The mission of VBEG is to promote biomass energy production in the Commonwealth through coordination between university researchers, governmental and non-governmental organizations, policymakers, industry professionals, resource managers, sustainable energy advocates and other stakeholders. VBEG’s goal is to encourage and foster growth of the biomass energy industry in a sustainable, profitable and responsible manner. It is a collaborative network, working to identify and quantify the state’s biomass resources and to develop environmentally and economically viable strategies for increasing their use as a renewable, alternative energy source. To read more about how we do this, please see our “What We Do” page.

VBEG was founded by Al Weed of Public Policy Virginia (PPV) in 2006, and its membership of 88 people includes departments from three major universities, two government agencies, several environmental groups, and many representatives from businesses and industries from both the state and beyond. PPV serves as VBEG’s administrative arm for website development, meeting coordination, and point-of-contact purposes. If you are in the biomass field and are interested in joining VBEG or learning more about our activities, please contact our current administrator, Tatyanna Patten, at tpatten@ppvir.org.

Jeff Waldon, Executive Director of the Conservation Management Institute in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech, currently serves as VBEG’s chairperson. The Conservation Management Institute currently employs over 80 faculty, staff, and students working on projects ranging from field surveys of animals and plants to GIS and remote-sensing to web-based decision support systems development for agency land management. Mr. Waldon has been involved in the development of fish and wildlife information systems and databases for a variety of agencies and organizations throughout North and Central America. His experience covers data management planning, information system design, technology review, database programming and integration, personnel development, training, and policy review.