Several projects receiving funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, drive home new approaches to creating energy from wood. The Department of Energy announced that biomass and wood energy received significant stimulus funding -- will waste wood and wood chips become the new bargaining chips?

In total, $57 million in grants were announced, with the lion's share going to wood energy ($49 million) and $8 million to biomass initiatives, which may support new developments like algae. Biomass makes up 3-percent of U.S. power generation, but account for more than 10-percent globally (according to Profit on the Peak)-- as a cleaner source of power taking advantage of waste wood rather than forests.

Topping the list was Oregon, receiving $11.8 million for both project types, with nearly all of it dedicated to wood energy.

Funding in Oregon ($11.1 million) and Maine ($11.4 million) was nearly double the trailing states, like Missouri ($6 million) and California ($4.7 million). Oregon was unique in its substantial support in both areas.

Washington, a state where hydronic heaters are banned under air quality concerns, especially regarding boilers, received $4 million focused towards wood energy and $250,000 for biomass. Clean burning technologies, those that meet EPA emissions standards, are continually improving alongside more efficient biomass, such as the use of small diameter trees as waste wood.

Last year, Maine Governor Baldacci introduced his Wood-to-Energy initiatives to take advantage of the state's rich forests and to combat the harsh winters. The state has worked already to produce 115,000 tons of wood pellets (waste wood biomass) and continues to expand to combat rising heating oil prices.

Concerns about wood biomass use flared in Greenfield, Massachusetts this week when an energy plant was proposed near a residential area. Neighborhood residents voiced concern in a meeting in a school auditorium, where one mother was “worried about the noise... the odor... the pollution.”

Recently, Germany's chemical industry began eying biomass as a viable fossil fuel alternative, with the development of a new center, Chemical Biotechnological Process Center (Chemisch-Biotechnologische Prozesszentrum), announced. With Germany being home to some of the largest European wood reserves, forestry waste may be explored.

Once cellulosic ethanol biorefineries are in place, nearby switchgrass cultivation could receive federal assistance from the Biomass Crop Assistance program. Places where solar and wind are less plentiful might find impressive biomass yields in rich forests-- ideally through wood supplies protected by sustainable practices.