Final Thoughts Developing a Consensus on Biomass Development How can Canada improve its use of biomass and its bioeconomy? By Christopher Rees nergy conservation coupled with solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy can make important contributions to meet-ing our energy needs and lessening our de-pendence on fossil fuels. The transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a renewable energy-based econo-my will be neither easy nor rapid. But, every-thing possible needs to be done to facilitate and speed up the process. That requires agreement and co-operation. Unproductive confronta-tion between groups with differing viewpoints must be replaced by a wide consensus on how E “We must pursue policies and practices that ensure our forests remain net absorbers of carbon in the future.” to move forward – including the public, in-dustry, First Nations, environmental interests, academia and government. The Canadian Bioenergy Association strongly believes that responsible use of for-est biomass for the production of energy and chemicals can one day replace products sourced from fossil fuels, as well as provide a net benefit to the environment with enor-mous societal benefits. A recent study in the United States, enti-tled Managing Forests Because Carbon Matters: integrating energy, Product and land Manage-ment Policy states that “energy produced from forest biomass merely returns recently absorbed carbon to the atmosphere, and es-sentially results in no net release of carbon, provided that overall forest inventories are stable or increasing.” Bioenergy development can move ahead simultaneously with an increase in the quan-tity and quality of forests. Europe has been widely supported in this effort by the public because forests have continued to grow and traditional forest values have been preserved. After 100 years of being a carbon sink, in re-cent decades Canada’s forests have been oscil-lating back and forth between being a carbon sink and being a carbon source. This is partly the result of increased wildfires, massive in-sect kills and downturns in the forest industry. We must pursue policies and practices that ensure our forests re-main net absorbers of carbon in the future, and that our forests continue to grow in both quantity and quality, providing a wide range of societal benefits. Several key points need to be emphasized with respect to forest biomass and the bioenergy industry in Canada: • The forest industry is committed to sus-tainable and responsible forest manage-ment within areas designated for allow-able harvest by each province. • Biomass harvesting for bioenergy uses only a fraction of total biomass avail-ability in Canada – no large-scale ex-• traction. In most provinces, environmental guidelines exist or are under develop-ment relating to forest biomass harvest-ing and the restriction of biomass re-moval from ecologically sensitive areas. • Wood residues should continue to be the primary source of forest biomass. Standing trees are harvested for bio-mass only when they do not have a “higher-value” market and where re-planting can take place that will add value to the overall forest. Bioenergy is an integral part of the fu-ture. The emerging bioeconomy is capable of producing biochemicals and bioproducts that further decrease the dependence on oil. What we need is to foster a consensus on the “best practices” for industry development that provide for environmental, economic and societal benefits for our generation and those following. Canbio will act as a catalyst for building such a consensus and invites all those interested to join in the process. • Christopher Rees is the chair of the Board of the Cana-dian Bioenergy Association (Canbio) and managing part-ner of Suthey Holler Associates – a consulting company specialized in renewable energy and community devel-opment. He previously worked with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France. Mr. Rees is an economist with renewable energy experience across Canada and in Europe. Final Thoughts runs at the back of every issue of Canadian Biomass, and provides a forum where individuals involved in the biomass sector can discuss the topics most important to them. Each column will run a maximum of 650 words. If you would like to contribute, please e-mail [email protected]. 38 Canadian BIOMASS MARCH/APRIL 2012
Canadian Biomass March/April 2012: Page 38
