A New Renewable Energy Strategy – Final Report to the Government of Nova Scotia
December 28th 2009 Submitted by: Dr Michelle Adams &. Dr David Wheeler Faculty of Management Dalhousie University. 48 pages.
Available on the web archive at
https://web.archive.org/web/20111123122527/http://www.gov.ns.ca/energy/resources/EM/renewable/Wheeler-Renewable-Stakeholder-Consultation-Report.pdf
Stakeholder Perspectives on Environmental Impacts
There were two issues that dominated the submissions regarding the environmental
impacts associated with addressing the 2015 target: a) the recognition that Nova Scotia
needs to include renewable energy into the grid as a response to climate change
mitigation and emissions reduction; and b) the concern of over the use of forest biomass
in electricity generation and the potential for negative impacts on biodiversity.
Related to the first point, stakeholders were generally supportive of the 2015 target and
broadly expressed a desire to reduce the Province’s dependence on fossil fuels,
particularly coal. The dissention within the group occurred within discussions on how to
best move this agenda forward, i.e. type and size of renewable projects. This divergence
of opinion was most apparent within the forest biomass debate.
While almost all submissions recognized that the use of wood for heat energy was
common-place in Nova Scotia homes, there were few submissions that discussed current
use of Nova Scotia forest-biomass for energy generation at an industrial level, such as
found at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Brooklyn Energy, or those European
thermal generation stations currently importing biomass from Nova Scotia.
There is significant concern within some stakeholder groups that the use of forest biomass for any larger-scale energy generation will result in irreparable ecological damage to Nova
Scotian forests. The diametrically opposed point of view is that under-utilized forest-
biomass is an economic waste and its use within the energy mix should be maximized,
limited only by what makes economic sense (related to transportation distances and ease
of stand access).
Within that spectrum were those that believed that there is a place for forest-biomass within the renewable-energy mix, provided rigorous checks and balances are in place to ensure the sustainability of supply and the maintenance of the ecological integrity of Nova Scotia’s forests. Some stakeholder groups argued that there should be limits put on the use of biomass that fall well within the estimated availabilities being projected by researchers and government scientists; they felt it would be imprudent to move beyond these kinds of conservative estimates without further scientific research.