• Over 1,100 people attended the tradeshow and breakout sessions.
  
• Woody biomass from forest slash, forest products facility by-products is being used for domestic and offshore energy generation customers as a baseload fuel source.
  
• Focus is also on woody biomass heating system for universities, schools and commercial buildings in the NW U.S., Western Canada and Alaska.
  
• Based on the Kyoto Fossil Fuel Reduction Agreement, European energy firms using coal have been blending woody biomass (wood dust @ 3% MC) into the boilers (increasing heat levels by 50% and reducing noxious gas emissions by 50%).  Co-firing coal power plants with wood in Europe has reduced the need for expensive pollution control equipment and created the opportunity to increase electrical power supply levels by retrofitting existing coal fired plants.  Estimates from several speakers at the conference suggest the European energy firms may import over 35 million tons of woody biomass annually to sustain their current and future coal-fired operations. 
  
• Over 28 states in the U.S. have adopted renewable energy standards.  If the states mandate as little as 5% of the energy to come from renewable energy there may be a demand for 50 million tons of woody biomass to supplement existing coal-fired plants in the states.  The ideal method would be to ship green wood fuel to the coal plants, process and dry the fuel to 3% MC at the power generation site utilizing surplus heat output from the turbines (just as we use co-generation at our forest products plants to dry veneer, plywood and particleboard, etc.).

 Note:  Given the increased need for energy generation using renewable energy resources, we will also focus on this sector in 2010 and beyond servicing not only forest products-based customers but large power generation customers as well.

Many of our existing candidates have transferrable skill sets allowing them to
make a positive contribution to clients in the renewable energy sector.

Carl Jansen
Owner, Principal Recruiter