Nova Scotia Renewables Current Activity in Bioenergy

Our goal is to identify bioenergy opportunities that can provide the greatest benefit to Nova Scotia from a social, environmental and economic perspective.

Assessment

The Province is currently assessing bioenergy opportunities in Nova Scotia to ensure any potential sources can be produced sustainably.

The Department is working with members of the forest products industry in Nova Scotia and the Department of Natural Resources to develop a sustainable forest biomass harvesting guideline which will provide clarity on the percentage of the forest bio resource which could be made available for bioenergy/bioproducts.

To be sustainable, the bioenergy industry must complement, not compete with, the existing forest products industry.

Bioenergy has many forms, including the use of forest and mill residues (in pellet and chip form) in direct combustion for heat in the residential, institutional and commercial sectors, biomass for electricity production through cogeneration, and co-firing of biomass in existing coal fired power stations.

And bioenergy resources are not limited to forest biomass. Studies are currently underway to assess the cost of production of electricity from potential biogas plants as well, which would use waste organic materials as the main feedstock such as manures, food and livestock processing wastes, and municipal solid waste.

Other activity

The Province is also actively engaged in assessing what impact the proposed federal biofuels regulation may have on the development of a biofuels industry in Nova Scotia.

The federal biofuel mandate calls for 5% renewable content in gasoline by 2010 and 2% renewable content in diesel/home heating fuel by 2012. These are pressing demands for biofuel resources.

We are also assessing what opportunities a future biorefinery industry may hold for Nova Scotia.

This is a rapidly evolving field where significant investment is being made by many governments around the world to develop cellulose based biofuels, bioproducts and biochemicals.

These bio-based replacements for traditional petrochemical based fuels, chemicals and products, may in the end provide more value to the province than the use of our bio resources for the replacement of fossil based thermal and electrical energy.

For more information check out Bioenergy in Nova Scotia.