Biomass Projects

Biomass is one of our oldest sources of energy, having been used for thousands of years, ever since people began to burn wood to cook food, to keep warm or to forge metal. Today fossil fuels have largely replaced biomass as the major source of energy in industrialized countries, but new opportunities for biomass energy are developing as environmental and economic concerns encourage governments, industries and consumers to explore alternatives to fossil fuels, including renewable sources such as biomass. Wood remains the world’s largest source of biomass, but wood is not the only biomass fuel. The wide variety of biomass fuel sources also includes:

• wastes from forestry and sawmill operations (bark, wood chips, sawdust and logging debris)
• urban wood wastes (shipping pallets, packing and construction wood)
• agricultural wastes (such as crop residues)
• energy crops (including fast-growing trees like poplar and willow)
• other natural resources (such as straw and peat)
• organic wastes (such as animal manure and food processing wastes)
• organic waste (found in municipal sewage and landfills)

Biomass currently accounts for approximately 6% of total energy production in Canada.

Leading biopower producing countries, 2005:

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