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WHO
WE ARE
OUR VISION
TEAM
SCIENCE ADVISORS
HISTORY
HISTORY
The Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation that develops and seeks to deploy clean, practical, proven, renewable fuels to help the world address the coming – some would say current – shortfall in oil supplies. BEF is devoted to Renewable Hydrogen and specializes in gasification and reforming.
The Biomass Energy Foundation was founded in 1984 by
Dr. Harry LaFontaine. Dr. LaFontaine built gasifiers during World War
II as a cover for his nighttime activities in the Danish Underground.
During the "energy crisis" that began in 1974, Dr. LaFontaine
gave lectures and demonstrations on gasification in many universities
in the eastern United States. He converted a Lincoln Continental stretch
limo to run on hydrogen-rich gas and demonstrated it during many of
his lectures.
BEF’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Tom Reed, met Dr.
LaFontaine in 1985. Dr. LaFontaine later invited him to join the board
of directors of BEF. At that time Dr. Reed began to publish books at
the Biomass Energy Foundation.
Dr. Harry LaFontaine died in 1994 (at age 80) and left the BEF to Dr. Reed. With the rise in world energy and fuel costs, BEF is working on a new way to think about energy and fuel.
Dr. Reed is president of BEF. Chuck Stevenson is Secretary and Bill Ayres is treasurer. BEF has been publishing books and developing new gasifiers and stoves, and now is expanding into stove development and alternative fuel research.
Dr. Reed has been working on small gasifiers since 1980. Starting in 1998 he began been working on the design of small gasifiers for distributed power with the Community Power Corporation, CPC. In 1999 he and others built a small 5 kW gasifier in his garage workshop.
