Around 200,000 people in Canada live in diesel-dependent communities, most of whom are Indigenous and face major challenges. A new report claims that a transition to a more environmentally friendly fuel source could also reduce their wildfire risk.
The recent paper, published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, identified dual benefits if Canada’s First Nations transitioned away from diesel fuels to “fire-smart” fuels.
Around 70% of the Indigenous communities within the country are off Canada’s electricity grid and are dependent on diesel-powered generators as their main sources of both power and heat, causing energy insecurity problems and worsening climate change.
“Diesel-dependent remote communities pay approximately 2–6 times more for energy…than the average Canadian, even with subsidies,” the report said. “Since 2017, the Government of Canada, has supported over one hundred clean energy projects, including bioenergy via its Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities program and many fire-prone communities have expressed the need to integrate local biomass management with wildland fire management plans.”
“They found that 30 of the 33 communities could meet their annual energy needs by harvesting less than 1% of their local biomass.”
The researchers identified 33 diesel-dependent communities at high wildfire risk due to the accumulation of flammable forest fuels. They found that 30 of the 33 communities could meet their annual energy needs by harvesting less than 1% of their local biomass. If communities made such a transition from diesel to wood-based bioenergy, the researchers said their energy insecurity issues and wildfire risk would be greatly reduced.
Canadian Forest Service Landscape Restoration Researcher Nicolas Mansuy told WildfireToday that there are numerous barriers for diesel-dependent communities that want to transition to new energy sources, including:
- Infrastructure and logistics constraints
- Technical capacity and skilled labor
- Long-term funding and operational support
- Policy and regulatory barriers
- Community readiness and energy planning gaps
- Lack of reliable and localized data
The nation’s Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities program, however, can help expand the transition, according to Mansuy. The program already supports bioenergy projects and encourages communities to use local feedstocks from local forest management, salvage logging, and fuel treatments.
The study claims to be the first Canada-wide assessment of potential biomass extraction for bioenergy and wildfire risk mitigation.
“Although we conducted the analysis on a limited number of off-grid communities, our findings clearly demonstrate that remote off-grid communities, which are predominantly Indigenous, face the dual threats of wildfire and energy insecurity,” the researchers said. “Given the growing wildfire risk and the need for energy security in Indigenous communities, Indigenous leadership, and collaboration with wildland fire agencies, are essential for developing integrated fuel management strategies and identifying synergies with the bioenergy sector.”
1 Comment
Many of these remote communities that have sufficient volume of trees near their communities could support a combined heat and power energy system provided by wood. As you mentioned, a study would have to confirm the timber supply, a management strategy to deliver it to the facility – logging to remove wildfire risk then tree transport, implement a forest management strategy to maintain the supply long term, and get financing to build and manage the facility.
Historically, it has been least expensive easiest to use diesel fuel to supply energy. Wildfires seemed a thing of the remote past. Times have changed as the trees get old and are more flammable. Implementation will take time, but getting started ASAP.
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