Issue 2 of 1998 Biomass Taskforce Establishes Internet Web Home Page The Biomass Taskforce has established an Internet site at URL: http://www.users.bigpond.com/Steve.Schuck/ABT to provide general information on the Biomass Taskforce, copies of Biomass Taskforce reports, back issues of the Biomass Taskforce newsletters, and alphabetical links to numerous other Internet sites. Biomass Taskforce information will be posted to this site from time to time. In the two months since a counter was installed, the site has had over 220 “hits”. IEA Bioenergy End-of-Task XII Meeting - Canberra 17-20 March 1998 The International Energy Agency’s Bioenergy program members held their End-of-Task meeting to present their accomplishments from 1995-1997 in Canberra from 17-20 March 1998. Task XII was the largest of the 1995-97 Tasks, and covered biomass production, harvesting and supply. Approximately 40 overseas delegates attended this closed meeting. A small Australian contingent was also invited to this meeting, which included a study tour of the CSIRO’s effluent irrigation project and a visit to the Laminex MDF plant, both near Wagga Wagga, NSW. The Biomass Taskforce provided financial support to enable this meeting to be held in Australia. The meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the IEA Bioenergy Executive Committee, Dr Olav Gislerud, and by each of the the Operating Agents for the following Tasks: Biomass Conversion; Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste; and Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems. One of the main reasons for this high power delegation coming to Australia was to solicit interest and to provide information to facilitate Australia joining IEA Bioenergy. The meeting commenced with overview presentations on IEA Bioenergy, and the four Tasks for 1995-1997. This was followed by Activity reports for Task XII; Biomass Production, Harvesting And Supply. Presentations were given on Activity 1.1 Forest Management, Activity 1.2 Harvesting, Activity 2.1 Production Systems, Activity 2.2 Pests, Activity 2.3 Stock Improvement, Activity 3.1 Liquid Biofuels, Activity 3.2 Lignocellulosic Solid Fuel, Activity 4.1 Feedstock Preparation, Activity 4.2 Environmental Issues and Activity 4.3 System Studies. The Biomass Taskforce Manager has one page summaries of each of these presentations. The full papers are to be published by the Canadian Forest Service. An outline of the new IEA Bioenergy Task structure and plans for 1998-2000 were presented. This was followed by three short papers from Australian delegates to give an overview of some research activities and organisation of the biomass industry. Dr Paul Fung of the CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products gave a presentation on CSIRO research relevant to renewable forest biomass energy, Alan Cummine representing Dr Russell Reeves gave a presentation on ethanol and the activities of APACE Research, and the Biomass Taskforce Manager, Dr Stephen Schuck gave a presentation on the Australian Biomass Taskforce. IEA Bioenergy – Move to Australian Participation The Biomass Taskforce wishes to assess if there is sufficient interest for an Australian consortium to participate in the International Energy Agency’s Bioenergy program. The program operates on a three year cycle, with the current Tasks for 1998-2000 having recently commenced. There are ten Tasks in all, with member countries able to choose their participation level. The current Tasks are: • Short Rotation Crops (including short rotation forestry) • Conventional Forestry Systems for Bioenergy • Biomass Combustion (including co-firing) • Thermal Gasification of Biomass • Pyrolysis • Techno-Economic Assessments for Bioenergy Applications • Energy from Thermal Conversion of MSW and RDF • Energy from Biological Conversion of Organic Waste • Greenhouse Gas Balances of Bioenergy Systems • Biotechnology for the Conversion of Lignocellulosics to Ethanol The Biomass Taskforce has agreed to pay the fixed national contribution to the Executive Committee to facilitate the formation of participating consortia. The direct Task costs per country range from US $7,268 for the Gasification Task to US $15,770 for MSW Thermal conversion. There would be additional costs associated with participating in overseas meetings. The IEA Bioenergy has its home page at URL: http://www.fri.cri.nz/ieabioenergy/home.htm Should you wish to obtain information on this program and the Biomass Taskforce’s effort to form participating consortia, please contact Steve Schuck on tel/fax: 02-9416-9246, or email