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Turning waste into energy

A total of 16 participants gathered at the Athabasca Train Station Feb. 12 for the Athabasca Renewable Energy Co-Op's session on biomass energy production — the burning of plant and animal waste materials. Presented by Biomass Energy Techniques Inc.

A total of 16 participants gathered at the Athabasca Train Station Feb. 12 for the Athabasca Renewable Energy Co-Op's session on biomass energy production — the burning of plant and animal waste materials.

Presented by Biomass Energy Techniques Inc. chief operating officer Dan Duckering, co-op leader Harvey Scott the session looked at "one of our oldest and most trusted forms of renewable energy production."

Town of Athabasca Mayor Colleen Powell and Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette attended, as well as people from as far away as Slave Lake and Lac La Biche.

"The problem we are all trying to solve is this global energy issue," Duckering said. "We have oil, coal, oil and gas are creating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that we are we all know that are creating a problem for our environment."

He said there are only 11 biomass energy production systems in Canada, but about 80 in the United States. Duckering said Canada's largest unit is in La Crete, Alberta which has a 22 Million BTU output, where 22 per cent of the mill's bark waste is consumed as fuel.

"Currently we have these increasing energy demands that continue to grow," Duckering said. "Right now there are three billion people without modern energy. We have a lack of reliable and economic alternatives, and the world is really slow to embrace change for whatever reason."

He offered as an example that Slave Lake spends $600,000 to remove waste, when it could be paying for people to bring waste in to burn rather than removing it.

"I visited a two acre greenhouse with in-floor heat, all with no power — our commercial customers are people who are running a business and using our system to create their energy," Duckering said. "We see that a lot in poultry operation, and lots of greenhouse operations."

Potential uses

Powell said she was interested in approaches that were "more environmentally and avoids costs."

"Getting support all the way through for that is not as easy as it looks," she said. "I think (Duckwell's) product would possibly work with Al-Pac."

Ken Hayes also said they are hauling wood chips from the Slave Lake mill and spreading the chips across fields for agricultural fertilization, and that the chips could also be used for a biomass arrangement under Duckering's system.

Solar energy enthusiast Dale Boisvert said that he is working on at the Slave Lake pulp mill hauling sledge and using it for fertilizer on their fields, and that the biomass program could possibly apply to their site.

"Do you mean like cleaning up their whole site right on-site? Like we did with Slave Lake Pulp Mill and their sledge?  We now farm their land right there" said Boisvert.

Hemp rancher and Solartrees green energy producer Chris Boudreault from the Lac La Biche area said biodiesel and biomass were both being considered at the hemp farm, as well as hemp agricultural processing plant with renewable energy, solar and biomass.

Other ideas for power generation

Scott said the ARRECo-op is open to new ideas.

"The first time we met in December we each went around the room and two people had ideas for projects," he said. "Most of them were early stage."

Scott noted Athabasca's new pool is solar ready, but the panels have not been installed yet.

"We did manage to get the pool solar ready," he said. "In other words, the structure, the steel in the structure of the pool, is such that it can carry enough solar panels to make it worthwhile. If they can find the money to get the panels and converters, then certainly."

Powell noted that she got word there is some grant money out there to supply to the pool with green energy.

Boisvert said it needs to be easier for people to make off-grid solar accessible, but the government is not making it easy for people to do that.

"So if they really want to make it work for us they would help us more, there's more politics and that's one of my biggest frustrations with it," said Boisvert. "I'm a pro-solar guy, but not in the way we are doing it."

Scott said his solar operations at his farm produce well.

"We produce pretty well three seasons of the year, but basically we have to connect to the grid, but the people that went off-grid years ago are doing fine, also."

Boudreault said they have a large budget for renewable energy in his neck of the woods near Lac La Biche.

"We are forming a solar panel install crew locally to improve the price for farmers and members, training course is this spring for those interested," he said.

"We are constructing an (electric vehicle) charging centre on Highway 63 and looking to break ground in the spring and looking for another site in Athabasca; Lac La Biche is covered already," Boudreault added. "There is a workshop for local farmers going to be offered in March to discuss co-operatives and a food and agricultural co-operative specifically including industrial hemp and  solar farm(s)."

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