The P.E.I. government is looking to trade in some heating oil bills to jumpstart a biomass heating industry on the Island.

Community Hospital in O'Leary will be one of the sites for the pilot project. (CBC)

Energy Minister Richard Brown is putting out a request for proposals on Friday for long-term contracts to heat six government buildings with biomass instead of oil. Biomass heating uses renewable resources such as wood chips or straw. Brown believes it can be a moneymaker for some Island businesses.

"It's to help start an industry on P.E.I.," said Brown.

"We have to take some risk, we have to do some investments, but in the long run I believe we're going to get a good bio-economy here with the agriculture community, the forestry community, with the woodlot owners, with the saw mills. It's just a win-win situation."

Community Hospital in O'Leary will be one site. The government garage in Summerside may be another. A few schools in Kings County are also possibilities. Companies will be offered five- to 10-year contracts.

This is really good news - this is how we started with wind - build the demand.

Here is how an experiment already on PEI is going -  Here is Dick Arsenault taking us around the test of a new Pellet/Chip furnace at the Ecole Evangeline in Western PEI.

You will see that such a furnace

• Can be easily installed
• Can be fed easily
• Has NO emissions
• Is easy to clean
• Can save a school about $100,000 a year