Public Invited to Hear European

Biomass Expert March 15

(Traverse City, Michigan) Anders Evald, a leading biomass energy expert from Denmark, will be the featured speaker at a one day conference hosted by Traverse City Light & Power (www.tclp.org) titled "The New World of Biomass Energy". Evald is Senior Project Manger for FORCE Technology (www.forcetechnology.com/en) and also has ten years experience as project manager with the Centre for Biomass Technology (www.videncenter.dk/uk/index.htm). The Centre is a public research, technical exchange and educational center that has assisted in the development of over 120 biomass fired district heating systems in Denmark.

The conference will be held Wednesday, March 15 at the Hagerty Center in NMC's Great Lakes Campus Building and is free to the public. It begins at 8:30 a.m. with a coffee reception and will end around 5 p.m. Lunch will be provided. Seating is limited and reservations will be required on or before March 9 because of food service arrangements.

To make a reservation for the conference, the public is asked to phone Jim Cooper of Traverse City Light & Power at (231) 932-4560 or email him at jcooper@tclp.org.

The March 15 conference will include an overview of the Biomass District

Heating Study being conducted by Light & Power with a grant they received from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) last year. Evald will discuss district heating systems in Europe and biomass combustion technologies. Local consultants will

also speak about biomass fuel supplies in our region. The conference will conclude with a panel discussion and a question-and-answer session about district heating plant requirements. The complete agenda for the conference is posted on the L&P website: www.tclp.org.

Biomass, usually thought of as wood chips, yard clippings and other organic products, can be burned in a boiler to produce steam or hot water. Steam can be used to generate electricity and, along with the hot water, be used for residential and commercial heating. The use of biomass wood products is environmentally friendly because it is a renewable energy resource that can be grown over and over.

Traverse City Light & Power (www.tclp.org) is a community-owned, community-focused municipal utility that offers energy at low rates in the region to over 10,000 customers in Traverse City, and parts of Blair, East Bay, Elmwood, Garfield, Peninsula and Paradise townships.

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