Agri-Based Biomass Fuels - An Opportunity for Nova Scotia, Canada.

In 2007, the Nova Scotia government passed The Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act.  Within this Act, it was acknowledged that the health of the economy, the environment, and the people of the Province are interconnected.  One of the key goals of this Act is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to at least 10% below 1990 levels by 2020.  The rising concern over GHG emissions and their effect on climate change presents an opportunity for the agricultural industry to lead a solution based on renewable fuels in the form of biomass.  Agri-based biomass is also an opportunity to alleviate public concerns over land application of bio-solids on food production systems.  The contentious social stigma over food based use of bio-solids is eliminated by applying the product to biomass crops.  Agri-biomass production on 40,000 ha can develop with no impact on current food production, and can co-exist with farming practices already in place.  The agri-biomass bioenergy sector could provide a variety of opportunities that meet sustainable development, including: the creation of energy business opportunities (agri-biomass base for heat, electricity generation from waste products using anaerobic digestion, production of transport fuels, recovery of oils from waste products), environmental stewardship (grass based systems sequester carbon quickly and annually, diversion of organic carbon from landfills and conversion to valuable oils, low input requirements, adherence to Environmental Farm and Nutrient Management Plans), as well as benefit for the greater good (employment and retention in rural areas, maintenance of economically viable farm operations and productive agricultural land in the countryside, public perception, plus numerous other social multipliers).  An agri-biomass biofuel venture is a move from ‘business as usual’ and represents both a fundamental shift in the mindset of producers who typically have focused solely on the agri-food sector as well as a systemic change for the Department.