對(duì)溫室氣體排放、石油價(jià)格波動(dòng)以及美國(guó)依賴(lài)外國(guó)能源對(duì)國(guó)家安全的影響的擔(dān)憂(yōu)，推動(dòng)了美國(guó)能源來(lái)源多樣化的努力。生物質(zhì)能是多樣化能源組合的一個(gè)潛在組成部分。生物質(zhì)資源除了是一種可再生資源，其生命周期溫室氣體排放量普遍低于化石燃料外，還具有很大的多樣性。它也是目前唯一能夠提供液體燃料的可再生資源。為促進(jìn)生物質(zhì)能的發(fā)展，已經(jīng)頒布了若干國(guó)家立法，其中包括2000年的《生物質(zhì)能研究和發(fā)展法》、1 2005年的《能源政策法》、2 2007年的《能源獨(dú)立和安全法》、3以及2002年和2008年的《農(nóng)牧法案》，在過(guò)去十年中，開(kāi)展了與生物量資源可用性、生物量能源開(kāi)發(fā)的環(huán)境影響和生物量轉(zhuǎn)換技術(shù)有關(guān)的國(guó)家級(jí)問(wèn)題。較少的研究涉及到與生物量供應(yīng)的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和物流以及生物量的種植、收集、運(yùn)輸、加工和儲(chǔ)存的成本和制約因素有關(guān)的地方規(guī)模問(wèn)題。潛在的生物質(zhì)燃料用戶(hù)，如發(fā)電廠和液體燃料回收站，需要這些信息，以便就投資利用生物質(zhì)的設(shè)施所涉及的地點(diǎn)、規(guī)模、運(yùn)營(yíng)和其他問(wèn)題作出深思熟慮的決定。

Concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions, volatile petroleum prices, and the national security implications of U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources have driven e?orts to diversify sources of energy in the United States. Biomass energy is one potential component of a diversifed energy portfolio. In addition to being a renewable resource, generally with lower life-cycle greenhouse-gas emissions than fossil fuels, the biomass resource base is large and diverse. It is also currently the only renewable resource capable of providing liquid fuels. Several pieces of national legislation have been enacted to stimulate the development of biomass energy, including the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000,1 the Energy Policy Act of 2005,2 the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,3 and the 2002 and 2008 farm bills.4 A substantial amount of research on macroscopic, national-scale questions related to biomass resource availability, the environmental implications of biomass energy development, and biomass conversion technologies has been conducted over the past decade. Less research has addressed local-scale questions related to the infrastructure and logistics of supplying biomass and the costs of and constraints on the cultivation, collection, transportation, processing, and storage of biomass. Prospective biomass fuel users, such as power plants and liquid fuel refneries, need this information in order to make considered decisions on the location, size, operation, and other issues involved in making an investment in a facility that utilizes biomass.