International Resources Group

About: International Resources Group is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Energy conservation & Biomass (ecology). The organization has 22 authors who have published 28 publications receiving 3149 citations.

The development of short-rotation willow in the northeastern United States for bioenergy and bioproducts, agroforestry and phytoremediation

Abstract: Research on willow (Salix spp.) as a locally produced, renewable feedstock for bioenergy and bioproducts began in New York in the mid-1980s in response to growing concerns about environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels and declining rural economies. Simultaneous and integrated activities—including research, large-scale demonstrations, outreach and education, and market development—were initiated in the mid-1990s to facilitate the commercialization of willow biomass crops. Despite technological viability and associated environmental and local economic benefits, the high price of willow biomass relative to coal has been a barrier to wide-scale deployment of this system. The cost of willow biomass is currently $ 3.00 GJ - 1 ( $ 57.30 odt - 1 ) compared to $ 1.40 – 1.90 GJ - 1 for coal. Yield improvements from traditional breeding efforts and increases in harvesting efficiency that are currently being realized promise to reduce the price differential. Recent policy changes at the federal level, including the provision to harvest bioenergy crops from Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land and a closed-loop biomass tax credit, and state-level initiatives such as Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) will help to further reduce the difference and foster markets for willow biomass. Years of work on willow biomass crop research and demonstration projects have increased our understanding of the biology, ecophysiology and management of willow biomass crops. Using an adaptive management model, this information has led to the deployment of willow for other applications such as phytoremediation, living snowfences, and riparian buffers across the northeastern US.

The Restoration Potential of the Mesopotamian Marshes of Iraq

Abstract: Uncontrolled releases of Tigris and Euphrates River waters after the 2003 war have partially restored some former marsh areas in southern Iraq, but restoration is failing in others because of high soil and water salinities. Nearly 20% of the original 15,000-square-kilometer marsh area was reflooded by March 2004, but the extent of marsh restoration is unknown. High-quality water, nonsaline soils, and the densest native vegetation were found in the only remaining natural marsh, the Al-Hawizeh, located on the Iranian border. Although substantially reduced in area and under current threat of an Iranian dike, it has the potential to be a native repopulation center for the region. Rapid reestablishment, high productivity, and reproduction of native flora and fauna in reflooded former marsh areas indicate a high probability for successful restoration, provided the restored wetlands are hydraulically designed to allow sufficient flow of noncontaminated water and flushing of salts through the ecosystem.

Energy/Environmental Modeling with the MARKAL Family of Models

Abstract: This article presents an overview and a flavour of almost two decades of MARKAL model developments and selected applications. The MARKAL family of models has been contributing to energy/environmental planning since the early J980’s. Under the auspices of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme (ETSAP) the model started as a linear programming (LP) application focused strictly on the integrated assessment of energy systems. It was followed by a non-linear programming (NLP) formulation which combines the ‘bottom-up’ technology model with a ‘top-down’ simplified macro-economic model. In recent years, the family was enlarged by members to model material flows, to employ stochastic programming (SP) to address future uncertainties, to model endogenous technology learning using mixed integer programming (MIP) techniques, and to model multiple regions (NLP/LP).