Grounded Podcast: Tree-Powered Planes!

Just southeast of Jefferson, Oregon, 85 acres of hybrid poplar trees have a special mission: demonstrate how poplars can be quickly and economically grown, harvested, and converted into renewable biofuels.

Jefferson is one of four poplar demonstration sites in the Pacific Northwest. The sites are funded through a federal grant awarded to Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest, a consortium of nine partner institutions working to advance a poplar bioeconomy for biofuels – specifically, how poplar-created biofuel can power airplanes.

Greenwood Resources is one of AHB’s consortium partners. The Oregon-grown business is leading the Feedstock team for the poplar demonstration sites.

In this week’s podcast, Greenwood Resources’ Chief Science Officer, Brian Stanton, talks to us about the company’s goals, the successes and challenges of the AHB project, how trees can power airplanes, and where we go from here.

Learn more about Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest online: http://hardwoodbiofuels.org/

Check out the tree harvester in action:

https://youtu.be/TGKfBkEkyQU

Photos from the demonstration site in Jefferson: