Get your copy of the guide here: cribe.ca/resources AVAILABLE FROM FPINNOVATIONS: A Solid Wood Bioheat Guide for Rural and Remote Communities What is the guide and why is it needed? With increasing heating costs and climate change becoming top of mind, communities are taking a more serious look at energy alternatives. One of the top choices for energy alternatives is bioheat from modern wood heating technology. Bioheat systems are reliable, effi cient and can supplement or replace current fossil fuel and/or electric heating systems with local, sustainably sourced, and renewable solid woody biofuels. A guide has thus been developed to provide people in Ontario’s rural and remote communities with the information and confi dence they need to use wood from Ontario’s sustainably managed forests to produce space heat and domestic hot water. It is aimed at community leaders such as those found in municipal governments, band councils, school boards, churches, not-for-profi t organizations, and small businesses, as well as private homeowners. While it is tailored to Ontario regulations and resources, much of the guide is technical and applicable elsewhere. What are biomass, biofuel, and bioheat? Biomass includes all biological matter and can originate from forestry, arboricultural, agricultural, horticultural, or aquacultural operations. When biomass is processed into a fuel used to produce heat or power, it is called biofuel. Bioheat is the heat produced when biofuel is combusted. The guide discusses only solid woody biofuel produced from forest resources. It refers to four categories of solid woody biofuel which are cordwood (fi rewood) (Figure 1), wood chips (Figure 2), wood briquettes (Figure 3), and wood pellets (Figure 4). Ontario has a large supply of woody biomass sourced from sustainably managed forests (mill and harvest residues and unmerchantable standing timber) that could be used to produce solid woody biofuel. Figure 1. Stacked and covered cordwood. Figure 2. A high-quality wood chip (left) and a lower quality wood chip (right). Figure 3. Various types of wood briquettes. (Photo: CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada) Figure 4. Wood pellets. Glen Prevost, M.F.C., P.Eng., Industry Advisor [email protected] 705-358-4667
Canadian Biomass Spring 2020: Page 16
