Prince George, BC – Canada’s Green University plays host to visiting university faculty members from one of the greenest cities in Europe this week…

Two senior faculty from Linnaeus University in the city of Växjö, in southern Sweden, are at UNBC’s Prince George campus until Thursday to explore opportunities for collaboration in engineering education and research related to wood construction, bioenergy and forest products. (photo at right, courtesy UNBC)

Bjorn Zethraeus is the founder of the bioenergy program in Växjö, which first started using biomass to produce heat and electricity in 1980 – as of last year, 80-percent of heat for the city was beig produced from renewable energy sources. 

The city of 82,000 people is also developing a neighbourhood showcasing wood innovation, including two eight-storey apartment buildings built mostly from wood.  Thomas Thornqvist developed the local university’s education and research program on forest and wood technology.

UNBC President George Iwama says there are uncanny similarities between Linnaeus and UNBC, and between Växjö and Prince George.  "As we look to expand our programming in engineering and build upon our growing bioenergy program, there may be no better partner for us."

Their visit includes a public presentation this afternoon on how the Swedish energy system works, how biomass is used in their system and their experiences over the past several decades.  It begins at 1:30pm in Agora room 7-158.