Biomass Secure Power Inc. (BMSPF)

[PhillipD]

Phillip : In your opinion is there enough fiber waste ( not the consumption of whole trees ) to sustain the kind of production that is being forecast by our operation, considering any competition that will follow ?

The short answer is, "I don't know" and I can only speculate. I've read quite a bit over the years that I'll throw out there to think about:
1) Newspaper and paper media that used to consume large amounts of timber products have been replaced by digital media (ie internet). I've got to think this reduces the availability of trimmings and forest residue, but with the home building industry ramping back up I have to think that structural timber is in high demand which will help "fuel" the forest residue supply. On the other hand, if paper goods are in low demand, I would think that more whole trees would be available for biomass.
2) I read that much of Louisiana has been invaded with non-native species and environmentally, cutting these trees down would be good for the environment so that the native species have a chance.
3) I've also read that much of the fiber supply could come from tree farms with private property owners growing trees like they would any other crops. Supposedly there is a 7 year time frame from planting to harvesting in Louisiana. Environmentally, "tree huggers" should like this, but on one hand they say don't cut any trees, but on the other they don't want farms planting trees. Seems contradictory. The law firm I posted the other day has a discussion on switchgrass which sounds promising. I saw that it can be torrefied also, but not sure if it's compatible with equipment designed for wood chips.
4) I saw a map the other day that may ultimately answer your question better than I can. This outfit has a bunch of maps that show biomass supply from different sources (farm residues, forest residues, etc). Click on this link and scroll down to "Forest Residue".
5) More speculation, but part of looking at the map leads me to believe that the fiber supply is going to be locked by economic, political, and transportation issues. Certain areas may not look favorably on biomass and other areas may be too remote to access it. I went to Cripple Creek Colorado a few years back and on the train tour they said we were sitting on millions (billions?) in gold. Only reason why it wasn't being extracted was that it cost more to extract than it was worth. I have to think that is the same for any commodity including biomass.
6) When BMSPF first started, they were promoting the fiber supply from millions of dead trees infected with some disease in Canada. I just got back from Yosemite and Sequioas where there were dead trees everywhere from a beetle. They even encouraged us to use the trees for firewood. Environmentally, getting rid of the food source for the beetle was a good thing, but politically, it may be another story.

Phillip