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Integrative Regional
Action Planning of
Biomass Utilization
Creating an EnergyShed Approach
for Biomass Management
organized by the
California Association of
Resource Conservation and
Development Councils
April 25, 2006
Ernest Lowe
Indigo Development
Mantaray Team
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
[email protected]
www.indigodev.com
Overview
 What biomass
is depends on your point of view.
 Don’t get stuck in a tar baby! Shape the whole
ball of wax.
 We need a 360 degree vision . . . developed
through
integrative . . .
regional . . .
action . . .
planning
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Biomass is
 A large
portion of solid waste generated in a region;
 A source
of high leverage greenhouse gas emissions or
of renewable energy;
 A source
 A public
 A high
of water and air pollution;
health threat & local nuisance;
risk condition for firestorms and property loss;
 A waste
to be disposed of through landfills or
incineration;
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Biomass is
 Often
intermixed with plastics, composites, & other nonbiomass materials;
 A major
soil nutrient & source of tilth;
 A carrier
of heavy metals, antibiotics, growth hormone;
 An
economic development opportunity attracting
venture capital and public subsidy;
 A basis
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
for building community wealth.
A Chinese Tar Baby
 Petro
China & Dept of Transp propose 40K hectares of
Jatropha curcas plantation in Yunnan & Sichuan to feed
biodiesel refineries. (Yunnan targets up to 800K h.)
 How many small farmers will be displaced?
 What
other agricultural and ecosystem functions will be
displaced? What is level of threat to food security?
 Ecological
impacts of monocultures include soil
depletion, erosion, & invasive species.
 Yunnan
is a world treasury of biodiversity. How will
China protect this?
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
A Giant Tar Baby
 China’s
State Forestry Administration plans 13M
hectares of Jatropha plantation by 2010.
 That’s over
32M acres or 50K square miles: one
third the area of California.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
The Three Es of Sustainable Development
 Environmental
management restores and preserves
local and global natural systems;
 Economic development seeks a dramatic increase in
efficiency of resource use, within the limits of carrying
capacity;
 An equitable path of development, shares benefits
across society and reduces disparity of income &
wealth.
All three are based upon involvement of popular social and
political will and positive forces in the political economy.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Environmental
Integrative
Policies
`
Programs
Investments
Economic
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Social
Dimensions of Sustainable Biomass Planning & Management
Environmental
Learning systems
research, education & training
GIS, internet, other information systems
Inter
-agency
-discipline
-profession
collaboration
Economic
Integrative
Policies
Programs
Projects
Sustainable economic
development:
renewable bioenergy &
biomaterials
biorefineries
resource recovery
Sustainable agriculture
source of bioenergy crops
& residues in balance
Public/private partnerships
with food security
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Agro-eco-industrial parks
enterprise incubation
link to regional conservation
Energy & ag R & D
Social
Conservation planning
Water, soil, energy, forest, air
Climate change adaptation
Regional Integration of Sustainable Biomass Planning & Management
Model all regional biomass
resources by volume, location,
alternative uses, & net value.
Create a vision & strategic plan.
Establish a public private
partnership -- mobilize community
wealth & investment for all
biomass processing, farming,
other renewables.
Economic
Sustainability
Conduct feasibility studies for
biorefinery, possibly in an
agro-eco-industrial park. Create and expand local
ventures in bio-energy,
biomaterials, & support
to sustainable farming.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Plan adaptation
to impacts of
climate change
A Regional
Biomass
Initiative
Modify policies & regs to
optimize recycling & reuse
of biomass & support
sustainable farming.
Biosphere
Environmental
Sustainability
Analyze regional
carrying capacity.
Reduce & sequester greenhouse
gases through farming, forestry
& bioenergy practices.
Support transition
to sustainable farming
& forestry.
Recycle, reuse, & compost
all biomass resources, including
residues of biorefinery.
Balance bio-energy crops &
residues with need for food
& healthy soil.
Restore soil quality and
protect water/air quality.
Link farming & biorefineries
into regional conservation &
eco-restoration.
A Regional
Biomass
Initiative
Define standards,
indicators & benchmarks.
Plan adaptation to impacts of climate change.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Biosphere
Improve quality of life
in the region.
A Regional
Biomass
Initiative
Enable citizens to participate fully
in visioning, planning, &
sharing economic benefits.
Provide entrepreneurial
& workforce training.
Share the model
with other regions.
Improve & involve educational,
research & training resources.
Social
Sustainability
Increase opportunities for low
income and unemployed workers.
Plan adaptation to impacts of climate change.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Biosphere
Environmental
Integrative
Policies
`
Programs
Investments
Economic
© 2007 Ernest
Lowe
Dimensions
Social
of Sustainable Biomass Planning & Management
Provide R & D &
extension services.
Regional
Sustainability
Sequester greenhouse gases
through soil building,
wetlands, hedgerows, etc.
Develop an agroeco-industrial park.
Use organic residues of
biorefinery for soil amendment &
animal feed.
Set quotas for
bio-energy crops
(in balance with
need for food.).
Conserve/expand
farm biodiversity.
Farmers participate in regional
conservation planning &
eco-restoration.
Transition to
Sustainable
Farming
Use advanced sustainable
ag certification programs.
Plan adaptation to impacts of climate change.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Biosphere
Avoid the boomtown
mentality.
Regional
Sustainability
Reduce greenhouse gases
in production lifecyle.
Provide R & D and
due diligence services.
Send organic residues to farm
for soil amendment &
animal feed.
Locate bio-refinery in an agroeco-industrial park
Participate in regional
conservation planning
& eco-restoration.
Integrate with solar, wind,
& other renewable sources.
Set production quotas
in terms of sustainable
crop yields.
Bioenergy &
Biomaterials
Development
Use enviro-tech
certification programs.
Plan adaptation to impacts of climate change.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Biosphere
California’s Biomass Action Plan
 The Biomass Action Plan
is a broad strategy
which fails to note many of the factors for
sustainability we’ve outlined:
A positive net energy balance;
Environmental impacts of conventional farming;
Sustainable production of bio-energy crops in
balance with food security and soil regeneration;
Adaptation to impacts of climate change.
 It is
basically an economic development plan
without the larger context.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
The California Bioenergy Roadmap
 The
Roadmap details the Action Plan and raises the
critical questions for research on energy balance,
climate impacts, balanced sustainable production, as
well as tech R & D.
http://www.energy.ca.gov/pier/reports.html
 The questions will take time to answer. Who will do it?
Proposed highly controversial British Petroleum funded
Energy Biosciences Institute @ UCB?
 A boomtown
mentality in bioenergy and biomaterials is
promoting action before we know the consequences.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Some Guidelines for Tech Evaluation
 Priority
on solving high volume and high impact
problems;
 Proven at commercial scale;
 Effective business model for application (build-ownoperate as a self-validating model);
 Systems integration, not just isolated technologies;
 Positive financial, environmental, and social impacts;
 Appropriate level of energy and water to function;
 Capacity for support and maintenance;
 Highest and best use.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Another View of the Biomass System
 Follow the metabolism of biomass
through
economic flows from suppliers to the processing
system and back to natural systems.
 Always see technologies as a subsystem within
natural systems.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Metabolism of biomass
Products
Suppliers
Virgin
Discarded/
recovered
transp
Collection &
Distribution
transp
Biomass
Processing
Complex
Satellite
Processing
Facilities
Each stage of cycle uses resources
and produces negative
impacts upon land, water, and
atmosphere (sinks)
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Energy
Water
transp Materials
By-products
Emissions
Suppliers of Biomass
Households
Harvesting
Farms
Forests
Rivers/oceans
Commercial
Primary processing
On-site &
distributed
processing
of residues
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Manufacturing
Construction
Land, water, and atmosphere
resource base and sinks
Biomass
processing
system
Public infrastructure
MSW collection
Niche collection
Sewage plant sludge
Regional Biomass Processing for Optimal Utilization
Dedicated Crops
& Residues from
Sustainable
Farms
Procurement
Logistics
Sorting &
Allocation
Bio-refinery
Digestion
Fermentation
Hydrolysis
Pyrolysis
Catalysis
Gasification
Reforming
Links to
Oil Refinery
(an option)
Discarded
biomass
from urban,
rural, and
wild sources
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
Animal Feed Plant
Building Products Plant
Bio-energy
Bio-materials
Market
Water
By-products
Sustainable
Farms in
Region
Constructed
Wetlands
Residuals
or waste
treatment
What the Mantaray Team Does
 We’ve
very quickly walked through complex whole
systems models that enable teams to see sustainable
biomass utilization in an integrative way.
 In a full planning process we go into these models in
depth, discussing the resources, needs and issues of a
specific region with the people who have the local
knowledge and connections.
Work together in a highly interactive fashion with input from
all critical stakeholders.
Use geographic information systems, knowledge mapping
tools, simulation, role playing, the internet . . .
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
What Mantaray Does
 We
build a vision, strategy, and action plan for
holistic approaches specific to your region.
 Identify the critical issues that serve as focal points
for integration.
 Emphasize local and regional economic
development and community wealth building, linked
to resource conservation and development.
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
A Final Question
Could California’s RC&DCs act
as the
sustainablility commissions for their
regions?
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
For more information
 Integrative regional
action planning
www.indigodev.com/IRAPsum.html
 Building Community Wealth
www.community-wealth.org
 Manure into Gold, an Indigo report for a
Canadian economic development Centre
http://www.indigodev.com/crestech.htm
 A Roadmap for Development of Biomass in
California
http://www.energy.ca.gov/pier/reports.html
© 2007 Ernest Lowe
© 2007 Ernest Lowe