Energy

Energy

We generate two-thirds (over 60%) of our energy needs with renewable, carbon-neutral biomass fuel sources co-located with our mills
Since 2012, we have installed 33 continuous kilns in our operations
Read more about our energy projects and iniatives

We are a large electricity consumer and our pulp, paper and MDF operations use substantially more than our lumber and plywood operations. Our energy reduction objectives are:
To further increase energy efficiency throughout our operations by investing capital; and
To continue to research and develop alternate ways to generate or procure renewable energy.

We have invested a significant amount in several projects to increase our energy efficiency and to generate electricity from our manufacturing by-products such as wood waste and pulp mill effluent. From 2000 to 2017, our energy initiatives have resulted in a decrease in the intensity of purchased energy of approximately 41% for our sawmill and panel operations and approximately 19% for our pulp and newsprint operations.

To put it in scale, bioenergy represents about 5% of Canada’s total primary energy resources. After hydro-electricity, biomass is the second most important renewable energy source in Canada, with the forest industry’s use accounting for the largest share. West Fraser currently generates two-thirds (over 60%) of our energy needs with renewable, carbon-neutral biomass fuel sources co-located with our mills.

Our biomass fuel sources include lower value woody materials such as bark, shavings and sawdust that are a by-product of our manufacturing processes. This biomass is used to fuel steam or electricity cogeneration facilities at our solid wood and pulp operations, particularly in equipment like our lumber drying kilns. We have increased our use of all of the wood fibre that enters our facilities to produce renewable, carbon-neutral energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. Today, 89% of our mills generate some form of renewable energy from residual biomass.

Our approach to energy is on our website under the Bioenergy section and within the Air & GHG’s page in the Responsibility section.

For all of our energy data below, facilities not wholly owned by West Fraser are calculated based on equity share of the energy inputs to the facility. To date, all partnerships are 50%.

302-1 Energy consumption within the organization

Our electricity use increased slightly in 2017 due to increased production.

	2016	2017
Bioenergy consumed (wood processing residuals and pulping liquors)	37,760,977	38,393,366
Purchased energy	18,382,826	19,209,881
Total Energy Consumed (GJ)	56,143,803	57,603,247

As part of our objective to fully utilize every log in our operations, we use the woody by-products (residuals) of our lumber manufacturing to produce energy. Over the last several years we have greatly increased our consumption of this carbon-neutral fuel source. For example, in our solid wood operations our biomass energy consumption has grown by two and a half times since 2000:

Growth in use of carbon-neutral biomass energy

302-2 Energy consumption outside of the organization

We do not currently track this energy consumption.

302-3 Energy intensity

Our energy intensity is measured per unit of production as a percentage of improvement compared to our baseline year, 2000. We do not publicly report energy efficiency per production unit.

	2016	2017
Solid wood operations (lumber, panels) (GJ per m3)	Down 45%	Down 41%
Pulp operations (GJ per air dried metric tonne)	Down 20%	Down 19%

302-4 Reduction of energy consumption

Since 2012, we have installed 33 continuous kilns in our operations. These lumber kilns capture and use heat more efficiently from the drying process. Where they are operating, continuous kilns fueled by biomass make a 25% improvement in our energy efficiency at our sawmills.

We have invested in Low-Consistency Refining technology in our BCTMP pulp operations. By applying a continued focus on optimizing refining energy, for example, Slave Lake Pulp has been able to reduce electrical intensity by over 14% per ADMT (air-dried metric tonne) in the last two years (2016-2017).

302-5 Reduction of energy requirements of products and services

We operate two BCTMP pulp mills, which manufacture pulp in a highly electrically-intensive mechanical pulping process within a trade-exposed market. Electrical costs can make up as much as 35% of the manufacturing expenses for BCTMP pulp. We set annual targets for reducing the electrical intensity of the BCTMP pulp we manufacture.

MWh/ADMT	2016	2017
Target % of Change	Down 2.5%	Down 1.1%
% Actual Change achieved	Down 4.9%	Down 3.8%

Search form

Growth in use of carbon-neutral biomass energy