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Energy generated from processing of biomass could present "great opportunities" for rural development and could go a long way toward reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, according to a federal official.

Peter Dreyfuss, director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Chicago regional office, spoke at the second Ohio Biomass Task Force conference in May. The conference was held at the Ohio Department of Agriculture facility near Reynoldsburg and was sponsored by the Ohio Department of Development’s office of energy efficiency.

"Biomass" includes organic materials that have an intrinsic chemical energy content. They include water- and land-based vegetation and trees, and waste products such as municipal solid waste and sewage, animal waste, forestry and agricultural residues.

Dreyfuss said he was impressed by the work done in Ohio since the first biomass task force meeting in spring 2002.

"We’re a growing industry. We know how important we could be" to the future of the nation’s energy production, Dreyfuss told those attending.

He added that work done on biomass projects would help the United States "radically reduce its dependence on foreign oil."

Biomass offers a "great set of opportunities," he added. "There are lots of resources, lots of interested folks and the resources of state government and the commitment of people at the federal government" to continue research into energy production through biomass.

"I can see when bushels of biomass will be traded the way we trade barrels of oil today," Dreyfuss said.

Research information and biomass refinery processes were discussed by other presenters at the conference: Patrick Travis, business development manager for Energy Products of Idaho; Michael S. Gratz, president of NewBio Inc.; Folker Hemmann, treasurer of Farmatic Biotech Energy Corporation; and Floyd Schanbacher, a researcher at OARDC in Wooster.

The task force is comprised of representatives from the Ohio departments of development and agriculture, Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio Water Development Authority, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ohio Public Utilities Commission’s biomass energy program, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development program and the EISC Center for Innovative Food Technology.