GREEN EDUCATION Continued from page 16 ENERGY DISTRIBUTION EXT I S N G C O MIN S U E! At UNBC, the total amount of energy used per year is approximately 179,000 GJ, with 60% provided by natural gas and the rest from electricity via BC Hydro. But, with the implementation of the gasifier, the bioenergy plant replaces about 85% of the natural gas used for district heating, says Claus. “The other 15% is used for peak load, for when it is too cold for the bioenergy plant to supply all the heat, and also dur-ing the two one-week shutdowns per year. During those times, we will take heat from the original natural gas boilers.” Claus does not see the natural gas boil-ers going anywhere anytime soon, as the university still needs a back-up system in place for the core buildings. As well, there are several areas of the campus that are not connected to the bioenergy loop yet and still require natural gas for heat and/or fuel. “When you buy natural gas, pretty much your entire energy dollar is spent on fuel with fairly low maintenance and operation costs. When you make the shift towards biomass, your fuel costs typically go down, but your maintenance and op-erational costs go up.” And in the warm summer months, when little heat is needed, the biomass solution begins to make less economical sense when compared to natural gas. The reduced energy needs of a building in the summer may mean that the fuel cost sav-ings are insufficient to offset the mainte-nance and operational costs that are con-stant through those months. GOING OFF-GRID 2012 PELLET MILL GUIDE SECURE YOUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE WITH OUR BIOENERGY PRODUCTS ABU N DA N T Acc e ss B riti s h Co l u mb ia ’s v a s t s u ppl y o f s u s taina bl e fib re to p o w er your b ioenergy need s. BRITI S H C OLUMBIA , C A N ADA A CC E SS IBLE B uy f ro m B riti s h Co l u mb ia and get b ioenergy p rodu c t s to your m ar k et pl a c e f a s ter . B ene fi t f ro m our e xp ort -s a vv y and c o s t -e ff e c ti v e tran sp ortation net w or ks , f eaturing North Am eri c a ’s cl o s e s t p ort s to As ia . In the future, UNBC would like to continue to operate and improve both the pellet system and the gasifier, as well as continue the education and research mandates al-ready in place. In addition, there has been a push towards creating an electrically self-sufficient university. To do so, says Claus, would require further expansion of the biomass system to include up to 2 MW of power genera-tion. And once the university figures out how to create such an isolated and self-sufficient system, it can be put into use for remote communities all across British Co-ÕL>Ê>`ÊÌ iÊÀiÃÌÊvÊ�a;>>`>°ÊU S U S TAI N ABLE Choo s e B riti s h Co l u mb ia to en s ure your s u ppl y i s cl ean and green . We are internationa l l eader s in s u s taina bl e f ore s t m anage m ent, w ith m ore l and s c erti fi ed to internationa ll y -re c ogni z ed inde p endent s tandard s than any other j uri s di c tion . Visit www.britishcolumbia.ca/!bioenergy to discover the benefits of British Columbia bioenergy. Canadian BIOMASS 35
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