even more threatening, indirect land-use change (ILUC) issue. Dinneen says that the food vs. fuel debate is a red herring that the U.S. sector is starting to make headway countering. However, he cau- tions Canadian producers that this issue will emerge in Canada as the sector’s pro- duction levels grow and competitors start to see biofuels as a threat, rather than a complementary supply source. Bring on another spike in oil prices, watch food prices increase as a result, and look out when politicians and oil public relations hacks look for culprits. Still, it is the ILUC issue that keeps Dinneen awake at night. The premise be- hind ILUC is that any land used to grow biofuel crops in Canada or the United States automatically demands that a simi- lar area of land be deforested elsewhere in the world and planted to replace the grain diverted to biofuels. As a result, the car- bon footprint of North American biofuels must now include this vague global link. The real world economy is more complex than this. The overly simplified ILUC cal- culation makes for some very dangerous and counterproductive assumptions, Din- neen concludes. Forest-based biomass and bioenergy are in many ways exempt from these is- sues. As long as forest-based biomass is grown and extracted as part of a sustain- able forestry operation, and the land re- mains forested over time, forest biomass holds some public relations and market- ing advantages over agriculture-based fuels. Still, it is just as likely that both renewable fuel sources will be tarred by the same brush in the public mind. Din- neen urges Canadians to get out in front of these issues and to keep the debate at the local or national level when it comes to comparing GHG emissions. “If you do that, the total environmental impact of renewable fuels is already 40 to 60% lower than gasoline and will get bet- ter as we improve our systems and con- version technologies. But if you include vague concepts like ILUC on a global scale, our impact advantage vanishes.” The reality is that regardless of what we do in Canada, the world is demand- ing and producing more biofuel. In fact, Tammy Klein of the Global Biofuels Centre counted at least 30 countries that will be implementing biofuel use targets in 2010. Most of these are developing countries, and the drivers are economic as much as environmental, but the end result is the same. As these countries consume and produce greater volumes of biofuels, and as Europe and the United States adopt regulations and incentives that favour the carbon footprint of some types of biofuels over others (i.e., sugar cane ethanol over corn-based), the glob- al import and export flows will start to change. Klein even sees the United States becoming an ethanol exporter as fuels deemed less desirable on the domestic market find markets elsewhere. EVENTS BOARD MARCH 11-12, 2010 • Biomass Conversion to Heat & Electricity Workshop Normal, IL 309-268-8160 http://go.illinois.edu/biomassworkshop APRIL 20-22, 2010 • SmallWood 2010: Bridges, Business & Biomass Hot Springs, AK 608-231-1361 ext. 208 or [email protected] www.forestprod.org/smallwood2010 MAY 3-7, 2010 • European Biomass Conference & Exhibition Lyon, France www.conference-biomass.com MAY 4-6, 2010 • International Biomass Conference & Expo Minneapolis, MN 701-746-8385 www.biomassconference.com MAY 12-13, 2010 • Northern Alberta Forestry & Construction Show: Energy, the Environment & Innovation Grande Prairie, AB 780-532-3279 www.evergreenpark.ca MAY 25-27, 2010 • World Bioenergy 2010 Jönköping, Sweden www.elmia.se/en/worldbioenergy 18th European Biomass Lyon Convention Centre - France Conference 3-7 May 2010 ● Exhibition 3-6 May 2010 Where Biomass Science Meets Industrial Application Conference and Exhibition From Research to Industry and Markets [email protected] • www.conference-biomass.com CanadianBIOMASS 25
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