The analysis shows that forest biomass—often treated as low-value waste or hazardous wildfire fuel—can be converted into a high-value, low-carbon energy carrier at competitive cost. A commercial-scale facility processing 1,000 BDT per day achieves a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of $3.52 per kg, generates strong operating margins, and delivers attractive investor returns (IRR = 12%) under conservative assumptions. Sensitivity and scenario analyses indicate that hydrogen sale price and capital expenditure are the dominant drivers of economic performance, while feedstock price, operating costs, and transport distance exert comparatively smaller impacts. Notably, repurposing idle biomass facilities, such as Desert View Power, can reduce capital costs by ~40%, lowering LCOH to $2.80 per kg, increasing IRR to 26%, and shortening payback periods to 2.57 years, highlighting a strategic pathway for cost-efficient deployment.  

Beyond private returns, the societal and environmental benefits are substantial. Forest-residue diversion reduces wildfire emissions by an estimated 466,695 tCO₂e annually and mitigates 4,383 t PM₂.₅  per year, translating to monetized climate and health benefits of $68–188 million per year (EPA framework) and $10–47 million per year (IWG framework).  Health co-benefits accrue disproportionately to overburdened inland air basins, including the Mojave Desert, where incident-level analysis indicates ~27,702 avoided morbidity and mortality cases per year, corresponding to $1.23 billion per year in localized health gains. These results underscore the potential of forest-residue hydrogen as a potentially carbon-negative energy pathway that simultaneously advances environmental justice, air-quality improvement, and public-health protection.

The economic and regional development impacts are equally compelling. Steady-state operations are projected to support 125–164 direct FTE jobs, with supply-chain (indirect) and household-spending (induced) effects expanding total employment to 312–444 FTEs, alongside $25–40 million per year in total labor income and $45–88 million per year in regional economic output. Construction-phase employment contributes an additional 600–1,000 job-years, demonstrating the potential for forest-residue hydrogen to serve as a regional economic catalyst, supporting rural development, workforce equity, and industrial capacity in the Inland Empire. 

I served as a lead researcher and techno-economic analyst on the project, where I conducted biomass resource assessment, GIS-based spatial analysis, lifecycle emissions evaluation, and hydrogen production feasibility modeling. To achieve the project goals, I closely collaborated with multidisciplinary partners including UC ANR researchers, biomass technology developers, GIS specialists, and external experts such as the C-BREC team at Cal Poly Humboldt and Spatial Informatics Group. The project resulted in a comprehensive assessment of forest and agricultural biomass utilization pathways in California, supporting strategies for wildfire mitigation, low-carbon hydrogen production, and regional bioeconomy development.