Short-Rotation Woody Crops Field Day and Exhibition

Short-Rotation Woody Crops Field Day and Exhibition
Hearst, ON, September 28, 2010


Staff from Natural Resources Canada and the Town of Hearst co-hosted a one day event showcasing concentrated woody biomass (short rotation coppice) for bioenergy and bioproducts on September 28th, in Hearst, Ontario. They played host to upwards of 75 participants and guests from all over Ontario and Quebec. People in attendance included the staff from the OMNR, NRCan, energy and manufacturing sector, regional municipalities, forest consultants and their affiliates, private growers, interested NGO’s, and researchers. Presenters included staff from both organizations hosting the event as well as industry, consultants and owner-operators.

The host site is owned by Villeneuve Construction Ltd. and is one of four sites established under the Bioenergy Plantation Project for Northern Ontario. Funding for this 4-year project is provided in large part by Natural Resources Canada, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and FedNor, with each of the 4 partners contributing funding as well. Clients were given presentations in the morning at the university auditorium on a variety of topics including: short rotation coppice willow/hybrid poplar establishment; growth and yield; site and clone suitability; propagation options, methods and techniques for maintenance; input costs and economics (feasibility of such plantation ventures); carbon measurement and monitoring practices and protocols; biomass production systems; and harvest and recovery systems. Other topics included presentations by an owner-operator in southern Quebec, Cochrane Power Corporation and Anderson Group (commercially available bio-baler harvester). Demonstrations of mechanized approaches to establishment, cultivation techniques and harvesting systems were also included in the afternoon field visit of the plantation site.

For lunch, participants were served locally made burgers and sausages cooked on-site under a very welcoming tent. The weather was rather cool and windy. However, a great day was had by all.

La CDE à Syracus NY

Hearst, le 22 octobre 2010

Le directeur général de la Corporation de développement économique de Hearst revient d’un congrès à State University of New York College of Environment Science and Forestry SUNY-ESF à Syracus. La conférence portait sur les plantations de saules à croissance rapide; les défis et opportunités. La récolte de saules existe depuis plusieurs décennies en Europe et commence tranquillement à faire son apparition en Amérique du Nord. Le saule est utilisé comme approvisionnement de bois pour produire de l’énergie renouvelable. Le marché de biomasse provenant de plantations énergétiques est pour l’instant très restreint au pays. Malgré cela, la Corporation de développement économique de Hearst s’y intéresse depuis 2006. Elle croit fortement que l’énergie renouvelable constitue une opportunité de diversification économique prometteuse et que l’approvisionnement de bois à proximité d’usines de transformation sera la clé du succès de cette industrie.
SUNY-ESF a développé à travers les ans une expertise reconnue en Amérique du Nord dans la production d’espèces de saules propices à une multitude de climats et de sols. Ed White de SUNY-ESF avait présenté un atelier sur la plantation énergétique lors de la conférence BES en 2006. Le voyage a permis de renouer avec Ed White et celui-ci affirmait être agréablement surpris du cheminement de la communauté de Hearst depuis 2006. La Corporation de développement économique possède depuis 2007, en collaboration avec ses partenaires locaux et régionaux, une plantation énergétique à croissance rapide. Utilisée à des fins de recherche, elle a pour but d’aider à développer l’expertise locale et trouver les meilleures espèces propices à notre climat ardu. « Nous désirons développer cette industrie comme moyen de produire de la biomasse proche de notre communauté en utilisant des terres en friches » affirme Daniel Sigouin, directeur général de la Corporation.
En plus d’en apprendre plus sur les défis et les opportunités de cette industrie encore en développement, le congrès a permis d’établir de bons contacts avec des chercheurs et intervenants dans le domaine. Nous pouvons voir une photo de M. Sigouin avec Renato Pacaldo, Philippin et candidat au doctorat à SUNY-ESF. Renato Pacaldo est scientiste et étudie les sols et est aussi spécialiste du carbone provenant de la biomasse. Il affirme être très impressionné par le concept du Centre de technologies vertes et de nos efforts pour développer la bioéconomie dans le Nord de l’Ontario.
Des représentants de l’entreprise Villeneuve Construction étaient également présents lors du voyage. Ceux-ci s’intéressent grandement par ce nouveau produit et ont bien apprécié le voyage. Villeneuve Construction étudie actuellement la possibilité de planter 15 acres en saules à croissance rapide le printemps prochain. La compagnie possède plusieurs acres de terres en friches dans le Nord de l’Ontario et aimerait bien les exploiter.

Lumberjacks' goaltender Joel Vienneau enjoying life 'down south'

Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010, 10:19 PM Updated: Thursday, October 21, 2010, 10:24 PM
Ron Rop | The Muskegon Chronicle
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When you live as far “up north” as Joel Vienneau, there are certain things you can be assured of finding in your hometown.

Cold weather, plenty of snow, pond hockey, good hunting and excellent fishing are all traits of Hearst, Ont., a small town of less than 6,000 people and a “long drive to everywhere.” Hearst is a 12-hour drive north of Muskegon.

Vienneau, the No. 1 goaltender for Muskegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League, is pursuing his dream of playing hockey, but he also misses his time back home in the great outdoors.

“I love to be in the bush to hunt and fish,” Vienneau said.

Among his targets while fishing are walleye, pike and smallmouth bass. Hunting season brings moose, birds and bears. At the age of 14, he bagged a calf moose that tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds.

“The last three years I’ve been playing juniors so there’s no time to hunt and fish,” said Vienneau, who started playing goaltender at the age of 5.

Vienneau is expected to be in net at 7:15 p.m. Saturday when the Jacks host the Indiana Ice.

“We’re only five games into the season,” Vienneau said. “It would be good to get that first home win.”

Vienneau has his sights set pretty high in hockey. He’s commited to playing at the University of Minnesota and he’s hoping to hear his name called next summer when the National Hockey League conducts its annual Entry Draft.

Vienneau, 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, reached as high as No. 14 on the NHL Central Scouting report, but his name wasn’t called during this past year’s draft. That was a disappointment, but he’s determined to keep working.

“I need to play good to be ranked and Muskegon is the place to do it,” Vienneau said. “I just have to play good and keep winning.”

Last season, he led the Kingston Voyageurs to the playoff finals, where they lost in overtime of Game 7. During the regular season, he was 27-4-1 with a .928 save percentage.

“We did good, I think we lost eight games all year,” said Vienneau, who attended an offseason goaltender’s camp in Nashville, Tenn.

That success prompted a phone call from the expansion Lumberjacks.

“We firmly believed when we recruited him and offered him a tender that he had the talent and the ability to be our starter,” Lumberjack coach Kevin Patrick said. Vienneau was one of six players who were signed prior to the USHL draft.

Thus far, Vienneau has played in every game and posted a 1-3-1 record and a 3.98 goals-against-average. Despite the elevated GAA, the last two games have been stellar.

He blanked Sioux City last Friday on 19 shots and allowed two goals in a 2-1 setback the next evening in Fargo.

“His timing and his confidence continue to grow,” Patrick said. “Joel is a talented goaltender who has excellent size and athletic ability in the net. We look for him to be the backbone of our defense.”

Update on Green Initiatives

The following are green initiatives projects undertaken by the community of Hearst.

The construction of our Green Business and Technology Center has begun. It is a 2.8 million dollar project that will house a bioscience lab, a multimedia space and a Green Business Incubator Space. The Regional Information Utility Network office will also be located in that building. The Center will be a green building and will be powered by solar wind, biomass and geothermal energy, and a 10 kW MFIT. The Center will focus on education, small scale research, demonstration, partnerships, business development and incubation in the green business sector.

A total of 10, 10 kW solar PV MFIT projects or installed or being installed, and we have approximately 5 that we know of, that are under review.

The fast growing willow plantation research project with NRCan and SSIC is coming to an end. Results of the research will be released at a tech transfer event being held in Hearst September 28th, 2010.

A 10 MW solar farm will be constructed in 2010.

A 10 MW biomass energy plant (Hearst Bio Energy LP) is awaiting Economic Connection Test from Ontario Power Authority. The owners have developed a process to burn heritage piles in the area.

A district heating study to provide heat to Columbia Forest Products to replace natural gas, and to heat municipal and school buildings along the river is near completion.

The municipality is currently evaluating the possibility of using some roof tops of their own buildings for energy production.

The Municipality has three trained energy auditors, which conduct energy audits in the community.

The local Green House will be installing geothermal energy in one green house for growing vegetables destined to the local market.

Lac Wood Industries is now producing bio fuel in the form of premium wood pellets for the domestic market.

2 local contractors offer solar PV, solar thermal and geothermal supply and installation services and several retailers of renewable energy products.

As part of our Community improvement plan, phytoremediation remediation (using plants to decontaminate) of the former shell bulk plant brown field will be performed.

The town now recycles all plastics (1 to 7), paper, metal, oil, tires, paints and stains (water & oil based), batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and electronic devices.

AGRIVA, a local organization that promotes local food and local products in the area, are very active in the community thanks to a very dynamic group of volunteers. They hold a market every two weeks on Saturday mornings. On average they have 25 local producers that sell their products.

Several green initiatives are being proposed under our Sustainable Development Plan that will be presented to the community in the next month. Such as community composting, bio gas production initiatives, carbon sequestration initiatives, carbon foot print tool for local businesses and industries and eco-industrial network strategy to name a few.

Une économie en dent de scie

Une économie en dents de scie, se sont trois reportages de Louis Lessard journaliste à Radio Canada. Les reportages nous montrent un portrait de la crise actuelle et nous donnent un aperçu des efforts pour se sortir de cette crise.

Voici mes commentaires:

Le Nord de l’Ontario est depuis toujours gouverné comme une colonie sous un contrôle politique énormément centralisé. Lorsqu’une région ressource comme la nôtre fleurit économiquement et que les gens travaillent, le peuple est endormi par un confort artificiel. Lorsque l’on déstabilise ce style de vie, le sentiment d’impuissance s’installe et c’est le début de la dévitalisation des régions. L’incapacité de pouvoir se réinventer nous force à réagir et nous tourner vers le contrôle colonial afin qu’eux nous sortent du pétrin. Mais que faut-il faire? Dans le reportage Louise Bouchard fait nuance à la diversification de l’économie du Nord dans des secteurs non traditionnels, en effet pour se sortir du bois il faut peut être sortir du bois…

More bioenergy than oil in Sweden

Newly published energy statistics for 2009 show that bioenergy today makes up a larger share of Sweden’s energy use than oil: 31.7 percent bioenergy compared to 30.8 oil. These numbers confirm that Sweden is a world leader in the field of bioenergy. Biomass is used for heat and electricity, for biofuels for transport, and as energy source in industry. Almost all Swedish cities and towns have district heating using biomass as fuel. All of these applications can be seen on study tours and excursions at World Bioenergy 2010 at the end of this month.

The numbers are based on preliminary statistics from the Swedish Energy Agency and were presented by Svebio – the Swedish Bioenergy Association. The final energy use includes all sectors of the Swedish society: industry, transport, residential, services, etc.

Svebios analyses also shows that the total share of renewable energy, using the definition in EU:s renewable energy directive (RED), was 46.3 percent in 2009. This is well ahead of the EU target trajectory, and only 3.7 percent short of the EU target for Sweden of 49 percent in 2020. The major renewable energy source beside bioenergy is hydropower. Wind power is still a relatively small contributor to the energy supply.

The main reason for the fast increase of renewable energy in recent years is the steady growth of bioenergy use. Biomass is the primary energy source in the district heating sector, which supplies more than half of the total heat demand in the residential sector. The use of by-products and residues in the forest industry is another major component. Bioelectricity has expanded both with combined heat and power plants in district heating and in the forest industry. Pellets and fuelwood play a major role in heating of single homes. Finally, more than 5 percent of transport fuels are biofuels – ethanol, biodiesel and biogas. In all, the Swedish bioenergy business sector is in a phase of strong expansion, which is confirmed by the statistics.

Governor General to visit Hearst. Sudbury, Timmins

By SooToday.com StaffSooToday.comThursday, April 29, 2010NEWS RELEASEGOVERNOR GENERALOF CANADA***************************

Governor General meets with citizens in Northern Ontario OTTAWA — Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, will undertake a regional visit to Hearst, Timmins and Greater Sudbury from May 3 to 5, 2010. His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond will be joining her for the visit to Greater Sudbury. “I wanted to visit Northern Ontario, a region that impresses me greatly with the cultural vitality and energy of its communities, especially its Francophone community and the Aboriginal communities who have planted roots in this area for hundreds of years,” said the Governor General. “I also want to find out how they are facing current challenges and what solutions they are proposing, particularly when many of the sectors on which the local economy is based are going through such a difficult period.”In Hearst, Her Excellency will participate in a discussion on various partnerships between the Town of Hearst, the Constance Lake First Nation and the Municipality of Mattice-Val Côté.The Governor General will then go to Timmins to visit Porcupine mines as the city celebrates 100 years of gold production.Their Excellencies will end this regional visit in Greater Sudbury. They will visit Collège Boréal and Laurentian University. Their Excellencies will also host an Art Matters forum exploring the theme, Art’s ability to breath new life to our communities, before attending, the following evening, the event that will launch the 2010 edition of the Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury.

Chine: 15% d'énergie renouvelable d'ici 2020

La Chine oriente sa production énergétique autour des énergies renouvelables et du nucléaire, a affirmé le directeur de l'Administration nationale de l'énergie de la Chine, Zhang Guobao. 15% de la production énergétique chinoise en 2020 devrait être constituée d'énergies propres.
À l'occasion d'une entrevue accordée au quotidien China Daily la semaine dernière, Zhang Guobao a expliqué que l'atteinte de cet objectif sera rendue grâce à des investissements massifs du gouvernement chinois dans le cadre d'un plan qui s'étalera sur 10 ans.
Le directeur de l'ANE a cité le développement de l'énergie éolienne en exemple, rappelant que le potentiel énergétique lié à l'éolien pourrait s'établir à plus ou moins 2,6 milliards de KW, mais les installations actuelles ne détiennent qu'une capacité de 22 millions de KW.
Zangh a également souligné l'apport du nucléaire dans la stratégie nationale. À l'heure actuelle, 11 projets liés à l'énergie nucléaire sont en service ce qui représente un peu plus de 1% de la production d'énergie. Vingt-et-un nouveaux projets sont en construction.
Rappelons qu'en décembre dernier, lors du Sommet de Copenhague, le premier ministre chinois Wen Jiabao avait indiqué que l'Empire du Milieu désirait baisser ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre de 40% à 45% d'ici 2020 en comparaison de l'année 2005.
La Chine est le plus grand émetteur de CO2 de la planète en raison, entre autres choses, de sa dépendance au charbon qui représente toujours près de 70% de sa consommation énergétique, tandis que le pétrole, lui, représente 20%.
Source: China Daily, EIA

Forestry sector gets renewable power boost

Submitted by brett h on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 12:12.
Date: -->
Monday Mar 08, 2010
By
The Globe and Mail
Battling weak product prices and a strong loonie, Tembec Inc. chief executive officer Jim Lopez is eager to expand the company's ability to squeeze more value out of each tree felled to feed its operations.
With the sector in crisis across Canada, the federal government is encouraging companies to increase their investment in renewable power from forestry waste by establishing a $100-million fund and offering generous tax treatment.
The renewable power initiative - contained in last week's budget - was one of the few spending programs announced by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Mr. Lopez said federal action is critical to spur investment because companies have seen their balance sheets and creditworthiness hammered by the recession.
Now, the provinces have to step up to ensure that forestry companies have full access to their renewable power programs to ensure there is an attractive market for the electricity produced.
In addition to its sawmills and pulp and paper operations in Canada. Tembec runs three pulp mills in France, where government programs ensure the company can sell power into the grid at profitable rates.
"If we had the incentives in Canada that they have in France, it would be a game changer for our industry," Mr. Lopez said in an interview.
Tembec lost $214-million last year, and racked up another $9-million in losses in the first quarter of 2010. Mr. Lopez said the company is already producing power and ethanol from wood waste, but is eager to expand that business, utilizing trees tops and branches that are now simply burned in the forest.
"It's all about converting biomass into electrons," he said.
"And if the government is going to pay for the electrons, you might as well pay for them to be produced at a pulp and paper complex so that you improve the profitability of the complex and keep it viable for the long term."
While the forestry sector already provides 60 per cent of its own electricity needs from wood waste, there is opportunity to triple its power production, according to a recent study by the Forest Products Association of Canada. That additional generating capacity would be the equivalent of three nuclear reactors.
Association president Avrim Lazar applauded Mr. Flaherty's budget measure to promote renewable power in the forestry sector, even as other clean-tech advocates complained about the government's decision to let other fund programs lapse.
The four-year, $100-million program - together with accelerated writeoffs for machinery and equipment - "will give Canada the edge it needs to move into the new bio-economy," Mr. Lazar said.
The forestry industry has been bleeding employment across the country, losing jobs in small communities that represent bedrock Conservative Party support. But the Harper government has to move cautiously in supporting the sector, lest the aid provoke retaliation from the U.S. government and lumber interests who vigilantly police the bilateral softwood lumber deal.
Last June, the government announced a $1-billion program to help pulp and paper companies improve energy efficiency and environmental performance.
The current program will assist companies to invest in more efficient steam-based power turbines so they can produce electricity for re-sale as well as their own use.
A "bio-pathways" report released by the forestry association earlier this year advocated just such an approach, arguing the added value from power production would help make the entire industry - from sawmill to paper mill - more economically sustainable.
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