Green Commission Report - Biomass Group - Report (12/15/09)

Committee Members: Seth Nagy & Todd Perdue

Working definition of biomass: Organic matter available on a renewable basis. Biomass includes forest and mill residues, agricultural crops and wastes, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, livestock operation residues, aquatic plants, fast-growing trees and plants, and municipal and industrial wastes.

The Biomass Group is actively involved with:

• A glycerin feeding trial. This will start in January at NCSU's Butner Beef Cattle Field Laboratory. Glycerin is a by-product of biodiesel production and will act as an energy source in cattle diets.
• A Caldwell County Educational Meeting. We have invited Dr. Dennis Hazel from the College of Forestry to give his talk entitled "Woody Biomass and Renewable Energy - Addressing global climate change through policy and energy markets". This meeting will be May 12 at 6:00 pm the Caldwell County Public Library / Ag Center.
• Helping with a grant. We are working with the Grants Group on a NC Bio-fuels grant for Carolina Land & Lakes - RC&D and Foothills Bioenergy. The grant will allow for Foothills Bioenergy to produce biodiesel with less of an environmental impact. Foothills Bioenergy is a biodiesel manufacturing facility in Lenoir, NC.

The Biomass Group is tracking progress on the projects listed below. These projects are either located in the County or will have direct impacts in the County:

• Caldwell County Landfill Gas Project. There is an on going landfill gas project at the Old Lick Mountain Landfill. Read more about this project at Google's Lenoir Data Center news page (http://www.google.com/datacenter/lenoir/news.html#post0)
• Electrical generation plant is planned for Surry County. An electrical production plant is on the drawing board for Surry County. This plant will use poultry litter as its energy source. Three plants have been proposed for NC. The first is currently being built in Sampson County. The company behind these projects is a British Company called Fibrowatt. They also have facilities in Minnesota, Maryland, Arkansas, and Mississippi. More info is at http://www.fibrowattusa.com
• Oil seed crushing facility in Iredell County. McLain Farms, a family farming operation based in Iredell county, has constructed a oilseed crushing facility. This is sized to process crops from 10,000 to 12,000 acres. The crushed oil can be used in the food industry or as raw material for biodiesel. The high protein meal left over from the extraction process can be used in animal feeds.