Three North Carolina State University professors recently served on an Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board Panel to discuss scientific issues that have major implications for the future of renewable power and fuels.
Drs. Robert Abt, professor of forest economics and management; Morton Barlaz, professor and head of the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering; and Stephen Kelley, professor and head of the Department of Forest Biomaterials; joined 15 other researchers from 10 universities and three national laboratories on the panel.
The Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel met in Washington, DC, Oct. 25-27 to conduct a peer review of EPA’s Accounting Framework for Biogenic Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions from Stationary Sources. The review included identifying key scientific and technical factors to be considered when constructing a framework for accounting for the impacts of utilizing biologically-based feedstocks at stationary power and fuel production sites, which include power plants, chemical plants, landfills, bioethanol plants, oil refineries and wood products manufacturing facilities.
Biogenic carbon dioxide emissions are emissions from a stationary source directly resulting from the combustion or decomposition of biologically-based materials other than fossil fuels. This panel focused on the scientific links between the biogenic emissions and the capture of carbon during the growth of the biomass, along with the associated land changes.
When the panel completes its work it will provide a comprehensive scientific overview of the different frameworks for tracking biogenic CO2 emissions through the carbon cycle.
NC State was the only university with three researchers appointed to the board, one from the College of Engineering and two from the College of Natural Resources.
Abt has 25 years of experience in modeling forest-dependent industries and markets. He developed the Sub-Regional Timber Supply (SRTS) modeling framework, which has been used by NASA and EPA to evaluate the potential impact of climate change and other environmental stressors of southern forests. Abt’s forest resource assessment research is supported by a consortium of 22 resource- dependent firms who are members of the Southern Forest Resource Assessment Consortium at NC State. Recently, his work has focused on the potential impact of bio-energy demand on the sustainability of the forest resource, traditional wood dependent industries and sequestered carbon.
Barlaz became head of the CCEE department in August 2010. He has been a faculty member at NC State since 1989 and served as the associate head of the department from 1998 to 2006. He is an internationally renowned expert in the field of solid waste management, and his research in microbial ecology and degradation processes in landfills is considered by many to be the most important work in the field today. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Individual Achievement Award from the Solid Waste Association of North America in 2004 and the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors in 2003 and 2009.
Kelley became head of the Department of Forest Biomaterials in 2005. His research interests include the sustainable production of energy and materials from biomass, life cycle analysis of wood products and energy systems and the application of novel analytical tools to biomass characterization. Prior to joining NC State, he worked for 13 years at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and six years as an industrial researcher working with renewable polymers. He currently serves on the editorial boards of three international journals and is the president of the Consortium for Research in Renewable Industrial Materials.
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For more information:
Nate DeGraff, NCSU College of Engineering 919-515-3848
Tilla Fearn, NCSU College of Natural Resources 919-513-4644