Willow biofuels program ignites with new boiler

R&D Magazine
By Cornell University
Friday, January 6, 2012

Prospects for meeting energy needs with a locally grown bioenergy crop are heating up on a Cornell campus.

Associate professor of horticulture Larry Smart's shrub willow bioenergy program is celebrating two milestones: a new $950,000 grant for breeding willow and installation of a boiler that will heat two buildings at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) in Geneva with willow biofuel produced right on campus.

"Willow is a renewable fuel option for people currently facing the high costs of heating with oil or propane," Smart said. "The scale of our demonstration plots and the new boiler would be appropriate for many businesses, municipalities, school districts, farms or non-farming landowners."

A recent land use assessment for the Northeast estimated that there are more than 6.9 million acres of idle or surplus agricultural land that is suitable for perennial bioenergy crop cultivation, without displacing acreage needed for food or feed production.

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