Patrick Lamers is a Systems Analyst with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), stationed at the National Bioenergy Center in Golden, Colorado. His work on feedstock logistics and trade for the US Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Technologies Office supports the deployment and scale-up of the US advanced biofuel industry. Patrick’s academic experience spans from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, to Lund University, Sweden, and Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He has been working for over ten years as a senior researcher and consultant across North America and Europe, and published extensively in the areas of global biomass markets and trade dynamics. As a project manager and principal investigator, he worked for multiple clients, including international agencies (e.g., the International Energy Agency and the European Commission), national government and non-governmental agencies across North America and Europe, and the private industry. He serves as a reviewer to several academic journals and is engaged in multiple international working groups and reports including the IPCC, REN21, and the IEA Bioenergy. Erin Searcy is currently leading the Systems Analysis Platform at the INL. She originally joined INL in 2008 and has worked on a variety of biomass feedstock logistics projects since, primarily as a techno-economic analyst. Between 2012 and 2015, Erin was stationed at the US Department of Energy in Washington, DC, supporting the BioEnergy Technologies Office. Her academic degrees include a BS and MS in Engineering, as well as a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada. Prior to joing INL, Erin had worked as an Environmental Engineering consultant and acted as a sessional professor in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada. Richard Hess is the Director for the Idaho National Laboratory Energy Systems and Technologies Division, which division addresses critical national energy challenges in biofuels/bioenergy, renewable electrical systems/grid, and hybrid renewable-nuclear systems. He led the developed of a biomass feedstock preprocessing and logistics program at INL and continues to serve as the Laboratory Relationship Manager for that program. This program focuses on the cost-effective use of lignocellulosic biomass crops and residues in biorefining operations, including biomass harvesting, handling, storage and transportation; and preprocessing biomass into suitable industrial grade bioenergy commodities through enhanced feedstock formulation, densification, and packaging for transportation. He also managed the design and construction of one of DOE’s five biomass demonstration units. Richard holds a Doctorate in Plant Science from Utah State University, and Master’s and Bachelor’s Science Degrees in Botany from Brigham Young University. Following Graduate School, Richard served as an Agriculture Congressional Science Fellow in the Washington, D.C. Office of Senator Thomas Daschel. In this role, he worked on several national agricultural issues-including new and industrial uses of agricultural products, federal grain inspection standards, plant variety protection, and other agricultural R&D policy issues. Heinz holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemistry. He is senior scientist at the Thünen-Institute of Agricultural Technology and visiting lecture at the University of Applied Science in Hamburg. Heinz is member of the German delegation for developing ISO13065, acts as evaluator for EU-BBI-JU, is vice-chair of the SETAC Europe LCA steering committee and was involved in drafting the German Biorefinery Roadmap. He is national representative for IEA Bioenergy Task 42 (Biorefining).Heinz’s research interests are in the area of engineering for sustainable development, which includes optimization of biotechnological and chemo-catalytic conversion processes of agricultural biomass and residues. He uses sustainability assessment, life cycle assessment and carbon footprint analysis of bio-based systems and products in order to steer the development of biomass conversion processes in the most promising direction already at an early development stage. His ultimate goal is to foster strategies for the sustainable use of biomass for non-food applications by providing advice to process developers but also policy makers.
