors that together form the bio& EXECUTIVE EDITOR tportz@bbiinternational.com mass industry we are so happy to serve are truly succeeding. In keeping with tradition, we opened the conference with a moderated conversation featuring the leaders of the various biomass industry associations. This year, we asked association leaders to share with our audience news about facilities under active construction and expansion. We were delighted to hear of robust activity in all biomass industry sectors. Each of the association leaders pointed to policy certainty as a critical component and the number one catalyst for the continued and accelerated expansion of their segment. Interestingly, foreign energy policy is emerging as one of the largest catalysts for domestic biomass energy activity. Seth Ginther, executive director of the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, briefed our audience on the tremendous market signal being sent to the American Southeast by the architects of the U.K. Renewable Obligation Certificate scheme. The appetite for U.S.-produced American wood pellets is music to the industry’s ears, but the Europeans want and are demanding a fiber supply that can meet both performance and sustainability criteria. This issue of Biomass Magazine examines each of these in turn. Chris Hanson’s feature, “The Weight of Biomass Analysis,” lays out the most common tests performed on wood pellets, the manner in which the tests are performed and the reason buyers demand that these metrics be met. Anna Simet’s feature, “Certification Uncertainty,” outlines the challenge the industry faces in bringing enough forest acres under active certification to satisfy the appetites of foreign pellet buyers. While institutional landowners can afford the investment of getting their acres certified, it isn’t feasible for many smaller private landowners. Simet’s feature suggests that the forestry industry and certification segment are already working on this problem so that the sustainability requirements of foreign buyers don’t create a supply bottleneck stateside. Clearly, the underlying point of certification requirements is to prove the overall sustainability of the supply chain. As our industry ramps up to satisfy growing demand for biomass inputs and biomass-derived energy, our customers and the public at large will have to be assured we are doing so sustainably. The job that now falls to our industry is to work with our customers, our partners and the scientific community to stake out an objective and measurable definition of what sustainability is, while developing and deploying a cost-effective means of guaranteeing our supply and production chains operate inside of those parameters.
6 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | MAY 2013
EDITORIAL PRESIDENT & EDITOR IN CHIEF Tom Bryan tbryan@bbiinternational.com VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT & EXECUTIVE EDITOR Tim Portz tportz@bbiinternational.com MANAGING EDITOR Anna Simet asimet@bbiinternational.com NEWS EDITOR Erin Voegele evoegele@bbiinternational.com STAFF WRITER Chris Hanson chanson@biinternational.com COPY EDITOR Jan Tellmann jtellmann@bbiinternational.com
ART ART DIRECTOR Jaci Satterlund jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Burslie bburslie@bbiinternational.com
PUBLISHING & SALES CHAIRMAN Mike Bryan mbryan@bbiinternational.com CEO Joe Bryan jbryan@bbiinternational.com VICE PRESIDENT, SALES & MARKETING Matthew Spoor mspoor@bbiinternational.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Howard Brockhouse hbrockhouse@bbiinternational.com ACCOUNT MANAGERS Marty Steen msteen@bbiinternational.com Andrea Anderson aanderson@bbiinternational.com Kelsi Brorby kbrorby@bbiinternational Tami Pearson tpearson@bbiinternational.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Jessica Beaudry jbeaudry@bbiinternational.com ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Marla DeFoe mdefoe@bbiinternational.com SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER John Nelson jnelson@bbiinternational.com Subscriptions Biomass Magazine is free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge of $49.95 for any country outside of the United States, Canada and Mexico. To subscribe, visit www.BiomassMagazine.com or you can send your mailing address and payment (checks made out to BBI International) to Biomass Magazine Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You can also fax a subscription form to 701-746-5367. Back Issues & Reprints Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact us at 701-746-8385 or service@bbiinternational.com. Advertising Biomass Magazine provides a specific topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To find out more about Biomass Magazine advertising opportunities, please contact us at 701-746-8385 or service@bbiinternational.com. Letters to the Editor We welcome letters to the editor. Send to Biomass Magazine Letters to the Contributions Editor, 308 2nd Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or email to asimet@bbiinternational.com. Please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.