One March day in Prince George

Very interesting day in Prince George yesterday at the biomass energy conference co-sponsored by Forrex. Also, first time I’ve ever been in their civic centre — great building, not overbuilt, very usable. Also, first time I’ve ever been in Prince George this time of year when it wasn’t about 3o below.

Perhaps I exaggerate, but I lived there in the late 1960s and one of the enduring memories of the place is thumping down the street in my car first thing in the morning until the flat spot on the tires thawed out. Another one is the large flies that ate you alive on summer evenings.

As for the conference, very enlightening, fast paced with lots of presentations on energy sources, though they focused on “clean” fuel rather than waste like garbage, offal and railway ties. From what’s going on around the province, I’m convinced there’s a huge knowledge gap on the part of the public and, therefor, a lot of suspicion.

Even the use of beetle wood, pellets and other fuel in such projects gets people worried about emissions. Not hard to see why using waste for fuel gets them riled up.