ADEDA presents bioenergy session

By Carolyn Sloan

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

In partnership with the Canadian Bioenergy Association, the Annapolis-Digby Economic Development Agency has organized a seminar on bioenergy and its small-scale applications for wood and agricultural fibre.

From wood shavings to cornhusks, biomass fuel, such as bio-bricks, pellets and bio-diesel, can be created from low-end wood products as well as waste products from both the forestry and agriculture industries. With the current strain on both sectors, economic development officer Terry Thibodeau is looking to involve local woodlot owners and farmers in taking advantage of this opportunity.

“We realize that the forestry industry is in a bit of a depressed time right now,” he says. “This is a way to get people back in the woods.”

With the bioenergy trend growing, bioenergy operations throughout the Maritimes are popping up, including a company in Weymouth, Lewis Moldings, which is currently preparing to produce bio-bricks. In New Brunswick, the Northumberland Woodlot Owners Association has worked toward establishing an operation in Miramichi that will produce 120,000 tonnes of pellets annually, creating between 30 to 35 new jobs.

The seminar, Small Scale BioEnergy Opportunities, will take place on February 14 and 15 at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre. While Thibodeau hopes to see representation from both the forestry and agriculture industries, he also encourages stove and furnace dealers, as well as users of commercial oil-fired furnaces and stoves to attend. Just as there is a local opportunity to produce biomass fuel, there is also an opportunity for energy consumers to move toward a more sustainable, green and cost-effective method.

“Development that’s vertically integrated,” says Thibodeau, “[means that] we can have the supply [of fibre], produce pellets, and sell them locally.”

For more information about the seminar, call 638-3490.