Premier McNeil’s government took a step in the right direction with its recent decision to end the “must run” status of the Point Tupper biomass boiler. However, far bigger steps remain to be taken. Here are two: 1) Renewable energy regulations need to be amended to require that biomass be burned at an efficiency of 60%. A typical household wood stove does at least that! The Point Tupper boiler only has an efficiency of 21%. Existing facilities that cannot be improved to perform at this level should be decommissioned. 2) Primary forest biomass should be eliminated from the list of renewable electricity sources, given that under typical conditions, forest biomass releases more CO2 than coal, a fuel we obviously must avoid in our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.