Toronto, Ontario [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] To promote a more diverse and sustainable supply of electricity in the future, the Ontario government is building a bio-refinery to convert forest waste to bio-oil.
The $771,000 investment is part of ReNew Ontario, the McGuinty government’s strategic five-year, $30-billion infrastructure investment plan. “The government is advancing the development of clean, renewable energy sources so Ontarians have cleaner air and a healthy environment,” said David Ramsay, Natural Resources Minister. “We are committed to the use of forest waste and other renewable resources to produce energy.” Under a three-year partnership with Advanced BioRefinery, the transportable bio-refinery plant will convert unused forest waste into a bio-oil that can be used as fuel to provide heat and electricity, and to make byproducts such as plastics and glues. A sustainable supply of unused forest waste or biomass is available in Ontario ‘s forests, such as tree tops, limbs and waste left after logging operations; trees destroyed by fire, insects and disease; and logs that can’t be sold. “Our government is committed to ensuring that five percent of Ontario’s electricity capacity comes from clean, renewable sources by 2007,” said Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy. “We are continuing to remove barriers to cleaner energy and conservation, and this project will help us meet that objective.”
