BIOMASS HUB

Biomass experts in France will meet in Lyon, France at the 18th European Biomass Conference (May 3-7, 2010) and Exhibition (May 3-6, 2010) to address crucial questions on biomass resources: availability and costs of the agricultural, forest and biomass residues, technical performances, environmental impacts, quality, and supply chain.

The meeting will include a review of the French project REGIX, which is based on a unified agricultural and forestry approach and aims to ensure that economic actors will have the tools, methods, and high quality reference data they need to develop the industry.

France remains the second largest European producer and consumer of biofuels, supported primarily by generous tax rebates and penalties (companies must pay an environmental tax for failure to reach the targeted incorporation rate).  In 2007, biofuels reached the mandated rate of 3.5 percent of total fuel consumption in France.

France’s biofuels production quotas are detailed in the graph below:

Data: France Biofuels Update 2008 (PDF available here)

About REGIX

The REGIX project was set up in 2005.  It is funded in the context of the ANR French Research Agency National Bioenergy Research Programme and is supported by ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency.  The goal is to adopt, within a single portal for forestry and agriculture, a unified approach to the knowledge, methods, and techniques concerning lignocellulosic resources for the biofuels industry.