A Case For Biomass Cogen Or Community Scale Composting In The Slocan Valley

This blog post is an endorsement for the "Kootenay Biomass Recovery Initiative," a project by Slocan Integrated Forestry Cooperative (SIFCO). A multi-stakeholder discussion group met in early March to highlight the urgent need to optimize value from the following biomass resource streams: * Springer Creek Sawmill (hog fuel) * Municipal biosolids and landfill biomass * Other agricultural and clean industrial biomass The bulk of this valuable material, estimated at 125,000 metric tonnes per year has previously been sold for the cost of transport to foreign combined heat and power (CHP) plants, or simply land applied, landfilled or burned locally without energy or nutrient recovery at great expense to local businesses and municipalities. The record high (and increasing) price of fossil fuels, the net loss of nutrients from the Columbia Basin, and an increasingly efficient global industry means that "business as usual" is no longer possible in many sectors of our local economy. To this point, a local sawmill run by Springer Creek Forest Products Ltd. has ceased operations. With the high price of energy, transport and labor, and the low price of finished lumber, the mill is not able to invest in the substantial capital equipment required to produce CHP in order to reduce operating cost. They can however, provide hog fuel biomass if a local enterprise can consistently utilize it, and in exchange provide heat and power to the mill at a reasonable rate. The associated cost savings may provide the efficiency the mill requires to reopen and to take advantage of Asia's building boom, keeping value-added milling jobs and dollars in our community. Along with the milling biomass, the regional district and waste management companies are currently burdened by the cost of operating transport trucks, transfer stations, landfills and wastewater treatment plants teeming with recoverable (but as yet unharnessed) nutrient and energy materials. If a proximal bioenergy and nutrient recovery facility were available to handle the materials, source separation may be possible using the cost savings garnered from the diversion of the recoverable biomass from its facilities. These nitrogenous materials can then potentially be combined with hog fuel carbon to produce the nutrients required for silviculture, food production, landscaping and site remediation in our area. Given this information, we are supporting a move for two biomass feasibility studies to be prepared within 50 days of today's date: 1. Construction and operation of a renewable 10-12KW combined heat and power (CHP) unit, and its connection to BC Hydro lines; 2. Construction and operation of a community-scale compost facility for the creation of safe and nutrient-rich soil produced by diversion of existing biomass streams. Creating green jobs for local families, improving soil ecology in the basin, generating resilient renewable energy, reducing operating cost for municipalities and business -the argument for a social enterprise to fulfill both or either biomass optimization project is perfectly clear. As energy costs continue to escalate, the need for action has never been more urgent for Kootenay residents and businesses. We are hereby requesting your support for this initiative, and look forward to be able to share the findings of the studies. Paul Kelly