The Energy & Environmental Research Center's (EERC's) Biomass '11: Renewable Power, Fuels, and Chemicals Conference attracted 262 registrants from 28 states and four Canadian provinces. Other countries represented were Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Spain.

This year's attendees represented 156 organizations, with the majority of attendees from private industry. In its ninth year, the Biomass '11 Conference is designed to maximize interaction on all topics concerning biomass, including a broad spectrum of regional and national presenters from top industry organizations.

"All forms of energy are needed and essential to our country's energy security," said North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple, who gave a keynote address at the Conference. "We need to form partnerships and work together on renewable energies. One of the most promising is the cofiring of biomass directly: taking biomass in the field behind the combine, putting it in a direct-burn form, and blending it with coal. North Dakota has the greatest diversity of produced crops here. What do we do with them? What the EERC and others are doing: researching a variety of things on all fronts."

The 2-day conference included comprehensive educational sessions on topics including Trends and Opportunities in Utilizing Biomass, Biofuels, Biopower, and Biomass Feedstocks.

Proceedings
Hard copies and a CD-ROM version of the final workshop proceedings are available for US$75 each. Contact LaRae Foerster, Communications and Outreach Data Coordinator, by phone at (701) 777-5246 or by e-mail at lfoerster@undeerc.org for more information.