Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd just like to take a quick second to say something. I'm not a standing member of the committee. I'm filling in for my friend Marc Serré, whose father passed away. I'm sure the committee joins me in sending the entire Serré family our condolences.
My first question is for Mr. Murray.
I represent the Madawaska—Restigouche riding, in New Brunswick. The forestry sector is the economic heart and lungs of my entire riding. When you talk about wood pellets and other forest products, I hear you loud and clear.
We hear a lot about wood pellets for domestic use, among other things. Efforts are being made to repurpose coal power plants to use wood pellets for heating. I'd just like to let you know that, in New Brunswick, the government is running a pilot project. A hospital is being heated using strictly wood pellets, in order to compare the institution's costs and savings. It's at the Grand Falls General Hospital, in my colleague T.J. Harvey's riding.
I'm going to play the devil's advocate for a minute. An inventor in my riding has a technology that can dry biomass without an external heat source, in other words, without diesel or wood chips to remove moisture; I saw it in action. The result is significant. The dried biomass powder generates so many kilojoules that pulp and paper boilers wouldn't be able to keep up. The biomass-drying process uses friction, but they are electric motors. No external components are necessary, neither motor nor diesel. Nothing else is involved.
A few months ago, European scientists talked to the committee about biomass torrefaction, which creates an even more efficient powder that perfectly meets the needs of most European plants. One of the scientists was from the Netherlands, if my memory serves me correctly.
I'm playing the devil's advocate here. Although I love wood pellets, aren't they a bit outdated? Can't we do better with our biomass?