Event to demonstrate local, renewable energy source that also keeps our waterways clean

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WINNIPEG—April 22, 2014—What if there were a way to reduce the amount of harmful nutrients that enter our urban waterways and eventually Lake Winnipeg, and at the same time create a locally-sourced, renewable, organic source of energy? On Wednesday April 23, 2014, at 9:45 a.m. at the Living Prairie Museum, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), in partnership with the City of Winnipeg, will be hosting an event to demonstrate how pellets of cattails and grasses, sourced from Winnipeg, can be burned to generate clean energy and also improve the health of our city’s waterways.

This media-friendly event, in honour of Earth Day on April 22, will showcase a pellet stove that can burn these locally-sourced pellets of cattail and grasses to create clean energy. Guests will be able to see firsthand how the stove works, and learn how harvesting cattails can improve water quality by preventing harmful phosphorus ending up in urban waterways and Lake Winnipeg, which was named the most threatened lake in the world in 2013 by the Global Nature Fund.

Speakers will include Rodney Penner, city naturalist at the City of Winnipeg; Hank Venema, vice-president, business development, IISD; and Glenn Crook, vice-president, Commercial Financial Services at RBC Royal Bank. There will be refreshments available and all guests will receive samples of the pellets.

“We are delighted to be working with our partners at the City of Winnipeg and the Royal Bank of Canada to demonstrate the bioeconomy concept in action: using biomass to protect Lake Winnipeg, provide renewable energy and recycle phosphorus for fertilizer,” said Hank Venema, vice-president, business development at IISD.

“This is an impressive and innovative local project which can have a positive impact on our urban waterways and offer other environmental benefits," says Glenn Crook, vice-president, Commercial Financial Services at Royal Bank of Canada. "That’s why we are so delighted to support this initiative through the RBC Blue Water Project, our global commitment to help provide access to swimmable, fishable, drinkable water now and for future generations."

Event details:

Living Prairie Museum, 2795 Ness Avenue, Winnipeg

Wednesday April 23, 2014, 9:45 a.m.

Cattails and grasses are able to capture nutrients (such as phosphorus) before they enter our freshwater rivers and lakes and can cause algal blooms. The City of Winnipeg became involved in this pilot project as a way to add value and sustainability to existing vegetation management procedures. In order to maintain water flow in ditches the City of Winnipeg already removes cattail where required. It also maintains stands of tallgrass prairie which require maintenance such as mowing or burning to remain healthy. Before 2014, these plant materials had no significant use. Now, the City is working with IISD in this pilot project to convert them into pellets that can be burned to create a sustainable, environmentally-friendly source of energy. IISD has been creating Manitoba-sourced bioenergy for the last eight years, and this project sees the sourcing move from rural Manitoba to Winnipeg.

For more information please contact Sumeep Bath, media and communications officer, at sbath@iisd.org or +1 (204) 958 7740.

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