Our midday seminars are open to the public. Because they are directed to a scientific audience, they are more technical than our monthly evening lectures.

Summary: The seminar will focus on paludiculture, the wet cultivation of marshland, a novel practice in Europe to preserve peatland formerly drained for agricultural purposes. This rewetted land is cultivated with wetland plants, and the biomass can be used for multiple purposes (construction such as insulation material and thatching, biogas production, pellets for biocombustion and so on). During my visit to the U.S., I will sample different reeds to analyze them for their suitability for biocombustion and biogas production. This may generate discussion as to whether invasive reeds in North America also could be harvested and utilized for bioenergy purposes. The idea is of course not to cultivate it, but rather to use it where its stands are established so vastly that eradication would not be feasible.