It seems like every week there are announcements of new biomass energy projects being proposed. It's always nice to get the announcement of a project being completed and the dedication scheduled. I got one of those this past week from the University of Minnesota where, as part of homecoming festivities on Oct. 4, the college will dedicate the biomass gasification unit that will heat the campus this winter.

I first reported on the project over a year ago when it was announced and once construction began. UMM designed its project to use an abundant local biomass - corn stover - and sized the project at a scale they believe would be a demonstration for rural business and industrial applications. Being a university with a USDA Agricultural Research Service center housed nearby, all sorts of research projects are being built around the gasifier. One project will investigate the optimal balance between burning carbon and returning an adequate amount to the soil. How much stover needs to be left on the field? Will the ash left from the gasifier prove to be a good soil amendment? The university will study problems associated with corn stover's high silica content in the gasifier, and evaluate other feedstocks such as switchgrass, straw, soybean residue and poplar. Another goal is to develop a "how-to" manual, covering the steps to be taken in developing such a project for others to use.

UMM estimates the biomass heating plant will displace over $500,000 of natural gas used annually to heat campus buildings. It's estimated it will take 8,000 tons of corn stover to heat the campus every year. (The surrounding country produces about 600,000 tons of stover each year.) Future plans include adding a 400 kilowatt generator and cooling capacity.

By the way, the University of Minnesota-Morris is a liberal arts college. Much of the applied research is being done by the West Central Research and Outreach Center (a research and extension center) and the ARS North Central Soil Conservation Research Lab. The liberal arts college is launching an environmental studies major tapping into the campus' renewable energy and sustainability initiatives. Students will get hands-on experience and course work in the sciences and humanities looking at such issues as environmental problems and policy, environmental biology, global change, natural resource economics.

I recently heard there's another project being launched in Morris involving the campus wind turbine. The concept is to use wind energy for hydrolysis to manufacture hydrogen that is combined with nitrogen in the air to produce anhydrous ammonia.

All that going on at one small liberal arts college in western Minnesota, makes one wonder what is going in all the other colleges surrounding by renewable energy opportunities. I believe there's an energy revolution building momentum. I'm willing to bet that within a decade or two, we will make far more progress in replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy than anybody is predicting right now.