Opportunities and Costs for Small-Diameter Forestry Residue and Slash in Manufactured Wood Products
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- Opportunities and Costs for Small-Diameter Forestry Residue and Slash in Manufactured Wood Products
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I. Objective
The primary goal of this research is to document and assess costs and economics associated with mobilizing forestry residues from California’s forests for use in long-lived wood products. Forestry residue specifically refers to slash and non-merchantable timber, encompassing materials that have significant cost to mobilize with limited market demand barring significant policy intervention. This research will help identify California-specific interventions necessary to create wood product markets for these forestry residues, and to identify costs affiliated with directing residues toward use in manufactured wood products.
II. Background
Forestry management and timber harvest activities in California generate a substantial amount of forestry residues, including slash and non-merchantable timber. These residues present both a challenge and an opportunity for the state's forest products industry and environmental management. These residues are traditionally characterized as wastes due to their limited market value and the costs associated with mobilization and end-use, though they are sometimes burned for energy in sawmills or in dedicated biomass power facilities. However, utilization of this residue has potential in manufactured wood products, such as oriented strandboard, and mobilization of waste materials could contribute to the state's circular economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other risks associated with wildfires.
California’s 2022 Scoping Plan Update has recognized the need to develop non-energy markets for forestry residues. As such, mobilization and utilization of forestry residues is of significant economic and environmental interest. Economically, creating markets for these materials can support rural economic development and provide additional revenue streams for the forestry sector. Environmentally, the strategic use of forestry residues can contribute to carbon sequestration efforts and can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result from wildfires, open burning, or decomposition of these materials.
This research project will help identify opportunities and costs for small-diameter forestry residue and slash in manufactured wood products. This research will provide critical insights into economic feasibility and will better identify the policy support necessary to mobilize and use these residues. The findings are expected to help guide effective policy and industry actions towards a more sustainable low-carbon future for building materials.
III. Scope of Work
Task 1 - Literature and Model Review
In consultation with CARB, the contractor will review the existing literature, including the relevant forestry timber harvest and residue generation models and literature associated with the DOE’s billion-ton updates1 , the C-BREC model2 , and any other relevant models that are used to estimate costs and residue availability for various forest treatment or timber harvest interventions.
The contractor will develop an exhaustive list of models and literature applicable to California forests and identify underlying cost assumptions and forestry growth and wildfire parameters in the available literature to understand and identify deficiencies or limitations of available models and tools. The contractor will develop a plan, to be approved by CARB, to update existing models or to create new models or tools that better reflect parameters and costs relevant to providing estimates on forestry residue volumes, locations, and costs for mobilizing these residues for forests in California.
Task 2 - Model Development and Analysis
Making use of the review and information obtained in Task 1, the contractor will work to develop or update models that may be used to estimate forestry residues quantities and costs in California. These quantity estimates should consider significant effects due to spatial variability as well as land ownership types across California forests. The contractor will develop estimates for residue and slash supply that may exist due to various forestry treatment operations and timber harvest approaches. The contractor should ensure that model development and identified gaps are sufficiently remedied to ensure Task 3 can be completed.
Task 3 - Supply Curve Development
The goal of this task is to develop a comprehensive set of supply curves. Several supply curves will be needed to estimate the supply of residues at specific costs for different forestry treatment types and kinds of timber harvest operations. These curves can be aggregated together to provide estimates for the total supply and cost of residues for different types of forested locations in California, as well as the cost to mobilize that residue for use at wood product manufacturing facilities located inside or outside of the state.
Task 3a.
The contractor will develop and incorporate cost data into the residue supply models created in Task 2 to create comprehensive residue supply curves. Cost data should be derived from existing literature and the contractor should supplement identified data gaps through interviews or surveys of relevant professionals, experts, and companies.
Task 3b.
The contractor will further develop mobilization and technology cost models that will be combined with the residue supply curves to provide estimates on costs to bring wood residues of different types to wood product manufacturing facilities.
Task 3c.
The contractor will verify costs using industry contacts and other relevant financial data.
Task 3d.
The contractor will develop supply curve estimates that are generalizable to numerous regions in the state of California. These estimates should include considerations relevant to the cost of specific forest treatment and timber harvest strategies, as well as the resulting costs to bring the feedstock to manufacturing facilities.
Task 3e.
The contractor will characterize costs and market potential affiliated with different manufactured wood products to help identify strategies and possible policy interventions. The contractor will need to properly incorporate costs affiliated with sorting and processing non-heterogeneous feedstocks, and determine how sorting and other feedstock handling processes may impact supply curve considerations (costs or supply quantities).
Task 4 - Identify Policy Support to Maximize Residue Collection and Use for Wood Product Markets
Building on prior tasks, the contractor will identify feasible strategies, characterizing costs, that maximize the quantity of residue that can be incorporated into durable wood products. (e.g. creation of an Oriented Strand Board Facility).
IV. Deliverables
During Active Contract Period
- Work with CARB staff at the beginning of the project to create a 1-page plain-language outreach deliverable for the public describing the project’s goals, process, and planned deliverables (available in multiple languages, template will be provided).
- Quarterly Progress Reports including public-facing updates to be posted to CARB’s website.
- Quarterly Progress Meetings
- Informal monthly progress update meetings with CARB contract manager (if applicable).
Prior to Contract Close
- Draft Literature Review
- Final Literature Review
- Model Development Methodology presentation
- Model Development Report
- Draft Supply Curves
- Final Supply Curves
- Draft Report
- Final Report
- Finalized Database
- Presentation summarizing findings at seminar or public meeting(s) (if applicable)
NOTE: contractor will be responsible for ensuring their documents comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Additional deliverables to be determined in consultation with CARB staff.
V. Timeline
It is anticipated this project will be completed in 18 months from the start date (start date is estimated to be in Early 2025). The estimated budget for this project is up to $250,000.
Scoring Criteria
1. RESPONSIVENESS TO THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OUTLINED IN THE PROPOSAL SOLICITATION (20 POINTS)
The proposal should explain—in adequate detail and clear, understandable language—how the proposed project satisfies the project objectives. The contract should establish a set of strategies and interventions to encourage mobilization and use of forestry residues in durable wood products.
2. WORK EXPERIENCE AND SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE (20 POINTS)
The proposal should demonstrate that the proposers have the work experience or subject matter expertise required to successfully carry out the proposed project as described. Additionally, the proposal should describe how the project will build upon previous relevant work that was funded by CARB, other regional, state, and federal agencies. The proposers should have knowledge of techno-economic modeling and econometrics, as well as material and product manufacturing processes, and timber harvest and forestry management operations to credibly identify interventions and costs appropriate to the sector.
3. EXPANDING EXPERTISE (10 POINTS)
The proposal should explain how the project team expands expertise such as by incorporating multidisciplinary expertise or perspectives, including members from various public universities, non-academic institutions, or community-based organizations, or providing opportunities to build skills and expertise for individuals from underrepresented groups. Reviewers will consider if key personnel contributing significantly to the project (i.e., a principal investigator, co-principal investigator or co-investigator, contributing 25 percent or more of their time to the project) have not worked with CARB in the past five years.
4. EXPLANATION OF TECHNICAL OR METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH (20 POINTS)
The proposal should clearly explain the logic and feasibility of the project’s methodology, spell out the sequence and relationships of major tasks, and explain methods for performing the work. The proposal should include a clear description and plan for how each task will be completed, and how the proposer will approach collecting information that may not be readily available, and how the proposer will identify and engage with specific timber harvest firms, modeling groups, and forest resource management agencies to ensure accuracy of the analysis and of assumptions made to complete the analysis.
5. LEVEL AND QUALITY OF EFFORT AND COST EFFECTIVENESS (15 POINTS)
The proposal should describe how time and resources will be allocated and demonstrate how this allocation ensures the project’s success. Proposal reviewers will evaluate, for example: if the objectives of the project can be met given this allocation, if there is adequate supervision and oversight to ensure that the project will remain on schedule, if time and cost are appropriately divvied up across different project tasks and stages.