If the City of Vancouver is serious about becoming 100% carbon-free by 2050, it might need to rethink its plans to replace natural gas with bioenergy for heating. …One alternative to natural gas for heating is biomass (wood waste energy). The city and Creative Energy have tried to get approval for a district energy system that would use wood waste instead of natural gas to produce heat for buildings. The BC Utilities Commission has repeatedly rejected it because it would be a monopoly that would not be in the public interest. …But is burning wood to generate heat better for the environment than burning natural gas? Not according to 65 American scientists who wrote a letter last year to the U.S. Senate to oppose a plan to designate wood energy as a carbon-neutral energy source on par with solar power.