A Burning Question

April 21, 2009 2:39 PM

I need a good collection of readings identifying major issues associated with energy production using biomass.

Topic: Biomass use in energy production.
Goal: The formulation of an official policy concerning biomass energy for an environmental group.

You're an environmentalist and you have strong feelings about biomass, you want us to read [fill in the blank]. You are a developer or a corn farmer or an urban planner, and you want us to read [fill in the blank]. You are an indigenous person, and if the military junta in charge of your country allowed you access to literacy education, you would want us to read [fill in the blank].

Introductory readings are not necessary - this is for a crowd that is highly educated in environmental issues and already understands the basics of biomass. What we need are readings representing a variety of stakeholder interests. All publications are fair game - blogs, podcasts, articles, books, chapters, trade journals, haiku, medieval manuscripts. Extra points for anything having to do with urban waste management.

posted by greekphilosophy to science & nature (3 comments total)

Bioenergy from plants and the sustainable yield challenge.
posted by kisch mokusch at 3:28 PM on April 21

Take a look at the annual report (pdf) from the Energy Biosciences Institute, a BP-funded joint venture between UC Berkeley, LBNL, and UIUC. I've seen the director speak on these issues, and I found his perspective realistic, properly skeptical, and opinionated-but-informed. This document might be a bit too boosterish for your purposes, though I think it offers a good survey of some of the issues at hand. There are a couple of more resources on the website.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:01 PM on April 21

A friend of mine runs the Biomass Energy Resource Center Biomass Energy Resource Center( BERC) and they may be useful in this search.
posted by FauxScot at 6:08 PM on April 21