Thomas R. Miles is the president of T.R. Miles, Technical Consultants in Portland, Oregon, a biomass energy consulting firm which designs, develops, installs, and commissions systems that improve efficiency and emissions and recycle nutrients from biofuel processes. Mr. Miles has extensive expertise in innovative biomass systems for processing wood, agricultural, and urban residues including pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion, boiler and gasifier modification and feedstock sizing, recycling, drying, densification, and handling. Projects in Developing Countries Mr. Miles has lived and worked in several countries where he contributed to the development of improved cooking stoves as well as small scale heat and power systems. He has also sponsored and hosted online discussions on cookstoves, biomass energy and biochar since 1994. Early Work In the 1970s, Mr. Miles developed uses for straw which led to expertise in the thermal conversion of agricultural residues including crop straws, pits, nuts, shells, grain processing residues, and animal bedding and manures. This understanding of ash transformation led to his interest in using pyrolysis to recycle nutrients in wood and agricultural residues in biochar - charcoal prepared for use in soil – which improves soil health and sequesters carbon. Mr. Miles was formerly chairman of the International Biochar Initiative.