Mark Heyck

A gathering of advocates, researchers and government officials in the N.W.T. this week is looking at biomass as a viable alternative to diesel in the territory. The Arctic Energy Alliance’s “Biomass Week” started Monday in Yellowknife and continues all week. Biomass is organic matter — for example, wood — that is used to generate energy. Statistics Canada data shows that diesel accounted for roughly half of the territory’s total energy demand in 2023. A significant portion of that diesel is used for space heating and power generation, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. The non-profit Arctic Energy Alliance wants to help steer the territory away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner energy sources. …If the territory is to move away from fossil fuels, Heyck believes biomass is a viable option. He says having more certified wood-stove installers and people who can service and install pellet stoves in the territory is helping.

PRINCE GEORGE – It was 2021 when Canfor announced a final investment decision on a project to produce biofuel. The plant will use hydrothermal liquefaction technology to convert forestry residues and wastes into high value into renewable biocrude, which can be further refined to produce low-carbon transportation fuels. “What we do is essentially, what nature does over millions of years we do in 25 to 30 minutes,” explains Rune Gjessing, CEO of Arbios Biotech. “We’re taking organic matter, manipulating it, and then producing oil.” In August 2022, a formal naming of the Arbios facility adjacent to the Canfor Intercon Pulp mill to Chuntoh Ghuna, meaning “the forest lives.” …The world’s largest hydrothermal liquefaction facility in the world, converting 25,000 dry tonnes of wood residuals into 50,000 barrels of biofuel annually. …The plant uses residuals from the forest sector. …The biofuel produced will be used for aircraft and marine purposes.

VANCOUVER, BC – The federal government’s plan to achieve “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions will result in 254,000 fewer jobs and cost workers $8,000 in lower wages by 2050, all while failing to meet the government’s own emission-reduction target, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. “Ottawa’s emission-reduction plan will significantly hurt Canada’s economy and cost workers money and jobs, but it won’t achieve the target they’ve set because it is infeasible,” said Ross McKitrick, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Canada’s Path to Net Zero by 2050: Darkness at the End of the Tunnel. The government’s Net Zero by 2050 emission-reduction plan includes: the federal carbon tax, clean fuel standards, and various other GHG-related regulations, such as energy efficiency requirements for buildings, fertilizer restrictions on farms, and electric vehicle mandates. By 2050, these policies will have imposed significant costs on the Canadian economy and on workers.