As the world’s coldest country, Canada consumes a lot of energy for home heating. Space heating accounts for 64 percent of Canadian residential, commercial and institutional energy consumption. The most common energy sources are natural gas, electricity and heating oil.
Compare this with Sweden and Finland, where biomass is the dominant heat energy source. In Sweden, biomass provides 66 percent of space heating, and in Finland, the figure is 59 percent. The two countries use district heating networks and modern small-scale biomass boilers designed to the European standard EN 303-5.
Biomass central heating is a mainstay in much of Europe. Western European boiler manufacturers have invested heavily in the research and design of pellet boilers, creating efficient and clean-burning systems that are fully automatic and reliable. The most advanced of these boilers recover heat from flue gas, so even condensation isn’t seen leaving these chimneys on cold days.
These new technologies aren’t generally available in Canada because existing Canadian safety standards are only appropriate for fossil fuel-fired boilers. They do not consider the latest biomass-fired boiler technologies.
Why Adopt a European Standard?
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is working to adopt the European standard, EN 303-5:2002+A1:2023 Heating Boilers – Part 5: Heating boilers for solid fuels, manually and automatically stoked, nominal heat output of up to 500 kW as a National Standard of Canada by early 2026.
By CSA adopting EN 303-5, a standard used by 28 countries, Canada will be able to:
- Demonstrate to the standards-user community that this standard has been examined and endorsed by Canada’s top technical standards experts and found relevant to the economic growth of Canada’s emerging sectors.
- Support domestic and global trade as national standards adopted by Canada meet World Trade Organization obligations and trade agreements such as the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
The rationale for this work is set out in a white paper, Certification of Small Solid Biomass Combustors (SSBC) in Canada (available in English and French). The Paper is the culmination of nearly five years of work by experts across the country to address administrative barriers which restrict the sale of boiler systems that use wood pellets into the Canadian market.
Once adopted, Canada can more easily design, manufacture and import small solid biomass combustors for Indigenous, remote and rural communities across Canada that use fossil fuel heating systems due to accessibility and affordability.
What is a small solid biomass combustor?
A small solid biomass combustor uses small quantities of biomass materials, such as wood pellets or chips, to generate heat or energy. As a low-carbon and renewable energy source, biomass has great potential to help solve the energy shortage problem and lower energy costs, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions from space heating in Canada.
Small solid biomass combustors are typically designed for small- to medium-scale applications such as residential, commercial or institutional heating systems. Over 600 are operational in Canada today, displacing propane, oil or electric baseboard heating systems for many communities.
What’s left to do?
Draft new CSA Standard: A Working Group is reviewing the EN 303-5 standard to make it more easily understood and usable in Canada and recognize existing Canadian standards that should be referenced in the adopted standard. It is expected this will be complete by November 2025.
Review and public comment: The draft needs to be reviewed and voted on by the Technical Sub-committee of CSA B366, CSA and its legal offices, and the standard with Canadian deviations will be presented for public comment.
Adoption: Once consensus has been reached under the terms defined by CSA Group, it is expected that EN 303-5 will be adopted as a Canadian standard with the Canadian deviations being currently devised. It is expected the CSA will adopt EN 303-5 by early 2026.
With adoption, Canadians will have the same access to efficient, low-carbon, small biomass central heating systems (hydronic heaters) that many across the world now enjoy, and more Canadian wood pellets can serve the heating and environmental goals of Canadians.
This is the third in a three-part series from the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s participation in the Arctic Energy Alliance’s 2025 Northwest Territories Biomass Week. Other articles include CHP 101 and BEECS Basics.
Harry “Dutch” Dresser, Ed.D., is a biomass heating expert and consultant. Gordon Murray is the Executive Director of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada.