Industries of the Future and the Wood Products Industry in West Virginia

 

Industries of the Future - West Virginia

An Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy-State Partnership Program http://iofwv.nrcce.wvu.edu/

 

The award-winning Industries of the Future - West Virginia (IOF-WV) program works with West Virginia's traditional industries to increase energy efficiency and reduce waste.  The program achieves these goals through forming partnerships between West Virginia companies, WVU researchers, and National Laboratories to address the energy and waste concerns of the industries.  IOF-WV is a cooperative effort between the WVU National Research Center for Coal & Energy and the West Virginia Development Office and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Industrial Technologies.  Research project areas include forestry/forest products, aluminum, steel, glass, chemicals/polymers, metal casting, and mining.   http://iofwv.nrcce.wvu.edu/indexprojects.cfm

 

Current projects in Forestry, forest products, energy:

Design of Thinner Circular Saw Blades for Forest Products Applications http://iofwv.nrcce.wvu.edu/projects/forestry/thinSawBlades.cfm

 

The objective of this project was to conduct a feasibility study to reduce the thickness of saw blades through the use of composite materials or super alloys. It is foreseen that thinner saw blades can reduce energy requirements, while reducing the amount of waste (sawdust specifically) and increasing the yield of the wood product.

 

Sustainable Forestry Initiative http://iofwv.nrcce.wvu.edu/projects/forestry/SustForestry.cfm

 

The engineered wood and paper industries are to a large degree dependent on the harvesting of yellow-poplar and aspen. These trees grow in relatively small groupings of 20 acres and less throughout the hardwood forests of West Virginia.  

 

Through IOF-WV, the Division of Forestry at West Virginia University is working with Westvaco on a yellow-poplar plantation demonstration project.   This activity is funded through the State Energy Program.  This three-year project supports 100 acres of yellow-poplar plantation planting at multiple surface mined sites. Thirty to thirty-five acres of trees would be planted in each year of the project. In this calendar year approximately 20,000 seedlings have been planted on a thirty acre surface mined site north of Rupert in Greenbrier County.

 

Wood Industry Assistance Program http://iofwv.nrcce.wvu.edu/projects/forestry/WoodAsstProg.cfm

 

The West Virginia Development Office is contracted with the Appalachian Hardwood Center at West Virginia University (WVU) to deliver a Wood Industry Assistance Program  (WIAP). This activity provides on-site technical assistance to West Virginia's Forest Products Industry on energy utilization, waste minimization and sustainable development.