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California covers about 100 million acres and approximately 40 percent of the state is forest. National Forest System lands, managed by the US Forest Service, cover in excess of 18 million acres (approximately 58 percent of the forestland).
The technology exists to make a wide variety of products from woody biomass. These include (from lowest value/least processing to highest value/most processing): Soil additives and amendments (mulch, compost, etc.
The main use of biomass today is as a fuel for California's existing biomass power plants. There are around 25 operating biomass facilities which represent approximately 2.9 percent of the state's electrical generation capacity.
The USDA Forest Service Wood Innovations Grant Program is an annual grant supporting traditional wood utilization projects, expanding wood energy markets, and promoting wood as a construction material.
This grant from the California Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils (CARC&DC) now known as the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) was aimed at biomass conversion technologies which utilized large amounts of wood fuel from national forests and o...
BCAP is a program designed to provide financial assistance to producers or entities that deliver eligible biomass material to designated biomass conversion facilities for use as heat, power, biobased products or biofuels.
It surprises many to learn that California has a hardwood resource. California, one of the nations most forested states, is well known for its majestic coastal redwood and giant sequoia softwood species.
Forests in California are at great risk of loss from wildfire and pest outbreak. While ecological restoration and fuels reduction projects have potential to reduce these issues, they also create large volumes of woody biomass material.
In this section, you will find print resources produced by UC Berkeley research staff, the USDA Forest Service, private consultants, and non-profit groups made available to promote biomass utilization efforts throughout the state. Each publication is broadly categorized into the sections below.
This section includes reports from the Woody Biomass Group, US Forest Service, and consultant groups pertaining to Southern California Woody Biomass and examples of Feasibility Studies.
