Bioroot Energy

Forest Service slowly embraces Tester plan to log 10,000 acres a year for 10 years

Jay — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:12:42 +0000

“One of the most contested parts of Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act is the plan to log 10,000 acres a year for 10 years. On Feb. 24, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told Congress he wanted “approximately 20 10-year stewardship contracts offered in targeted areas around the country that could provide a steady supply of forest products.”

Missoulian article

Road Transportation Emerges as Key Driver of Warming

Jay — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:32:10 +0000

In a paper published online on Feb. 3 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers described how they used a climate model to estimate the impact of 13 sectors of the economy from 2000 to 2100. They based their calculations on real-world inventories of emissions collected by scientists around the world, and they assumed that those emissions would stay relatively constant in the future.

In their analysis, motor vehicles emerged as the greatest contributor [...]

Beetle kill: 3.9 million acres in Montana

Jay — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:17:29 +0000

“British Columbia has lost 40 million acres of forest to the bark beetle; Colorado is approaching 2 million acres of dead forest; Wyoming just recently crested the 1-million-acre mark,” said Mary Ann Chambers, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service’s Bark Beetle Incident Management Team for the Rocky Mountain region.

Source: The Climate Daily, “Climate change has doubled forest mortality”

This photo taken in Wyoming but it could be anywhere in the western US.

Destruction of trees [...]

Obama takes steps to boost biofuels

Jay — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:45:13 +0000

The biofuels and biomass industries received excellent news Feb. 3, with the release of the renewable fuel standard (RFS2) final rule, the first report generated by President Barack Obama’s Biofuel Interagency Working Group, and the Biomass Crop Assistance Program proposed rule.

Not exactly scintillating reading, unless you understand some of the regulatory issues that have long kept the biofuels and biomass industries from making faster progress. RFS2 is a significant step forward.

Link to Biomass Magazine article.

Ravalli Services recycling shutting down

Jay — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:50:27 +0000

This news can’t be good. This April, if anyone in southwest Montana wants to recycle newspaper, plastic, glass or cardboard, they’ll need to drive it all the way into to Missoula. Link to News Channel 13 article and a follow up editorial in the Ravalli Republic after the jump.

US Biofuels Policies Flawed

Jay — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:04:16 +0000

The United States needs to fundamentally rethink its policy of promoting ethanol to diversify its energy sources and increase energy security, according to a new policy paper by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Link to full Biofuel Daily article

Bioroot Energy sponsors Jon Turk speaking engagements in Montana

Jay — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:44:38 +0000

Bioroot Energy today announced that it will provide Montana book release tour support for Jon Turk, noted Montana writer, scientist, and adventurer. Mr. Turk is releasing his third book, titled The Raven’s Gift, on Macmillan Press.

View the full press release and tour schedule.

Biomass Definitions & US Incentives to Promote Clean Energy

Jay — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:35:52 +0000

Good current overview of Biomass Definitions

Download or View PDF: Defining Biomass

Overview of US Incentives to Promote Clean Energy

Download or View PDF: US Incentives To Promote Clean-Energy

Adobe Reader required to view these docs.

The Prize: World History of Oil – Episodes 1 & 2

Jay — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:40:11 +0000

In 1992 The Prize won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and has been translated into fourteen languages as well as a movie, presented here in 8 video episodes. In the style of the acclaimed Civil War series, and narrated by Donald Sutherland, The Prize tells the epic history of oil—how it has dominated global politics, shaken the world economy, and transformed our planet for better and for worse.

Shot on location in [...]

Why Here? Why Now? Why Not?

Jay — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:21:34 +0000

There’s never been a more opportune time to develop an alternative energy company from the ground up to meet the needs of a dramatically changing world.

Or, one could easily understand, it might well be the worst time to start an alternative energy company, especially considering today’s horrible economy. Good thing we’re not looking for a loan yet. Nobody’s lending money, especially to punk startups like Bioroot Energy. Yet, here we are being “contrary” to conventional wisdom: [...]