Local College Heats Up with Cattails

Providence University College Providing Watershed Moments for Manitoba’s Bioeconomy

Winnipeg, April 15, 2016—Providence University College in Otterburne, Manitoba is proving what International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) researchers have been predicting for years: that biomass pellets consisting of a mixture of wood chips and cattails can be an affordable, reliable and environmentally-friendly source of heat for buildings.

“This is very exciting for IISD and all of our partners along our chain from those harvesting cattails on the landscape to production of the pellets and eventually to the heating of the college via their heating system,” said Richard Grosshans, a senior research scientist at IISD.

“We always believed that one way to keep wetlands on the landscape would be to prove their economic values alongside the environmental values that they provide to society. Through our partnership with Providence University College, we have proven that the system can work in the depths of a Manitoba winter with a product supply that can match demand.”

IISD’s innovative approach harvests cattail and other plants from marginal agricultural land, water retention sites, and drainage ditches to remove nutrients and contaminants absorbed by the plants, and then uses plant biomass to produce low carbon energy to replace fossil fuels. With the elimination on the use of coal for space heating in Manitoba, there is an accelerating strong demand for quality processed biomass fuel. Manitoba’s Hutterite communities are leading this charge.

The use of this exciting new source of renewable energy will be showcased at Providence University College at a media event today at 11am, with a demonstration of the university’s biomass-fuelled heating system in operation as well as a discussion of the economics and environmental benefits of this system for Manitoba with project leaders.

“Providence has been burning biomass since 2011 and burned its first cattail pellets in January 2016. They burned exceptionally, and we were extremely pleased with the product. At present our campus is powered by approximately 70 per cent renewable sources,” said Jarrad Peters, creative content specialist at Providence University College. “Providence is committed to being a leader in the green energy sector, as we believe sustainable solutions to environmental questions are integral to the fulfillment of our institutional mission.”

Grosshans says the great thing is these approaches can be applied globally in countries with far greater issues than North America.

“Innovative solutions developed here in Manitoba to collectively deal with our flooding, nutrient, and carbon reduction issues that also create economic growth and jobs will help us and the global community,” he said. “With coal no longer an option, several colonies are producing compressed biomass – including cattails- as fuel for their own heating demands. These are the foundations that support the green economy, bioeconomy-based water, and energy management concepts developed and used in Manitoba.”

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For more information contact Sumeep Bath, media and communications officer, IISD at (204) 958-7740 or sbath@iisd.ca.