I guess, a gas fired boiler can not compete against government funding!

So just what effect will that reduction in green house have. Is there a reduction after the biomass is trucked in. So the university already has a heating system so now they have a second system. Is the first one going to be removed. The bottom line is if its anything to do with GHG or so called climate disruption or what ever the word of the day equates to unlimited funding. What a scam. I wonder if the university and government could be held accountable for promoting this scam.

Burning tree bark, branches and sawdust releases C02 into the atmosphere, correct?
Does this bioenergy system incorporate a C02 scrubber?

Is the reduction of GHG emissions from 1000 cars a year greater than the amount being spewed from all the trucks needed to haul this stuff around town? I bet not.

It amazes me how narrow minded people can be.

This forum is truly a testament to freedom of speech.

Must be caught in a time warp...I could swear I see Bell,Bond, and Rustad in the picture.
Naw...maybe it's my imagination...they were from the OLD Liberal government.
Didn't Clark say this was a NEW government?
And besides,John Rustad disappeared a long time ago!

I am going to try something... Restraint. I am going to give Christi a chance.

These bioenergy plants are really effecient, but at the same time sooner or later you can only burn this stuff so much then you are left with ash.
Where does this stuff go....?
I know pulp mills and other places have big ash pits, or million year diamond farms.
Where is UNBC putting theirs?

This is part of research that UNBC undertakes as a tier 1 University. The process does include an electrostatic precipitator that scrubs the particulate. In fact this has considerably lower emmissions than the old Natural Gas plant (which will stay in place as a backup. The ash produced in the process is also being used for a number of different applications. To get educated on the system visit http://www.unbc.ca/media/2011/10_18bioenergyplant.html

Why is Murry Krause in the picture? Oh wait, he probably wants another homeless shelter built up at UNBC so we can bring more derelicts from out of town and be a further drain on our taxes.

Some people here are overpowered by their negativity! The wood by-products (if not used for anything) are from a renewable resource! Trees, that's what they are called. Natural gas, coal and crude oil are non-renewable. Once they are used up, they are gone! Trees on the other hand are part of a natural cycle! They are growing as long as soil, rain and the sun are available!

What is so hard to understand about that?

Thanks, backit!

Yawn !!

wow all the negative NPDers

JEEEEEEEZ the "Chicken Little's" are out in full force on this story.

I swear these people could find something negative with a cute little Easter bunnie, or a little kids birthday party.

Look out...the sky is falling...

sry NDPers

We were very fortunate to have a small group tour of the UNBC bio energy project in September 2010. I was very in the dark about this project prior to the tour.... in fact I was totally unaware of the project.

There are tours on Saturday, March 19th, of this bio energy project at UNBC. I heard info about the tours on CBC radio this morning.

Nay-sayers should take the tour and become informed.

Don't stay in the dark forever......

Taking a tour totally ruins bad mouthing something you understand little about. I would recommend against a tour or learning anything in general. Instead post useless comments on the internet in a whining fashion.

This is as dumb as Indonesia, they burned all their trees down to grow canola and make biofuel. Duh?? Really "green" huh?

Probably a good idea. Still not voting fiberal.

I agree a good idea, a good system, maybe not with the efficiencies one could get from gas alone, but sustainable alternate source of energy that is good for contingency security and promotion of utilizing an abundant resource in our region.

What I would like to see more of is biomass cogen electrical generation facilities like the one planned for Fraser Lake and Mackenzie. Maybe lower the taxes collected to make them viable options would be something I would support.

PG I am surprised that you are positive on this project as it was paid for with money out of your pocket and operated by union labour.

Seamutt, don't keep making your usual ignorant statements. I have a surprise for you: I have belonged to a union all my working life and I have been very active as a union shop steward. Get off my back. Pick on somebody else. Or, whatever.

This so called **project** will cost taxpayers $20 Million and counting. I doubt very much if the pollution spewed from the trucks going up the hill, or the huge amount of of fuel burned to get the wood to UNBC has been taken into consideration.

In addition I also doubt if a long range study has been done to see how much wood will be available for this project, and the Citys Community Energy Project as the beetle wood, and other available wood declines in the area. One should keep in mind that while this is taking place, Canfor, and other mills are burning waste wood to run their generators and they will get first dibs on available waste in the future. (They have the TFL's)

One would have to think that the whole project is much like other projects, way to expensive, and very little return on your investment.

Just look a the dudes in the picture and you can see why it **sucks** same bunch of smiling tax payer money spending dudes.

Have a nice day.

What I will be lookingfor here is the "research" that will come from it.

If wood is all that great from a "green" point of view, and I am not convinced of that, and I am joined by many credible researches who are working full time on this, I would like to know how best to implement it in a forest community such as Prince George.

Without bothering anyone with a long list of options, let me just throw one in here to show where I am going with this.

Instead of powering large facilities such as UNBC, connected buildings in the downtown, the hospital and health centre accross the street, Pine Centre, Box Store Heaven in CH, the industrial plants in this area, the new industrial park of Boundary Road at the Airport, etc. and hav ing trucks deliver the garbage wood to all these places, how about locating a City owned power plant in a well though out location near the feedstock that feeds such plants and creating electricity from it.

That will accomplish a "green" project. The existing gas fired plants will not have to be upgraded, which will save a lot of money.

Why am I saying this? Because there is no way in the world that all the garbage wood we produce will power every single mega building in this province.

My theory is that we are likley spinning wheels. I would like to see the big picture economics as well as "greening" of this movement.

At the moment, I see it is everyone on their own as it has always been in the past. If we want to get closer to "green" and closer to energy sustainability, we will have to think "community" to a much greater extent than I thnk we are now.

Independent Micro generation!
Homeowners start self generation.

No, it will not elimate mass production, but it will relieve the mass generators of having to provide ALL the power.

Solar PV
solar Thermal
Small wind turbines
Geothermal

The naysayers will reply with "too expensive", "poor ROI", "won't completley replace existing electric power generation", etc.

They are correct, for now. What happens when gas hits $2.50 per liter or oil is $150 per barrel? Natural gas is also being depleted in the ground. Those two resources are expected to run out in my kids' life time. Then what? An urgent process of replacing the existing stuff? That would be dumb.

We know the resources in the ground will run out eventually. It is not an infinite resource. Whether the dire peak oil prognosticators are correct in their time estimate of reserves or not, it will run out.

Why not try to extend that portable energy source as much as possible by implementing the alternatives before the situation becomes truly dire.

STOP TRUCKING CHIPS! RAIL THIS STUFF BETWEEN FACILITIES.

Better yet, a conveyer system. Just about every user or producer of chips has access to rail. Those that do not, can be made accessable by rail. Gus has recognised the not green aspect of all that trucking.

Not to mention the pounding our roads take under those very heavy loads causing under engineered road beds to be deteriated quicker than estmated. This is one significant cause of so many pot holes on our roads.

@Gus and Palopu
Please go take the tour of the facility today and stop with the comments until you at least learn a bit about this facility. I think that you would both be very surprised at the scope and impact that this project has. Let's not forget that UNBC is a major contributor to this community in every way!
I for one am very proud of the University for taking the initiative to be a leader in Environmental research.
http://www.unbc.ca/media/2011/10_18bioenergyplant.html

I think the plant itself is great.

I understand the benefit of green energy. Its not like this is some pellet plant that ships 100% of its product by diesel burning rail and ships to the Netherlands....

I also know that this university cannot do research projects on every gram of ash produced. I just wanted to know where their ash pit is, for fact of matter it has to be disposed of somewhere.....

Oh, and I love how our Canadian University uses the outdated imperial measurements..
http://www.unbc.ca/assets/media/2011/info_display.jpg

Can hardly wait to contribute to the green movement by backyard burning to get rid of my yard waste and help reduce the CO2 emission given off by the dead pine in the bush.
By the way there is more CO2 produced each year by decaying leaves and dead trees that even if humans totally stopped producing CO2 emissions it wouldn't stop global warming. CO2 doesn't cause global warming, global warming causes CO2 to be released by the earth’s largest CO2 storage tank called the Ocean.

So sit back and relax and roast some hot dogs in your backyard fire pit.