mestic pellet consumption grew during the same period from 500,000 tonnes to almost 1.8 million tonnes. The demand for pellets in the residential heating market in Sweden is expected to grow by another 200,000 tonnes to 900,000 tonnes by 2012. Similar trends can be seen elsewhere in very fragile; prices are declining, and utili- ties are reluctant to take on new volumes.” Much of this new volume may be con- sumed domestically, but it would be naive to hope that none of it will find its way to Western Europe, further destabilizing what has been a very comfortable market for Canadian pellet makers. THE HOME FRONT One solution to Canada’s unhealthy reli- ance on Europe’s bulk pellet market may lie right under our noses, with domestic demand for Canadian wood pellets. The market is currently restricted to some small industrial users of lower-grade pellets and homeowners dragging bags of pellets home from the hardware store, but, given our climate and wood supply, it’s easy to argue that the domestic market for pellets should be much more. Certainly, looking to coun- tries like Austria, Germany, Sweden, and Italy, there is a case to be made that if we offer modern, automated central heating appliances and bulk delivery methods, consumers in many markets in Canada will embrace this carbon-lean option. Growth in these European countries has been rapid and impressive. In Sweden, domestic delivery of wood pellets climbed from less than 40,000 tonnes in 1997 to almost 700,000 tonnes in 2008. Total do- Europe, where a combination of govern- ment incentives, public education, and investment in appliance and pellet delivery infrastructure has paid off in strong growth trends. In Germany, for example, the mar- ket has increased exponentially since 1999, when a grand total of just 800 domestic pellet boilers were installed nationwide. By 2008, that had climbed to over 100,000, a 100-fold increase that was mirrored by the demand for pellets. So what’s missing from the Canadian scene to make this happen? Looking overseas for inspiration, longtime bio- mass advocate and current pellet appli- ance supplier Bruce McCallum feels we are missing only the political will on this side of the Atlantic. “I have been saying for some time that I can see us using all of our growing pel- let production internally, but it will take at least five years to get there, and even that assumes some significant support in all ar- eas – marketing, lobbying, subsidies along CanadianBIOMASS 23
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