**Biomass Gasification Milestone Heralds Breakthrough in Renewable
Energy Production**

***Vermont plant commissioning and start-up completed***

ATLANTA \-- Atlanta-based Future Energy Resources Corporation (FERCO)
has achieved a major milestone in commercializing the SilvaGasTM
process, its biomass gasification technology, by successfully operating
its commercial scale demonstration plant in Burlington, Vermont. FERCO
designed and built the gasifier, the largest U.S. biomass gasification
facility, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, who
provided technical assistance and funding for facility construction and
testing, and the Burlington Electric Department.

The facility attained full operation on August 11, 2000 and converted
more than 285 tons of wood chips into SilvaGas, a medium Btu gas that is
substitutable for natural gas. The SilvaGas was piped directly to
Burlington Electric Department\'s McNeil Generating Plant, where it
produced more than 140 MWh of electric power, enough energy to power
6000 homes. \"This breakthrough, made possible by an innovative
public-private partnership, is a significant step forward in
establishing a thriving bio-based products and bio-energy industry,\"
said U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. \"Furthermore, electricity
generated from biomass will create additional markets for agricultural
and forestry products and waste without harming the environment.\"

\"In proving the viability of this gasification process, we have taken a
big step towards replacing combustion and incineration as the dominant
methods for converting biomass into energy. The environmental
implications and the role of renewable energy as an efficient and
competitive energy source are substantial,\"

said Inge Fretheim, FERCO President and CEO. FERCO will now transition
into a period of continuous operations of the gasifier to optimize
performance parameters.

\"This success demonstrates that the Vermont gasifier produces the same
results as those achieved in more than 22,000 hours of operations at the
10 ton per day pilot plant. We may now proceed to the next level in our
current negotiations for commercial appliations of the technology,\"
said Milton Farris, FERCO Chief

Operating Officer. At the pilot plant, the FERCO SilvaGasTM process was
the first to produce electric power directly from biomass in a
conventional gas turbine.

FERCO develops and implements solutions that improve the global
environment by producing clean energy from agricultural, municipal and
forestry waste and other renewable resources such as energy crops. The
SilvaGas process has demonstrated acceptance of a wide range of
feedstocks, all of which can be converted into a clean burning medium
Btu gas that can be used as a direct substitute for natural gas. The
FERCO SilvaGas process coupled with a conventional gas turbine can
convert biomass into electric power at twice the efficiency of
conventional biomass systems while significantly reducing environmental
impact compared to fossil fuel based power plants, including the
elimination of net CO2 additions to the environment.

For more information contact:

Christopher Powers, DOE, 303-275-4742

Inge Fretheim, FERCO, 770-662-7800

Charlie McDonald, Fountainhead Advertising

& PR, 404-524-8700 x212