Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Reinventing Smethport’s Forest Legacy

Biomass magazine recently reported on a group of foresters from Pennsylvania who traveled to Austria a year ago to see how the nation has managed its forests for multiple uses for centuries. According to the article, Austria, “which is about two-thirds the size of Pennsylvania, has 1,560 district heating plants using woody biomass—about 20 of those are combined-heat-and-power (CHP) systems. Soon 50 percent of Austria’s energy will come from renewable resources, with 15–20 percent from wood.”

Smethport, a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania, will soon be online utilizing the same technology. The town wants to be the first small town in the U.S. with a woody biomass-fired combined-heat-and-power district heating system.

To read the full article, visit the Biomass magazine website. http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2712

Edited from the Society of American Foresters E-Forester (June 29, 2009)

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