About BRDI

The Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) is the multi-agency effort to coordinate and accelerate all Federal biobased products and bioenergy research and development.

The Initiative is guided by two principal documents:

The Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000, passed in June of 2000 (Title III of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, P.L. 106-224), as revised by section 937 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and amended in Section 232 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

BRDI is coordinated through the guidance of:

The Biomass Research and Development Board - The Biomass Research and Development Board (the Board), co-chaired by the DOE and the USDA, is responsible for coordinating Federal activities for the purpose of promoting the use of biobased fuels and biobased products.
The Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee - A group of 30 individuals from industry, academia, state government.
Points of Contact - To coordinate research and development programs and activities relating to biobased fuels and biobased products that are carried out by their respective Departments.

BRDI is administered by the Designated Federal Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Liaison as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

A Comprehensive list of R&D projects and their status that have been awarded under the USDA/DOE joint solicitation is available for review (PDF file). For additional information on recent activities related to the Initiative, please see what's new on our home page.

If you are not familiar with many of the terms used to describe this work, please refer to the Definitions of Terms.