A solution to rising energy costs and dwindling farm incomes could be sitting on farmers’ doorsteps, according to a non-profit group involved in biofuel research and development.
REAP-Canada is advancing the idea of bioheat as a way to put more money in farmer’s pockets while curbing global reliance on fossil fuels.
Bioheat, derived from burning crop residues and grasses that have been compressed into pellets or cubes, could produce the equivalent of 2.5 million barrels of oil per day in North America by 2020, said Roger Samson, executive director for REAP-Canada, which is short for Resource Efficient Agricultural Production.
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“What we’re saying is that farmers can get off this downward price spiral and tie into rising energy prices by diversifying their markets,” said Samson, in Manitoba recently to promote the idea.
“We’re looking at a major new industry to create demand enhancement for the farm sector and we’re looking at a major strategy for greenhouse gas mitigation for the country.”
The bioheat industry is in its infancy, but commercial ventures are springing up in Canada. They include one company at La Broquerie, Man., that compresses flax shives into cubes for burning.
“We have a huge amount of potential here, just in the agricultural waste that’s being either burned or plowed back into the land,” said Stephane Gauthier, co-owner of Prairie Bio-Energy Inc. “It’s unbelievable. Farmers here don’t realize what’s at their fingertips as far as energy.”
Gauthier said there is interest in the flax shive cubes from homeowners as well as businesses, such as greenhouse operators. However, his company finds it hard to compete with coal imported from Saskatchewan.
“It takes time to develop a new product and you have to make people aware of it,” he said. “It takes a while to establish that whole network, so to speak.”
Canada has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions through the Kyoto Accord. Samson said bioheat fits with that mandate, but has not yet been embraced by the federal government.
Bioheat is almost neutral in terms of the carbon it produces, he said. A plant releases carbon when burned but absorbs carbon when it regrows. By contrast, burning fossil fuels increases the overall amount of carbon in the environment.
Samson estimates there are two to three million tonnes of crop milling residues that could be used for bioheat in Canada. Those residues include wheat midds, flax shives, oat hulls, pin oats and corn fibre left over from starch milling.
“That’s low hanging fruit for developing the industry,” he said. “Then we can get into energy crop farming.”
Energy crops include grass species native to the Prairies. However, Samson cited a need for public plant breeding to support development of perennial grasses suited to that purpose. He would also like government to consider incentives to help develop the industry.
That could include payments to set land aside for production of the “energy grasses” or payment on carbon credits for the benefit of reduced consumption of fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, he wants government to consider low-interest loan guarantees for people building facilities to compress crop residues or grasses into pellets and cubes for bioheat. Tax credits for converting homes or businesses to bioheat also would help the industry progress, he said.
There is unprecedented opportunity for biofuel development, partly because of rising fuel costs but also because of the global concern with greenhouse gas emissions.
“In Eastern Canada, we’re providing energy at 25 to 50 percent below the cost of heating oil and natural gas,” Samson said. “The numbers are not quite as attractive in western Canada, but they’re still pretty good.
“My assessment is that there will be a minimum of 300,000 tonnes of agri-fibre fuels produced in Canada in 2006, which is equivalent to about a million barrels of oil.”
