Bioenergy – Not Just About Pellets
Prince George, B.C.- Around 300 delegates from around the world are in Prince George for the bi-annual BioEnergy Conference.
Bioenergy is not just about pellets anymore. Viewed as a renewable resource, there are ventures underway which are using biomass to create a variety of products including fuel that may one day replace the fossil fuels used in vehicles and planes. But all of the potential for Bioenergy relies on one thing, access to fibre.
With B.C. heading into the “mid term timber supply” in the wake of the mountain pine beetle epidemic, access to fibre remains the biggest challenge for bioenergy says conference co-ordinator Cam McAlpine “The pellet industry is doing fine because they have a fairly strong base of fibre now, but new entrants (to the bioenergy business) are having issues. We’ve got the Forest Fibre Working group that’s been looking at this issue for the past couple of years.” That working group has been trying to come up with answers on how to make the best use of residual fibre and how secondary users can get access to the land base to make use of the slash piles and road side debris.
The conference kicks off today with a workshop on safety, an issue that has become front and centre for an industry that deals with combustible dust. New reporting regulations require all incidents such as bag house fires or minor explosions to be reported even though no workers have been hurt. “It means the technology in the safety systems is working” says McAlpine.
Tomorrow, the stream of panelists will start engaging delegates on discussions with the opening keynote address from John Martin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
Discussions over the course of the conference, which runs through Friday at the Civic Centre, will deal with everything from the economics, shifting power plants from coal to pellets, the role bioenergy can play in carbon reduction, innovation in bioenergy and a look at the big picture with a review of what’s happening in jurisdictions around the world.
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Comments
WHERE is this being held ???
Civic centre.
It is in the last paragraph of the story, not sure why you are voted down but possibly for just being “you”
Yeah, the thumbs down are kind of strange. It’s a rather pointless feature. I think I’ll still be able to sleep at night though. :)
Just another all expenses paid junket…
Throw in carbon and just watch the money flow in. Wonder what the carbon trail is for this party but pales in comparison to all the world wide carbon parties over the years. Hey never let a little carbon get in the way of a taxpayer funded junket.
Speaking of carbon or C02 or what ever is there any science out there yet proving mans effect on climate by C02 if any at all. Anybody???
Im skeptical of the whole “carbon” movement as well and the money that follows it but that’s a whole different story for a different time..The bio energy industry has been good to our region so far, so lets keep rolling with it. The bio energy industry has shut down beehive burners in PG, reduced slash burning and provides jobs..One of the main reasons they use pellets (they don’t actually burn the pellet but reduce it to powder and inject it into a blast furnace) for power generation is to reduce coal related harmful emissions of sulphur dioxide, particulates and toxic metals.
All wins in my eyes..
“Solar energy investments climbed 72 percent higher than the last five-year average, while renewables attracted nearly two-thirds of investments with private participation,” the bank said in a statement.
According to its breakdown, the World Bank found South Africa and Morocco led for African investments in renewable energy, Chile led in the Americas and China led the Asian market. By sector, total investments in solar were $9.4 billion, $9.4 billion for wind, $2.9 billion for hydroelectric projects and $1.3 billion for geothermal energy.
An April report from the International Energy Agency on electricity trends across the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and found an increase of 77 terawatt-hours of power generated from wind resources from 2014, the largest increase recorded by the Paris-based agency. The majority of the new wind-generated electricity occurred in European members of the OECD.
Conventional energy, meanwhile, moved lower by 30 percent year-on-year to $37.6 billion as the low price of oil curbed the appetite for new spending. Though oil prices are up more than 75 percent from their low point for 2016, the price is still about half what it was two years ago.
Just because people or companies invest does not mean it is a good investment.
Dumbest comment today ? Maybe not . The days not over .
In the early 50’s, there are multiple examples of leading analysts stating that only a few computers would be needed to serve all foreseeable computing needs, and that major countries might need at most 2 or 3 computers each. There are many happy ‘investors’ who did not subscribe to the analysis of the day.
It will be interesting to see how the energy sector plays out; however, one option that is not likely from any perspective is the ‘status quo.’
BNEF: Renewables To Win The ‘Race On Costs’ Against Cheap Coal And Gas . The article is dated June 13th . It’s from the Bloomberg new energy finance . They know a great deal about investments because they track all investment vehicles . Just cut and paste the first sentence to read the article .
“Just because people or companies invest does not mean it is a good investment.”
I’ve been a commodities investor and speculator for around 15 years and my experience has led me to this conclusion..Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers (especially when it comes to investing). The herd mentality dictates the direction (good or bad) of the market and not necessarily the direction of the underlying asset or industry. Word of caution when it comes to trying to predict the direction of an asset or trend..
Let’s all be nice to Ataloss today. He’s having to deal with some bad news today!
From the Canadian Press: “Green Party shuts down in Nova Scotia because of lack of support”
ht tp://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/2016/06/15/green-party-shuts-down-in-nova-scotia-because-of-lack-of-support.html
You were right Ataloss. my comment wasn’t the dumbest today…. now go for a bike ride.
Meanwhile I will go for a cruise in my ’87 GMC with a 383 stroker under the hood pushing 450 horses while getting 5 mpg.
Australia is sunny right, but not all the time. Here is how well solar worked on one particular day. Notice what was used for solar backup.
Nuclear would be a good idea, but many think nuclear is ucky.
Just relating to the Australian situation at 9 am. this morning: June 12 2016
Total consumption 22,400 MW.
Fossil fuel….. 20,000 MW
Hydro…………..2,000 MW
Wind……………..400 MW
Solar…………….000 MW
OK 50% renewable by 2030 means a deficit of 10,000 MW for the scenario.
No solar to speak of, therefore 10,000 x 3669/400 = 91,000 MW of capacity of wind required to cover consumption which translates to a minimum of 45,500 sq. km. of suitable wind farm sites, that is about 4 times the size of metro Sydney under 30,000 x 3 MW wind turbines.
The other choice is a smaller number of wind turbines, but more fossil fuel generation to prevent black-outs. Wasn’t the idea to have 50% renewable generation?
Why do our politicians act as lemmings following their European counterparts?
“Nuclear would be a good idea, but many think nuclear is ucky”
Not only is it “ucky” but it denies plant life the CO2 it so desperately needs, apparently. Is it possible to sue nuclear power generating facilities for CO2 evasion?
Just kidding…! However, energy from renewable technology is advancing slowly but surely! Why does it take so long? Because of the trillions invested in fossil fuel technology and infrastructure! Huge profits still have to be made. So, after acknowledging those factors one might as well relax and observe how it will eventually become an very day reality! Perhaps a totally new and inexhaustible clean technology will move past all of it.
Nuclear is thee most expensive electricity in the world and its so dangerous that no insurance company in the world will underwrite a melt down and or clean up . If they had to be self-insured no one would be able to build one . Where they are built the tax payers are on the hook for any disaster .
Australia is almost as big a joke as is canada . The big difference is that they have the coal lobby capturing regulation and legislation where as we have the oil lobby capturing our regulation and legislation . The NEB was bought and paid for or didn’t you see that . But it doesn’t matter what canada and Australia do we matter little . Both LA and San Diego have committed to go 100 percent renewable and are well on there way . Like I wrote when SiteC was proposed ” by the time it is build , it will have no market . ” now stupid says she’ll electrify the tar sands . Trouble with that is there will be no market for that either . Tax payers and rate payers will be on the hook for the next hundred years because she doesn’t care about the future . She needs the win now . That’s all that matters to a con and her con job .
Look at my post again, renewables next to nothing. You really have no understanding of the infrastructure, costs, let alone the acreage coverage. Oh BC is basically 100% renewable with cheap reliable hydro electric.
How is your solar doing, hahaha.
Most of Australia’s renewables are off grid or micro grid . Rural Australian diesel reliance will lessen and eventually be replaced . It’s already started . Just like here in canada .
Austalia renewables mostly off grid now I know you have no idea or trying to adjust my post. Presently 89 per cent of Australia’s electricity is generated from burning fossil fuels, 74 per cent from coal and 15 per cent from natural gas. Renewable energy is used to generate 11 per cent of electricity.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Australia
ht tp://learnelectricity.ausgrid.com.au/Common/For-Students-in-Years-7-and-8/Sources-of-electrical-energy.aspx
Any how lots more and the expansion of wind is driving up Australia’s electrical costs just as where ever that silly costly game is played
Bioenergy is a great transition industry, but I see it as low hanging fruit.
In the old days they use to use sawdust to insulate homes. I think that has potential again for the future. The ability to make wood fiber into an insulator for homes would make a whole new massive market for fiber.
What I think is one builds a structural frame from lumber and then fills the walls with a mixture of sawdust and a type of wood based polymer with a hardening agent that seals and sets into a sort of hardened insulator that fills all the holes and once hardened could act as a temporary structural support in the event of earthquakes.
Doing this would require figuring out how to extract a wood fiber based gel that could be pumped into the walls. A sort of cellulose chemical process akin to running an ethanol refinery. The new process and spin off split off products could be the basis for an entirely new industry.
With a wood fiber cellulose chemical home insulation process… if it could provide the same insulating quality of other leading processes, than its winning attribute could be in the safety aspect of earthquake proofing buildings… using building code regulations to ensure a market.
I think this would be a higher value, less easily substituted use of the ‘waste’ wood fiber; and the markets would be as big as the global housing industry.
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