Alberta could be bio-energy leader

Petroleum News

A U.S. biotech consultant says Alberta’s shrinking oil and gas reserves could be replaced by bio-energy from the province.

Speaking at the annual general meeting for AVAC Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta, James McLaren, president of Missouri-based StrathKirn Inc., said: “Within the foreseeable future, Alberta’s ‘emerging bio-infrasystems’ could become analogous to its highly evolved and complex hydrocarbon-based industry.”

“We’re already seeing tremendous interest and advancement in developing bio-energy in Alberta,” said Keith Jones, president and CEO of AVAC, a Calgary-based venture capital organization that is promoting the growth of agri-value — secondary agricultural knowledge and production — in Canada. “Businesses and researchers are testing and refining methods and technology to use products and byproducts such as canola and methane as clean, affordable and renewable sources of fuel.”

AVAC said it recently supported three Albertans on a trip to Germany to examine opportunities to use canola-based lubricants in automobiles.