Biomass fuel is produced from farms and forests and represents an important major energy source and a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Governments are promoting the timber industry as climate change and increasing energy needs become critical issues.
The primary advantage in using this resource is that wood is carbon neutral. The second is that there is plenty of biomass available: 6.4 million metric tons.
Forest biomass hasn't been used much up till now, except as firewood (and many of us have seen ecological firewood in stores). The reason for this is twofold: the high logging cost and legally constraining forestry laws.
Despite innovations and initiatives to exploit this type of energy, there still isn't a major market for it. A few regional companies in Quebec signed purchasing contracts last year but have yet to profit from the resource.
Bioenergy in Canada
6%of Canada's energy needs are met by bioenergy.
456 million litres
annual total capacity of Canada's 11 biodiesel plants in 2009.
1,980 GWh
total energy generated by biomass in 2007.
The most important type of biomass in Canada is industrial wood waste,
especially waste from the pulp and paper industry, which is used to produce electricity and steam.
Diverse fuels
Wood remains the world's largest so source of biomass, but is not the only biomass fuel. Other sources include:
- Wastes from forestry and sawmill operations (bark, wood chips, sawdust and logging debris)
- Urban wood wastes (shipping pallets, packing and leftover construction wood)
- Agricultural wastes (such as crop residues, sugarcane, rice husks, coconut shells, cotton residues and palm oil residues)
- Fast-growing trees and crops (called "energy crops" such as poplar, willow and switch A grass, grown specially for energy (electricity or liquid fuels)
- Other natural resources (such as straw and peat)
- Organic wastes (such as animal manure and ood processing wastes)
In British Columbia
An agreement with the Capital Power Corporation allows the equivalent of 100 truckloads of waste wood to be recovered every week. Since installation of the new bioenergy plant:
600,000 tons of waste wood is saved every year. 89,000 households
Air particles have have been supplied with biofuel electricity dropped by 90%, improving health of residents and visibility.
© 2010
