RALEIGH – Leaders in North Carolina are hoping a conference that attracted 300 experts in biofuels and biopower will help make the state a leader in alternative energy.

Experts from researchers to eco-developers were present at the Biomass South 2008 in downtown Raleigh Sunday through Tuesday, pushing for new ways to power home and work.

"We're still at the very front end of the transition away from the normal fossil fuels. I think we as a country still have tremendous opportunity to grow the business," said Garald Cottrell, chief executive of Bio-Gen Energy Solutions out of Greensboro.

Cottrell spoke to the crowd about generating biopower. The process uses biomass, like waste for trees, for energy. With the abundant amount of trees in North Carolina, it's an opportunity for the forestry industry.

"One of the problems that landowners run into in North Carolina when they're trying to manage their forest is they run out of tools and run out of things they can do," Wib Owen, of the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources, said. "When a new market emerges, it gives them more tools. This emerging industry will allow landowners to manage their forest better."

Using resources like these could also lead to more jobs in North Carolina.

"You have great resources whether or not it's in agriculture with residues, or animal manure that can be turned into methane or your forestry. Those biomass feed stocks are going to be feed stocks that are paid for and grown and harvested by people in North Carolina and that means your jobs," Jetta Wong, of the Environmental and Energy Studies Institute, said.