DE-FOA-0001179: Landscape Design for Sustainable Bioenergy Systems and Webinar

Energy (DOE)Farming/Growing Federal Agency/Executive Branch Feedstocks Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues Forestry/Wood/Residues/Waste grants Infrastructure R & D Focus Sustainability

October 21, 2014

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(US Department of Energy) EERE is seeking interdisciplinary projects that apply landscape design approaches to integrate cellulosic feedstock production into existing agricultural and forestry systems while maintaining or enhancing environmental and socio-economic sustainability including ecosystem services and food, feed, and fiber production. For the purposes of this FOA, cellulosic feedstock production refers to dedicated annual and perennial energy crops, use of agricultural and forestry residues, or a combination of these options.
The full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is posted on the EERE eXCHANGE website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. Applications must be submitted through the EERE eXCHANGE website to be considered for award. The applicant must first register and create an account on the EERE eXCHANGE website. A User Guide for the EERE eXCHANGE can be found on the EERE website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx after logging in to the system.
Information on where to submit questions regarding the content of the announcement and where to submit questions regarding submission of applications is found in the full FOA posted on the EERE eXCHANGE website.
The eXCHANGE system is designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.
Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline:
In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk &/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.
Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in a late submission:
In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission that results in a late submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk &/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing the submission on behalf of and with the Applicant’s concurrence). DOE will only accept late applications when the Applicant has a) encountered technical difficulties beyond their control; b) has contacted the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance, and c) has submitted the application through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA’s posted deadline.
Informational Webinar:
The Landscape Design for Sustainable Bioenergy Systems FOA Informational Webinar will be held Monday November 3, 1:30 p.m - 3:00 p.m. EST. Standard application questions regarding the EERE Office and FOA procedures will be discussed.
Webinar presentation link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/818560489
Possible approaches for integrating cellulosic feedstock production into existing agricultural and forestry systems to achieve coproduction with minimal impact on food/feed/fiber production include: residue removal, growing energy crops on low-producing areas such as pasture lands or marginal lands, multi-cropping (e.g., double cropping, agroforestry), and others. This integration can be spatial or temporal in nature. Innovative management practices, such as runoff mitigation through buffers of energy crops or sub-field variation in management practices, are encouraged.
Successful projects will undertake the following:

For a defined spatial area comparable to a small sub-watershed (approximately 10,000 acres or larger):
- Develop a process to involve landowners and multi-disciplinary stakeholders in landscape design planning and implementation;
- Validate the effectiveness of the process so that it can serve as a guide for other locations; and
- Deliver practical science-based tools and documentation that can facilitate further adoption within and beyond that spatial area.
Within the defined spatial area, establish and/or make use of existing field sites to produce cellulosic biomass while maintaining or improving environmental sustainability compared to the baseline agricultural or forestry production system, as measured through sustainability indicators: biomass productivity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water quantity, water quality, soil quality, air quality, and biodiversity (such as the indicator framework in McBride et al. 2011).^{^[1]}
Evaluate the production, harvesting, preprocessing, and transport of the cellulosic feedstocks to understand feedstock availability, quality, and costs as a function of the landscape design and the specific systems used in the study. Deliver techno-economic and lifecycle analyses of the proposed feedstock production and logistics system to quantify potential for the landscape design to be part of a commercially viable bioenergy supply chain.

Each project must establish targets for the following metrics for the defined spatial area and system under investigation.
Increase adoption (measured through allocation of land to cellulosic feedstock production before/after project) and social sustainability of bioenergy production by

defining the value proposition for landowners and communities through positive economic return, reduced risk, and/or improvements in environmental quality.
Maintain or enhance environmental sustainability, including biomass productivity, GHG mitigation, water quantity, water quality, soil quality, air quality (e.g., emissions), and/or biodiversity throughout production and harvesting of cellulosic biomass as compared to the baseline agricultural or forestry production system.

The FOA will not specify numerical targets in advance because the quantitative values are dependent on site- and context-specific factors. Applications must meet this requirement by providing estimates and describing the approach for establishing baselines and targets in their Workplan and by providing the information described in the Environmental Sustainability Table shown in Appendix H.
As such, the successful project(s) will address the following key performance metrics for EERE:

dramatically reduce dependence on foreign oil;
increase the viability and deployment of renewable energy technologies; and
spur the creation of a domestic bio-industry.

In 2010, DOE made awards to three projects under a FOA entitled, “Development of Methodologies for Determining Preferred Landscape Designs for Sustainable Bioenergy Feedstock Production Systems at a Watershed Scale.” Along with work funded by others, these projects have gathered field-level and select watershed-scale data on bioenergy crop production, developed or enhanced watershed models, and demonstrated the potential for improved sustainability through spatially explicit planning of bioenergy feedstock production.
To ascertain progress to date and needed next steps, BETO hosted two workshops, “Incorporating Bioenergy into Sustainable Landscape Designs,” in 2014. One workshop focused on forestry landscapes and a second focused on agricultural landscapes. These workshops convened broad stakeholders to discuss the principles of landscape design and how this approach can assist in the deployment and assessment of sustainable bioenergy. Participants highlighted many reasons to apply landscape design to bioenergy. For example, landscape design can help organize management strategies to enhance overall system performance, such as improving economics (optimizing investment in the land for best return), productivity (matching crops with the appropriate location, management, and machinery) and environmental performance (targeting conservation practices). Participants also noted several barriers, such as the costs of data collection needed to inform how and where to implement practices, and the necessity of strong multi-stakeholder partnerships that currently may not exist. Furthermore, landscape design is a shift from how monoculture agricultural systems are traditionally managed, and adopting different practices will present new risks and challenges for land managers. READ MORE