There is no question that the raw material and potential energy resources in our forest lands are significant. In fact, sustainable harvesting of forest renewables (woody biomass) is “preventive medicine” for our forests and forest communities. Mike Schmidt, outlined some of these benefits in a recent Biomass Magazine.

Fewer and Less Intense Forest Fires: Less fuel on the forest floor reduces the intensity of forest fires. Over the past 10 years, forest fires have consumed more than 49 million acres of forest in the United States alone, and federal agencies have spent more than $8.2 billion fighting them. And this does not include the direct and indirect damage caused by these fires or the negative environmental and health impact created by the massive amount of airborne particulate.

Decreased Insect Infestation: Reduced material on the forest floor decreases the habitat and food for destructive insects. According to the US Forest Service and the Natural Resources Defense Council, there are 3.5 million acres of forestland that have been destroyed due to insect infestation.

Economic and Social Opportunities: By developing energy from woody biomass, we can create new markets, new opportunities and new jobs. This is especially true in forest communities where unemployment is 20% or more.

According to a USDA and DOE estimate in a 2005 report, there are 368 million dry tons of sustainably removable biomass that can be produced from U.S. forest lands every year.

In other words, sustainable forestry is the key to unlocking the broad social, economic, environmental and energy potential of our forest lands. These are benefits that may be realized today and our policy-makers need to recognize this potential and drive policy decisions which enable the proper use of this idle resource.

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The Department of Energy announced the release of the new Workforce Guidelines for Home Energy Upgrades.  Energy improvement programs and homeowners can adopt these guidelines to increase the consistency and effectiveness of energy upgrades, and training providers can use them to improve course curricula and training materials.  These guidelines were developed through a collaboration between energy efficiency contractors, building scientists, health and safety experts, technicians and trainers in the weatherization program, and other professionals in the building and home energy upgrade industry.

The Workforce Guidelines include standard work specifications required for high-quality work, a reference guide for technical standards and codes, analysis of the job tasks involved in completing various energy efficiency improvements, and the minimum qualifications workers should possess to perform high quality work.  Identifying the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform efficiency upgrades represents an important step in developing a nationwide framework for training program accreditation and worker certification.

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Earlier this month, Vice-President Biden announced the launch of the Home Energy Score pilot program. The Home Energy Score offers homeowners straightforward, reliable information about their homes’ energy efficiency, similar to a vehicle’s mile-per-gallon rating. A customized report provides a home energy score between 1 and 10, and shows how a home compares to others in the region. The report also includes customized, cost-effective recommendations that will help to reduce home energy costs and improve the comfort of the home.

Under this program, trained and certified contractors will use a standardized assessment tool developed by DOE and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to evaluate a home and generate useful, actionable information for homeowners or home buyers. Using about 40 inputs and taking about an hour, the Home Energy Scoring Tool lets a contractor evaluate a home’s energy assets, like its heating and cooling systems, insulation levels and more. That means a homeowner can see how their home’s systems score regardless of their personal behavior — low/high thermostat or bath versus shower.

A score of “10″ represents a home with excellent energy performance, while a “1″ represents a home that will benefit from major energy upgrades. Along with the score, the homeowner will receive a list of recommendations for home energy upgrades and other useful tips. For each specific improvement, the estimated utility bill savings, payback period, and greenhouse gas emission reductions are included. To see a sample copy of the Home Energy Score and get more information on how it is calculated, visit HomeEnergyScore.gov or visit here to see an example PDF (702 kb) of a score and recommendations.

The Home Energy Score initially is being tested in ten pilot communities across the country, in both city and rural areas that cover a wide range of climates. During this pilot phase, the DOE and its partners will gauge how homeowners respond to the program, and whether the information encourages them to get energy improvements done on their homes. After the pilot concludes in late spring 2011, DOE expects to launch the Home Energy Score nationally, based on the findings from the pilot program. To participate in the pilot, contact a testing location in your local area.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released the BioEnergy Atlas, a Web portal that provides access to bio-energy analysis and mapping tools. The visualization tools, BioPower and BioFuels Atlas, allow users to view related bio-energy data on a single map. Some of these data include biomass feedstocks, bio-power and biofuels potential, production and distribution.

The site makes the mountains of data collected by the EPA, DOE and USDA accessible and sheds some light on the significant potential of biomass energy in the United States.

The BioEnergy Atlas is accessible here.

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US Federal agencies purchased or produced 2.3 TWh of electricity from renewable sources in FY09, representing 4.2% of the Government’s electricity and surpassing the goal of 3% set by EPAct 2005. This represents a 2x increase over 2003. The goal increases this year to 5% of total electricity from renewable sources, and increases again in 2013 to 7.5%.

Perhaps what is most fascinating is that this figure does not include non-electric renewable energy purchased or consumed by the Federal government — sources like bio-thermal space heating or solar thermal hot water. However, according to a Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) testimony, “The renewable sources of non-electric energy are often the most cost-effective means to displace fossil energy,” she explains.

With that acknowledgment, what steps can be taken to insure the adoption of these cost effective sources?

One way is increase subsidies to promote adoption, much like those in H.R. 5805: Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010. Unfortunately these are only focused on large scale applications. An alternative would be to look to other countries where these alternative technologies have been employed and implement their approach — incentives targeted at residential heating.

The State of New Hampshire’s Wood Pellet Boiler Rebate program is an example of such a program. It is narrowly focused on wood pellets, but removes much of the upfront cost of implementing a system that makes a homeowner energy self-sufficient.

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