Technology roadmap: Wood/bio-energy pellet “renewable energy”

The worldwide energy system is projected to evolve through a major transformation from a fossil fuel basis to a renewable basis. Wood pellets are one option increasingly being used and studied as an alternative energy source due to its wide benefits: They can be stored and traded on the regional, national and international level; environmental benefits of reduced greenhouse gas emissions; relatively high energy density; and ease of use. This paper showcases a technology roadmap developed for the wood pellet industry. The roadmap was developed for the Oregon Wood Innovation Center (OWIC), College of Forestry, Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvalis, Oregon, USA. The roadmap includes a strategy layer driven by international market drivers, potential products, the technology and knowledge to support those products, and resources/partnerships needed to drive technological changes for wood-pellet energy. The paper also includes challenges/lessons-learned in developing this technology roadmap; with focus on one tool, called quality function deployment (QFD), which was found to be a gap in technology roadmapping literature and was implemented in this case-study with the result of far-wider implementation possibilities for most industries and future technology roadmaps.