4.2 Barriers to Increased Bioenergy Use in Canada and Some Solutions
Bioenergy use is good for Canada. Its benefits include reduction of greenhouse gas and other emissions, waste management, energy cost control and energy supply stability. Yet bioenergy use in Canada currently represents only about 6 percent of the total primary energy supply. In Northern Europe, a region physically similar to Canada, the corresponding figure ranges from 12 to 20 percent. What are the barriers that keep Canada from expanding the use of bioenergy here?
• Low energy prices
Canada has very large reserves of fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal – and a significant investment in energy production based on these nonrenewable sources. As a result of this and other factors, energy prices in Canada are typically less than half of what they are in much of Europe.
• Lack of capital
The capital costs of building bioenergy plants range between $1500 and $2500 per kW – much higher than for fossil energy plants. As a result, …show more content…
Business needs to see the technology in use; non-governmental organizations can promote it, governments can sponsor demonstration projects. For example, government buildings could be heated with bioenergy. And successful bioenergy project partnerships with industry would encourage even greater use of the technology. Workable models of financing Government incentives for start-up costs, for example, can generate private-sector interest in setting up self-financing bioenergy project models. This is not necessarily difficult: some forest industries have so much biomass byproduct that they will pay to have it hauled away. These materials can be used to create energy. Successful biomass-based energy projects using waste-wood-based financing models are now in development or operating in several regions in Canada. (Canadian Bioenergy
Bioenergy use is good for Canada. Its benefits include reduction of greenhouse gas and other emissions, waste management, energy cost control and energy supply stability. Yet bioenergy use in Canada currently represents only about 6 percent of the total primary energy supply. In Northern Europe, a region physically similar to Canada, the corresponding figure ranges from 12 to 20 percent. What are the barriers that keep Canada from expanding the use of bioenergy here?
• Low energy prices
Canada has very large reserves of fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal – and a significant investment in energy production based on these nonrenewable sources. As a result of this and other factors, energy prices in Canada are typically less than half of what they are in much of Europe.
• Lack of capital
The capital costs of building bioenergy plants range between $1500 and $2500 per kW – much higher than for fossil energy plants. As a result, …show more content…
Business needs to see the technology in use; non-governmental organizations can promote it, governments can sponsor demonstration projects. For example, government buildings could be heated with bioenergy. And successful bioenergy project partnerships with industry would encourage even greater use of the technology. Workable models of financing Government incentives for start-up costs, for example, can generate private-sector interest in setting up self-financing bioenergy project models. This is not necessarily difficult: some forest industries have so much biomass byproduct that they will pay to have it hauled away. These materials can be used to create energy. Successful biomass-based energy projects using waste-wood-based financing models are now in development or operating in several regions in Canada. (Canadian Bioenergy