LETTER: Hemlock holds promise for biofuel

From reader Robert Macrae

LETTER: Hemlock holds promise for biofuel

Revelstoke is exploring innovative climate action. A 2017 report for the Revelstoke Community Forest Corporation says, when sold for pulp, hemlock lumber prices are below the cost of harvest. The report proposes gasifying hemlock into a biofuel: dimethylether (DME).

DME can be used in gas and diesel vehicles after minor engine modifications and as a propane substitute for home heating. Revelstoke spends $25 million on energy annually (home heating, gasoline, diesel, and electricity), but only $12 million stays in the community. Revelstoke grows enough hemlock for gasification to meet all of its annual energy needs with a surplus.

The surplus could be sold at a profit to pay for a DME plant. A gasification plant would create local jobs, keep more of the $25 million in energy sales in the community, and drop Revelstoke’s carbon footprint to nearly zero. It pays to leave fossil fuels in the ground.

Robert Macrae

Environmental technology instructor

Castlegar

Nelson Star