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November 2, 2009
Province of Manitoba
Manitoba has taken another step forward as a leader in support of the biofuels industry by becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to implement a biodiesel mandate, Premier Greg Selinger said today at Speedway International, a Manitoba biodiesel processing facility.
“This mandate is one of the building blocks of our clean energy plan, an important climate-change initiative that will see the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in Manitoba,” said Selinger. “As a result of the two per cent biodiesel blend with diesel, it is expected greenhouse-gas emissions will be reduced by 56,000 tonnes or the equivalent of removing more than 11,000 cars from the road annually.”
“Biodiesel is better for the environment as it has fewer emissions than regular diesel and will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Royce Rostecki, president of Speedway International. “The potential market for biodiesel is significant.”
Biodiesel is a safe, non-toxic, renewable and clean-burning fuel made from a variety of sources such as oilseed, animal fats from rendering facilities and used restaurant oils and grease. It is biodegradable in water, produces fewer emissions and has a more pleasant odour than petroleum diesel.
Selinger also said the province will provide greater support for local biodiesel production by replacing the current fuel tax exemption with a 14-cent-per-litre, five-year production grant for biodiesel produced in Manitoba. He said the grant keeps Manitoba competitive with incentives offered in other North American jurisdictions.
Selinger noted that biodiesel is already being used in Manitoba by some vehicle fleets, such as Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg School Division and Canada Safeway using this biofuel to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. It is expected biodiesel will be widely available to consumers by summer 2010.
“We know biodiesel is a proven renewable and clean-burning fuel source,” said John Graham, public affairs manager, Canada Safeway. “Safeway supports Manitoba’s biodiesel initiative and is already using biodiesel in our fleets.”
Today’s announcement builds on a previously announced regulation in 2008 requiring the licensing of biodiesel manufacturers and the adoption of fuel quality standards which ensures the integrity of the province’s fuel supply, said Selinger.
For more information on biodiesel visit www.gov.mb.ca/stem/energy/biofuels/biodiesel/.
EDC’s forecast, released this morning, contains sectoral and regional outlooks that will be of interest to sector and geographic groups and posts and is available at the following link: http://www.edc.ca/gef
EDC projects that Canadian exports will grow by 6% in 2010 after a 23% contraction in 2009. For Canadian GDP, EDC’s forecast remains at the lower end of the range, projecting 1.9% GDP growth in Canada in 2010, versus the Canadian banks that average at 2.5% and the Bank of Canada at 3%.
The Clean Energy Portal is a repository of information related to Canadian climate change mitigation expertise and relevant Canadian or international organizations, initiatives and events. It lists activities, directories, products, international projects, financing from all CleanTech sub-sectors.
The enhanced Canada Business Network website came on line on October 19th. The site includes export related information for Canadian businesses as well as a search engine for Canadian companies looking for grants and financing.
This funding search engine has drop-down menus including,
”Purpose of financing” (one option is “To export my products or services”),
“Your Industry” (where you can make one or more selections based on NAICS codes).
Should be very useful when looking for sector-specific funding options for Canadian clients.
The October 19th news release “Canada Business Network enhanced website to offer better service to businesses” can be found here.
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Solar-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx
Profiled industries:
Bioenergy-to-Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Bioenergy-to-Canada/default.aspx
Carbon-capture-and-storage-to-Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Carbon-capture-and-storage-to-Canada/default.aspx
Consumer goods to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Consumer-goods-to-Canada/default.aspx
Food and beverage to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Food-and-beverage-to-Canada/default.aspx
Green building to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Green-building-to-Canada/default.aspx
ICT to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/ICT-to-Canada/default.aspx
Mining to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Mining-to-Canada/default.aspx
Oil and gas to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Oil-and-gas-to-Canada/default.aspx
Solar energy to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Solar-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx
Wind energy to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Wind-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx
TheStar.com – Business – Canadians’ help sought for a green desert oasis
The first city in the world likely to emit zero carbon and generate zero waste is, ironically, likely going to be in a country that gets most of its revenues from the sale of oil and gas.
Three years ago Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, came up with a grand plan. The country is rolling in petrodollars, which make up more than two-thirds of its gross domestic product. So it decided it would commit $22 billion (U.S.) toward an ambitious effort to diversify the economy, by building a green city from scratch in the middle of the desert.
Masdar City, as it’s called, will be small at about six square kilometres, and only 50,000 or so people are expected to live within its perimeter wall. But it has big vision. It will have its own university, and will be the headquarters to the newly created International Renewable Energy Agency (which Canada, by the way, refuses to join).
Masdar will also be a cleantech mecca.
The city will be powered largely by solar, wind and geothermal power, starting with a 50-megawatt solar power plant that will supply energy for construction.
A wind farm will be built outside the city’s walls and eventually, as buildings emerge, they will have solar panels on their rooftops. Some of this renewable power will be used to generate and store hydrogen, which will be used as an emission-free fuel for what’s expected to be the world’s largest hydrogen power plant.
Solar will power a desalination plant that will turn salt water into drinking water, which will be recycled where possible or used as grey water for irrigating crops or flushing toilets.
High-tech incineration technologies will be used to turn waste into energy.
Vehicles will also be banned within city walls. Instead, residents and workers will have to rely on light-rail transit and electric-powered personal transportation systems, those driverless pods you see in sci-fi movies like Blade Runner, Minority Report and – I’m aging myself now – Logan’s Run.
The entire construction effort is being overseen by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, and the first neighbourhood in Masdar is expected to be finished in 2013.
And you thought Bramalea was a planned city.
Why bring up something happening more than 10,000 kilometres away?
Last week a delegation of Masdar City executives flew into Toronto at the invitation of Sandra Pupatello, Ontario’s minister of economic development and trade. They spent two days meeting clean technology, engineering and urban design companies from Ontario and the rest of Canada.
Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany, associate director of sustainability at Masdar City, said in an interview that Masdar needs access to the latest technologies if it is to achieve its mission. That won’t come from Abu Dhabi alone.
“This is why we seek partnerships,” she said. “We’re looking at opportunities to investigate what’s happening everywhere in the world.
“We believe there are lots of opportunities in Canada.”
She called the meetings “fruitful,” and said she expects there will be some serious business relationships formed.
“You have four senior members of Masdar here, so we’re definitely not here to waste the company’s money.”
Masdar, it should be clear, isn’t just a grand idea on paper. Construction has already started. In June, Abu Dhabi-based Enviromena Power Systems completed a 10-megawatt solar power farm that spans 22 hectares and consists of 87,777 solar photovoltaic modules. So far it takes the prize as the largest solar power plant in the Middle East and North Africa.
Last year, Burnaby, B.C.-based solar lighting company Carmanah Technologies signed a deal that will see Enviromena distribute its products throughout the Middle East, so already the Masdar initiative is having an impact on Canadian companies.
“Masdar is really seen as a test bed for these technologies,” said Kevin Healy, who heads up marketing for Masdar City.
Joseph Dableh, president and chief executive of Oakville-based intelligent lighting company Fifth Light Technology, attended one of the sessions with Al-Hosany and her team and managed to make an impression.
Fifth Light has developed technology that allows fluorescent lighting in buildings to be dimmed in a way that saves energy, extends the life of the lights, and in a way that’s hardly noticeable to the naked eye.
Masdar, said Dableh, is a perfect match for his technology.
“They have expressed serious interest and clearly stated that this is exactly what they are hoping to acquire. I had three one-to-one meetings with them and it was agreed to follow up.”
It’s great news for a promising Canadian company, even if it takes going to a desert in the Middle East for some well-deserved exposure.
GLOBE-Net (August 19, 2009) – Nexterra Systems Corp., a Vancouver-based supplier of biomass gasification solutions, and ANDRITZ, an Austrian market leader for customized plants, process technologies, have formed a strategic alliance to market drying solutions fuelled by renewable biomass energy from municipal wastewater treatment plants.
The combination of Nexterra gasification technologies with Andritz biosolids dryers will enable municipal wastewater treatment facilities to reduce fuel costs, eliminate dependence on fossil fuels, lower their greenhouse gas emissions and deploy a sustainable solution for biosolids management.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are more than 16,000 wastewater treatment facilities in the United States operated by municipalities, each of which produces biological sludge or “biosolids” as a residual product from the wastewater treatment process.
Traditional biosolids management methods include spreading dried sludge on lands or trucking it to landfills. Many municipalities wish to discontinue these practices due to health concerns, rising fuel and management costs, greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and diminishing landfill capacity. They are looking for biosolids management solutions that will enable them to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions.
During the first phase of their strategic relationship, ANDRITZ and Nexterra will target facilities where existing biosolids dryers can be retrofitted with Nexterra’s biomass gasification technology, and will use biomass fuel to replace natural gas as a heating source. The companies plan also to offer technology solutions for greenfield sites that combine ANDRITZ biosolids dryers and Nexterra gasifiers.
“This strategic relationship with ANDRITZ provides us with a partner who has a deep understanding and presence within the wastewater treatment market, which we see as a very significant market opportunity for our gasification technology,” said Jonathan Rhone, President and CEO of Nexterra. “Our vision is to offer municipalities a seamless range of renewable energy solutions for drying biosolids, and eventually for power generation with gas engines.”
Nexterra is developing a biomass to combined heat and power solutions (CHP) with General Electric, to be sized at 2 – 10 MW, that combine Nexterra’s gasification technology and gas conditioning equipment with high efficiency gas engines. This will enable municipalities to self-generate renewable heat and power on-site.
Additional details can be found at: http://www.nexterra.ca/Andritz
How many tomatoes can a power plant grow, if a power plant could grow plants? Great Northern Hydroponics, has installed a GE Energy designed, 12-megawatt commercial power plant at a 55-acre tomato greenhouse complex in Kingsville, Ontario. It’s a combined heat and power (CHP) project that runs the greenhouse, sending surplus power to the Ontario grid. Waste heat from the generators keeps the tomatoes warm, and C02, pulled from a treated exhaust gas stream, feeds them.
Via: Energy Business Review : “GE Energy Inaugurates First North American Greenhouse Cogeneration Facility“
From the article:
Powered by four of GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engines cogeneration modules, the onsite power plant is one among the seven natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) projects approved by the Ontario Power Authority in 2006.
The plant generates sufficient electricity to Ontario’s transmission grid that can serve around 12,000 to 15,000 Canadian homes annually. Under a 20-year contract with the Ontario Power Authority, surplus of power generated from the plant is sold to the local grid.
The power plant, in order to support greenhouse operations, also treats the gas engines’ exhaust, enabling carbon from the exhaust to be recycled and applied as a special fertilizer to enhance greenhouse crop production. CHP plants consume less fuel compared to separate systems to produce the same amount of power. As a result, cogeneration can help to reduce regional industrial emissions associated with energy production.
GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine business has developed the special CO2 fertilization/cogeneration system.
DDACE Power Systems, GE’s Jenbacher engine distributor for eastern Canada has supplied greenhouse cogeneration system. The engineering services for the North American reference plant were provided by H.H. Angus and Associated of Toronto.
A small community on Vancouver Island is undergoing a solar project of epic proportions. T’Sou-ke First Nation in Sooke on the southern end of Vancouver Island will be powering nearly 30 buildings with solar energy.
The T’Sou-ke First Nation has launched a solar power project that will power its band office, fisheries building, canoe shed, and 25 homes on the reserve.T’Sou-ke Nation is installing solar panels to pre heat hot water and photovoltaic panels to create clean electricity to power potentially large savings as hydro prices spike, according to PEJ. The community trained nine residents in solar power installation so that they would be able to take on such a project.
Chief Gordon Planes of T’Sou-ke First Nation is heading up the project in an effort to show other communities and Canada as a whole how feasible a project of this magnitude can be.
“I guess you could say we’re the new warriors. We’re educating our young people to be able to take on this task and it takes a whole community to do that,” he said.
And this isn’t all that the T’Sou-ke First Nation has in store. Next up—the community is also looking at wind power and organic farming in the next steps of their economic and ecological evolution.
The new solar project was launched Friday July 17, 2009 at a forum on the reserve.
photo: T’Sou-ke Nation
Pressure from environmental groups to stop selling unsustainably produced seafood
Friday, August 7, 2009 CBC News
Several supermarkets have taken steps to change their seafood policies.
A global study entitled History of Marine Animal Populations, presented in May at the Oceans Past conference in Vancouver, has intensified concern about the looming crisis. Marine researchers combing through historical records covering the past 2,000 years have determined there are 85 to 90 per cent fewer fish and marine mammals today than there once were.
Greenpeace mounted a coast-to-coast campaign this summer to persuade Canada’s major supermarket chains to stop selling seafood on its “Red list,” which lists species most threatened by overharvesting.
“We’re asking supermarkets to take the lead and stop selling unsustainably produced seafood now, instead of reacting later when it’s too late,” says Beth Hunter, Montreal-based oceans campaign co-ordinator at Greenpeace Canada. “Consumers may be unhappy if they can’t find their favourite seafoods at stores – but they’ll be even unhappier later if they disappear forever.”
Greenpeace’s pressure campaign is seeing some results, Hunter says. Loblaws has announced its policy will be to only sell sustainably produced fish after 2013; Overwaitea and Metro are taking steps to put similar policies in place after meeting with Greenpeace representatives.
“But Costco and several others don’t have policies yet,” Hunter says.
For their part, industry players say sustainability is easier said than done when it comes to fish.
“We all recognize we need to commit to doing the right thing – but the question is, what is it?” says Nick Jennery, president of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD).
“There’s no consensus on what’s considered sustainable stock,” Jennery says. “If you look at all the NGOs and government, you get different lists of endangered species, although there is some overlap.”
Those selling farmed fish aren’t off the hook either, he says. Although these are renewable resources, environmentalists have issues because many crowded, badly managed operations generate pollution, disease and escapers that contaminate wild stocks.
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