UNBC to Use Renewable Energy to Heat Campus

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Warren Brazier

The University of Northern British Columbia, located in Prince George, BC has selected Vancouver based, Nexterra Energy Corp. to supply and install a turnkey biomass gasification system to heat UNBC's campus and anchor its new Northern Bioenergy Innovation Centre.

According to the press release issued last week, Nexterra's system is part of a $14.8 million bioenergy program that includes upgraded road and utility infrastructure, a new building and a "living laboratory" for bioenergy research and development. The Nexterra gasification system will convert locally-sourced wood residue into clean-burning "syngas" that will displace up to 85% of the natural gas currently used to heat the campus. The project, which is jointly funded by the federal and provincial governments, is expected to begin in June 2009. It will be complete by mid 2010 and construction will support approximately 150 jobs.

By using wood residue to displace natural gas, UNBC will reduce its fossil fuel consumption by 80,000 GJ/year, the equivalent of natural gas required to heat over 700 homes in B.C. The new system will also reduce the university's carbon footprint by approximately 3,500 tonnes annually, the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road.

This is a great story about the future of British Columbia. Here we have a BC based company supplying its homegrown green energy technology to a BC university, with the fuel for the plant coming from the local forest industry. I call this a win-win for the people of Prince George and the Province of British Columbia.  Not only will Nexterra's system help provide a much needed market for local forest waste and foster further research and innovation in the growing renewable energy sector, UNBC's decision to replace natural gas with biofuel to heat its campus will also contribute in the critical fight against climate change.

The way I see it, when there are viable non-GHG emitting alternatives to traditional sources of energy, let's just simply use them. UNBC's initiative is just another example of fresh forward thinking, something we all expect out of an institution of higher learning.

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BC Bioenergy Network funds two wood waste pilot projects

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Warren Brazier

Yesterday, the $25-million provincially funded BC Bioenergy Network announced it is awarding almost $5 million in funding to two biomass pilot projects in British Columbia. 

The BC Bioenergy Network has awarded $1.82 million in funding to Lignol Innovations Ltd. and a further $3 million in funding to Nexterra Energy Corp.  Lignol uses biorefining technology to turn wood waste into fuel-grade bioethanol and biochemicals. Nexterra develops systems that turn wood waste into clean, renewable heat and power using biomass gasification technology.

The BC Bioenergy Network was established in April 2008 through a $25-million provincial grant. It is an industry-led association that is encouraging the development of world-class bioenergy research and technology, pilot and demonstration projects with industry and communities in key biomass resource areas. The BC Bioenergy Network has identified the following technology areas for funding support: solid wood residues, pulp and paper residues, harvesting and pelleting, agriculture residues, municipal wastewater, municipal landfill waste, municipal solid waste and community heating electricity greenhouse systems.

 

BC leads the country in energy production from biomass. Over 800 megawatts of biomass electricity capacity is installed in the province, enough to power 640,000 households. Pulp and paper mills meet over a third of their electricity needs through cogeneration of electricity and steam on site. In 2008, the BC wood pellet industry produced around one million tonnes of wood pellets, of which 90 per cent was exported for thermal power production overseas.

Making good use of wood waste is a no brainer for British Columbia, whose forest industry has been ravaged by the evil pine beetle. Taking the lead from the BC Energy Plan, industries are emerging to develop new and innovative uses of beetle-wood and other forest industry waste. As the bioenergy industry is discovering, there are incredible opportunities in BC and around the world for such techonology. Wouldn't it be great if this ultimately turns out to be a good news story in the forest industry.

 
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