Canadian researcher says $80 billion export potential from biofuels made from beetle-infested trees

In Canada, environmental engineer Paul Nash of Sustainable Solutions International released an analysis of wood-waste opportunities in British Columbia, which along with Alberta has been devastated by beetle infestations. Nash pointed out that the US-Canada softwood lumber trade agreement places restrictions on the export of woods, but not fuels made from woods.

He said that the forests are worthless as forest products, but have value as fuel feedstock for several years, and worth $128 per ton based on the cost of natural gas. Nash said that BC has up to $80 billion in potential export income from trees, based on a yield of 42 gallons of crude oil equivalent per ton of wood biomass, which contains 16 GJ of energy per ton.

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