Biomass Timeline

	1860	Wood was the primary fuel for heating and cooking in homes and businesses, and was used for steam in industries, trains, and boats.

	1890	Coal had displaced much of the wood used in steam generation.

	1900	Ethanol was competing with gasoline to be the fuel for cars.

	1910	Most rural homes were still heated with wood. In towns, coal was displacing wood in homes.

	1930	Over half of all Americans lived in cities in buildings heated by coal. Rural Americans still heated and cooked with wood. Diesel and gasoline were firmly established as the fuel for trucks and automobiles. Street cars ran on electricity. Railroads and boats used coal and diesel fuel.

	1950	Electricity and natural gas had displaced wood heat in most homes and commercial buildings.

	1974	Some Americans used more wood for heating because of higher energy costs. Some industries switched from coal to waste wood. The paper and pulp industry also began to install wood and black liquor boilers for steam and power displacing fuel oil and coal.

	1978	Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) passed, guaranteeing nonutility generators a market to sell power by mandating that utilities pay "avoided cost" rates for any power supplied by a qualifying facility.

	1984	Burlington Electric (Vermont) built a 50-megawatt wood-fired plant with electricity production as the primary purpose. This plant was the first of several built since 1984.

	1985	The biomass power industry in California began to grow, eventually adding 850 megawatts of power due to fuel cost escalation clauses in the Standard Offer #4 contracts (based on predicted oil costs of $100 a barrel-these 10-year contracts guaranteed power purchase rates).

	1989	Pilot trials of direct wood-fired gas turbine plants were initiated conducted for the first time in Canada and in the United States.

	1990	Electricity generating capacity from biomass (not including municipal solid waste) reached 6 gigawatts. Of 190 biomass-fired electricity generating facilities, 184 were nonutility generators, mostly wood and paper.

	1994	Successful operation of several biomass gasification tests identified hot gas cleanup as key to widespread adoption of the technology.