Community Selection Data

Because the feasibility of bioenergy systems may be site-specific, it is important that economic development efforts target those communities or areas where it is most suitable or likely to succeed. To support the development of a wood-fueled power generation industry, a database of socioeconomic characteristics and biomass resources was compiled for the 1,342 counties in the southern United States. The database (in Microsoft Excel) includes the following information:

• County name, state and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code
• Urban influence code (1-8)
• County area (hectares)
• Population (2003), percent population change (1990-2000)
• Percent change in housing units (1990-2000)
• Personal income (2002), personal income per capita, percent income change (1969-2002)
• Forest area (ha), unreserved forest area
• Merchantable forest volume (m3), volume per capita, volume per hectare, net growth per hectare
• Total forest biomass (Mg), biomass in unreserved forests, aboveground biomass, biomass in stumps and tops, biomass per capita, biomass per hectare
• Area of wildland urban interface/intermix (sq. kilometers), share of county area in interface/intermix
• Power generation (2004, MWh), generation by biomass and waste fuels, generation by natural gas, power generation per capita
• Wood waste generation (tons), wood waste per capita.