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Energy Options The Energy & Environmental Research Center’s Biomass ’11: Renewable Power, Fuels, and Chemicals Conference, which was held July 26-27 in Grand Forks, N.D., welcomed more than 250 attendees from 28 states, Washington, D.C., and 11 foreign countries, to discuss trends, opportunities, economics and technological developments surrounding the biomass energy industry. The underlying theme during the first day of the conference seemed to be that while next-generation biofuels hold a great deal of promise, commercialization is still a ways off and smaller-scale biomass-based heat and power remains the most economically feasible option. EERC Director Gerald Groenewold kicked off the ninth annual conference by discussing the EERC's mission and current areas of focus. The EERC, which is a nonprofit, high-tech division of the University of North Dakota, focuses on applied research, development, demonstration and commercialization of clean energy and environmental technologies. The center has been involved in more than 300 RENEWABLE REALM: The Energy and Environmental Research Center contracts over the past year, according to Groenewold, 87 percent of held its annual biomass conference in Grand Forks, N.D., in July. which were private-sector clients. The EERC has had clients from all 50 states and 51 countries, he added. Groenewold said. “We have Canadian friends who provide a lot “As an American citizen, if we’re talking about energy of energy to this country and they’re going to continue to, and the security, I don’t believe in the concept of energy independence,”
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gVT`a]R_]]T T`^ 18 BIOMASS POWER & THERMAL | SEPTEMBER 2011
PHOTO: EERC
Biomass is not a silver bullet but it plays a key energy role.