The cross-border opportunity on how to enhance Canada-US energy trade : Panel 3 : toward seamless trade in power and emission reductions

This third panel discussion on seamless trade in power and emissions reductions addressed the impact of energy issues on agriculture. In particular, it focused on biomass as an energy source to address the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. Although ethanol, biodiesel and other biomass are not going to completely replace petroleum in the near future, renewables such as biomass, wind, solar and geothermal energy sources will be part of the energy mix. It was noted that biomass can be produced in abundance in North America. In addition to being renewable and carbon neutral, biomass can be used in existing transportation/stationary fuels infrastructure. It was suggested that growing energy crops such as corn, soybeans, switchgrass and short-rotation woody crops represent the best potential to bring under-utilized agricultural lands back into productive use. The power industry's interest in biomass was also discussed. The Department of Energy has estimated that using syngas from biomass for fuel cells can be cost competitive with natural gas at current prices. The discussion also addressed the role of biomass in the 13-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) which was launched to limit and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the Mid-Atlantic and New England states. 7 figs