Canada’s edge Our biomass sustainability story is unique – it’s time to tell it. here are times when it makes sense to work alongside international col-leagues to develop our industry, wheth-er to promote biomass as a low-carbon addi-tion to the global energy mix or to help establish quality or safety standards that will serve the entire supply chain. And then there are times when it’s better to pursue a uniquely Canadian solution. That is now the case with for-est sustainability. The need became clear at the International Biomass show in Minneapolis in April. The first session drew together notables from vari-ous American biomass associations, and one topic kept bubbling to the surface – that the perceived sustainability and carbon footprint of the sector was about to become a major issue south of the border, and one largely out of industry’s control. The U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA) is in the midst of determining just how green biomass really is. Make that U.S. biomass, as the EPA would be looking at biomass’ footprint with-in the American context only. Still, industry members were concerned that the EPA’s findings would colour the entire sector, both for domestic and export markets. After all, should the EPA determine that U.S.-sourced biomass falls short in sustainability or car-bon performance, potential buyers in the EU and elsewhere may well doubt its place in their own green energy portfolios. Nor are Canadian biomass suppliers out of the woods. All too often European and Asian markets lump us together as “North American” suppliers. We can do little about how the EPA sees its domestic biomass sec-tor. We can do everything to distinguish our own forest-based biomass sector as uniquely BIOMASS CANADIAN Volume 6 No. 3 Editorial Director/Group Publisher -Scott Jamieson (519) 429-3966 ext 244 [email protected] Associate Editor -Andrew Macklin (519) 429-5181 [email protected] Contributors -Pierre-Olivier Morency, Treena Hein, Murray McLaughlin Market Production Manager Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] National Sales Manager Ross Anderson Ph: (519) 429-5188 Fax: (519) 429-3094 [email protected] Quebec Sales Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] Western Sales Manager Tim Shaddick [email protected] Ph: (604) 264-1158 Fax: (604) 264-1367 Media Designer -Brooke Shaw Canadian Biomass is published six times a year: February, April, June, August, October, and December. Published and printed by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. Printed in Canada ISSN 2290-3097 Circulation Carol Nixon e-mail: [email protected] P.O. Box 51058 Pincourt, QC J7V 9T3 Subscription Rates: Canada -1 Yr $49.50; 2 Yr $87.50; 3 Yr $118.50 Single Copy -$9.00 (Canadian prices do not include applicable taxes) USA – 1 Yr $60 US; Foreign – 1 Yr $77 US Occasionally, Canadian Biomass magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publica-tion may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission ©2013 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca T Canadian, and thus uniquely sustainable. Here are just a few distinguishing character-istics we need to quantify, and then commu-nicate, both here and abroad. • Certification: Canada is a leader in forest certification. Between that and rigid pro-vincial forest regulations, we can prove the sustainability of our forest biomass. • Integrated fibre sup-ply: The forest biomass sec-tor is closely integrated with the existing forest products sector. The vast majority of its current supply is residual products from either the mill or the landing. Any round-wood harvested is either salvage logging (beetle kill) or fibre for which there is no other market (off species, low quality). The infrastructure and harvesting crews are rarely sent in for biomass products alone, as the economics seldom justify the effort. • Low carbon footprint: There are no commercial zero-carbon solutions that can replace fossil fuels completely at this point, but compared to coal, oil or gas, the average footprint of getting Canadian biomass to market is a small fraction. We need to know the exact fraction for the various supply scenarios. The industry must be able to quantify and effectively communicate these key factors so that everyone along the supply chain under-stands the Canadian biomass advantage. Scott Jamieson, Editorial Director [email protected] Official Media Partner of: @CanadianBiomass 4 Canadian BIOMASS MAY/JUNE 2013
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