Can you name the state that has more species of trees than any other?  That would be Tennessee.

We have over 14-million acres of forestland, and almost twice as much wood grows each year than is harvested.  Some of that wood is for paper and furniture, but are trees a potential energy source?  America must find alternative sources for fuel and energy in the future.

Traditionally we think of corn ethanol and other crops that can be converted, but Tennessee’s vast forests might also someday be used for biomass.

“Certainly we have a lot of waste wood products from the harvest of our woody crops that are left in many cases that could go into biomass,” says Dr. Bob Hayes, Director of UT’s West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson.

At WTREC, scientists are studying trees – like 80-foot sycamores growing for two decades – and the potential to turn parts of them into biomass. 

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