Energy extracted from solid biomass (wood waste, pellets, etc.) serves essentially for heat production, with only a small share being used for electricity production. Liquid fuels (ethanol and biodiesel), also produced from biomass, are mainly mixed with their fossil counterparts to allow fuel distributors to meet provincial and federal mandates respecting gasoline and diesel blends, which vary from 2% to 10%. The Clean Fuel Standard currently developed by the federal government will amend these constraints on fuel distributors, as discussed in Chapter 5.
Although solid biomass is largely produced locally, more than 44% of biofuels used in Canada are imported (Table 2.5), almost all of which comes from the US.
Table 2.5 – Production and trade of biofuels in Canada (2018) #
