FROM THE EDITORS

It feels like a fever dream, doesn’t it? That once we all gathered together in places and shook hands with industry colleagues? But it wasn’t a dream at all. It was real, and it was the 2020 Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo. The North Tower of the OMNI at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta was abuzz with all of the industry’s brightest. Executives from major producers were mingling around with equipment and technology suppliers from around the globe.

Then the world went haywire. But as the woody biomass, renewable energy industry is always evolving— so is the science behind infectious diseases. The world is seemingly putting itself back together after these unprecedented times in this “new normal.” (Gosh, when are the cliches going to stop?!) With a new normal, and a even-numbered year, comes the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, a conference and expo brought to you by the staffs of Wood Bioenergy magazine and Georgia Research Institute.

The big three of the North American industrial wood pellet landscape, Enviva, Drax and Fram, will all send executives to participate in conference as they have always done. We’re grateful to see them, since for the most part they have had an open door policy for our editorial staff’s tape recorders and cameras. We look forward to visiting their plants on the horizon and filling the pages of this magazine with their insights and manufacturing excellence. Afterall, our own Jessica Johnson is the industrial wood pellet queen having been in more facilities in North America than anyone else. It is a crown she wears with pride.

Industrial wood pellets won’t be the only topic of conversation dotting the aisles of the Bioenergy Conference. Back again for an encore is William Strauss of FutureMetrics, with a message that always includes the possibility of the coal industry being maintained if you simply threw a little wood mix into the process. We’ve always thought Dr. Bill was on to something, but now more than ever as the world is turning its eye to renewable energy, it feels like it is woody biomass’s time to shine.

Well, shine in its own right while also attracting the attention of groups like the Dogwood Alliance. Some might remember when the group had protesters outside of the OMNI in downtown Atlanta some years ago during our conference. Standing in front of the College Football Hall of Fame, blocking the entrance to beloved Southern fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A, decked out in posters, these protestors did nothing but reinvigorate this industry.

Bring it on Dogwood—we’re here to stay and as this issue’s cover story can attest, “Wood is good.” And well, isn’t it time “Georgia wood makes Georgia power” become more than just a marketing slogan, but a true way toward a net zero world where “North Carolina wood makes North Carolina power” or “Washington state wood makes Washington state power”?

It’s nice to see y’all again—in person. Hopefully without uneducated posters.

6 Wood Bioenergy / April 2022