The use of a GIS model to evaluate the economic potential for biomass in Northampton County, Pennsylvania

This paper describes the development and use of a geographical information system (GIS) model to evaluate the technical and economic potential for biomass energy (particularly willows) in a county of Pennsylvania. The model uses GIS coverages of land use, soil type, and riparian zones to evaluate the applicability and cost of biomass production and to generate a supply curve for a biomass economy. The model can be extended to consider energy end-use facilities and transportation costs to analyze the willingness-to-pay for biomass fuels by large energy users. The GIS model is designed to produce a county-level supply-and-demand curve for biomass energy, and the potential for market activity. The spatial distributions of supply-and-demand economics are valuable to target efforts to initiate biomass activities. (author)