Potential? Economic? Sustainable? – A Reflection on the Evolution of Estimating Future U.S. Ligno-cellulosic Biomass Feedstock Supplies Dr. Robin Graham
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:00 p.m. Room 6201, Microbial Sciences Building University of Wisconsin-Madison Dr. Graham will review her experience in estimating potential biomass feedstock supplies. At ORNL, they are currently using an agricultural sector model called POLYSYS linked to the USDA agricultural baseline to explore where energy crops might be grown, crop residues harvested, and the concomitant change in the location and production of the eight most significant commodity crops in the U.S. Dr. Graham will present ORNL’s current efforts in some detail, her thoughts on future research and data needs, and the challenges of effectively linking economists, ecologists, and geographer, to quantitatively address sustainable biomass supplies.