Bio-Energy Conference to Look at Pathway to Prosperity
Prince George, B.C. – It may be three and a half months away, but the agenda is being set for the International Bioenergy conference that will take place in Prince George in June.
This is the 6th edition of the conference which takes place every two years and is the largest conference dealing with wood based bioenergy.
In addition to national and international speakers from the bio energy sector, author Chris Turner and columnist Jeffrey Simpson will each present keynote addresses on issues of energy sustainability and the policy changes that will be needed to make bioenergy the key to sustainable energy.
This year, the conference theme is “Pathways to Bio-Prosperity”.
Access to fibre has been one of the key issues facing bio-energy producers. The forestry sector is in a state of flux in B.C. as access to fibre becomes more challenging in the wake of the pine beetle epidemic. Conference spokesman Cam McAlpine says access to fibre is always an issue "There is nothing specific about the reductions in the annual allowable cut that would cause more of a concern, rather its the need for policy to assure access to fibre that has been an issue " . He says as long as there are sawmills there will be a residue supply for bioenergy product producers "The majority of fibre used is waste residue from sawmills and construction sites."
Right now the focus on energy development in BC is on LNG, but McAlpine says bioenergy can play a role in that sector as well "Certainly the LNG plants will need to create power and bioenergy could be part of that energy mix."
The conference will take place at the Prince George Civic Centre June
Comments
Something I have noticed is that all the wood pellet plants exhaust a terrific amount of steam under pressure. Why is this not being utilized for power generation at the same time? There seems to be a terrific amount of energy there, simply escaping into the atmosphere.
Not under enough pressure.
If we get more LNG plants, they will produce their own energy (electricity) from burning natural gas, not wood,.
Furthermore the pellet plant production is used to produce electricity in the importing Countries. If we increase the amount of LNG we export, one would assume that there would be less need for pellets,.
If that’s the case, then overtime the LNG plants will kill off the bio energy plants.
The exhaust steam from the pellet plants is quite saturated and there is not enough energy to effectively turn a turbine. Best case you could use it for building heat, but then again your would need large exchanges to be able to pull the heat out.
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