Clean Technology Projects Receive $43 Million Boost from Sustainable Development Technology Canada

SDTC Announces Its Largest Funding Round To Date, Assisting 15 Projects Across Canada

Ottawa, July 5, 2005 – Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) will invest $43.4 million in 15 new clean technology projects. Funding for the projects, which demonstrate strong potential for environmental, social and economic benefits, has been approved in principle by SDTC’s Board of Directors.

Projects earmarked for support in SDTC’s sixth funding round – its largest to date – include the development and demonstration of energy-efficient, low-cost solid-state lighting, led by Group IV Semiconductor Inc. of Ottawa; on-demand insulation to reduce energy use in transparent structures such as greenhouses, led by Montreal-based Sunarc of Canada Inc.; and small-scale electricity generation from tidal power, led by Clean Current Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver.

“The projects chosen for SDTC funding are win-win for both Canada’s economy and the environment,” said SDTC Chairman James M. Stanford. “Each of the projects is subjected to an exhaustive review process and must be represented by a consortium of organizations rather than a single company. These requirements improve the opportunities for successful technology demonstration and strengthen their market readiness.”

Reflecting their solid prospects to deliver both commercial and environmental benefits, other private and public sector consortia partners are investing an additional $116 million in the 15 projects. This represents almost a 3:1 ratio of industry-partner contribution to SDTC investment.

The technologies are targeted to the power generation, energy utilization, transportation, agriculture and forestry, and waste management economic sectors.  Demonstration of the technologies will be carried out in five provinces.

With this new investment, SDTC is on track to allocate all of its funds equitably up to December 2010.

“We need a framework for new technologies for Canada to lead the world in developing clean energy solutions,” said the Honourable R. John Efford, Minister of Natural Resources Canada.  “Funding these projects will help technological potential become reality, help us address climate change and create new economic opportunities in the years to come.”

"Green products and technologies are a growing market and that's why they are a cornerstone of our most recent climate change plan," said the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of the Environment. "Through SDTC, the Government of Canada supports innovative solutions which will not only allow us to meet our Kyoto target, but also provide for cleaner cities, cleaner air and high value jobs for Canadians."

Since April 2002, SDTC has completed six funding rounds, committed $132 million to 61 clean technology projects, and leveraged $347 million from project consortia members. SDTC currently manages $479 million in projects.

SDTC will launch its next call for Statements of Interest (SOIs) on August 24, 2005. The upcoming call for SOIs will include, for the first time, a request for projects with technologies that address water and soil quality issues as well as climate change and clean air, reflecting the expanded mandate given to SDTC in the 2004 federal budget.

“This larger role endorses sustainable development as a comprehensive goal focusing on the protection and efficient use of the world’s natural capital – air, land and water – each of which is linked to the other,” said Vicky J. Sharpe, President and CEO of SDTC. “This approach will help us make more holistic decisions that support the competitiveness of Canadian industry and the Government of Canada’s green technology initiatives.”

About SDTC

Sustainable Development Technology Canada is a foundation created by the Government of Canada that operates a $550 million fund to support the development and demonstration of clean technologies — solutions that address issues of climate change, clean air, and water and soil quality to deliver environmental, economic and health benefits to Canadians.

An arm’s length, not-for-profit corporation, SDTC fills the void in the innovation chain between research and commercialization — helping clean technology developers move through the development and demonstration phases, in preparation for commercialization.  SDTC applies a stringent due diligence process when selecting technologies to support and requires every applicant to involve a consortia of partners in their project.

SDTC encourages collaboration among private, financial, academic, public sector partners and with the Government of Canada and all levels of government to build a sustainable development infrastructure in Canada.

For more information, please contact:

SDTC:

Andrée Mongeon
Director of Communications
Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Tel: (613) 234-6313 x 224
a.mongeon@sdtc.ca
www.sdtc.ca

Lubor Keliar
Environics Communications for SDTC
416-969-2758, lkeliar@environicspr.com

The listing of the 15 funded projects is as follows:

A brief summary of each project and its consortium members is available at: http://www.sdtc.ca/en/news/media_releases/index.htm

1. Lead Organization: Angstrom Power Incorporated, North Vancouver, B.C.

Economic Category: Power Generation

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
City of Vancouver, Urban Search and Rescue, Canada Task Force 1
HTEC Hydrogen Technology & Energy Corp.
Powertech Labs Inc.
The BOC Group
University of Victoria
Vancouver Airport Authority

Project Description:
Angstrom Power will demonstrate and test hydrogen fuel cell-powered portable electronic devices, including lights and chargers, in remote field operations without access to the electricity grid. The devices will be coupled with a portable, centralized hydrogen refueling system. The technology has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This will be the first major deployment of portable fuel cell devices in Canada, and one of the first integrated, end-to-end Micro Hydrogen demonstrations in the world. Micro Hydrogen can recharge faster than battery-based devices for portable power, with better operating characteristics, less maintenance and no emissions. The project will also be used to develop safety certifications for the technology.

2. Lead Organization: Clean Current Power Systems Inc., Vancouver, B.C.

Economic Category: Power Generation

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
AMEC Americas Ltd.
AMEC Dynamic Structures Limited
EnCana Environmental Innovation Fund
Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific
Ocean Works International
Powertech Labs Inc.
Triton Consultants Ltd.

Project Description:
The “Pearson College-EnCana-Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks” will demonstrate Canada’s first free-stream tidal power project, to be installed at a British Columbia Ecological Reserve located 10 nautical miles southwest of Victoria, BC. The project will enable the marine park to convert tidal energy to electric power – replacing power supplied to the island by two diesel generators -- beginning in early 2006. The multi-year demonstration project will involve the installation, operation and monitoring of a 65kW free-stream tidal turbine generator. It will be the first sustained field testing of a new electricity-generating technology in this harsh marine environment.

3. Lead Organization: Electrovaya Corp., Mississauga, Ont.

Economic Category: Transportation

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
SouthWestern Energy Inc.
Unicell Limited

Project Description:
Electrovaya Corp. plans to develop and demonstrate its patented Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® battery system for zero-emission battery electric vehicles, principally in vehicle fleet applications. Electrovaya’s award-winning battery technology delivers the highest energy density of any battery technology on the market today, allowing for a long range, clean transportation alternative.

4. Lead Organization: Encelium Technologies Inc., Markham, Ont.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc.

Project Description:
Encelium’s Energy Control System (ECS) is an advanced lighting control and energy management technology that delivers optimum light levels to each workspace in a building, eliminating wasted energy. The system allows every occupant in a building to control their own “environment” through personal control of light levels in their workspace from their desktop computer. The advancements proposed for this demonstration project, known as “Advanced Negawatt ECS,” will allow for the aggregation and control of lighting loads across multiple buildings and remote management of these loads for the purpose of demand response. This will reduce overall energy consumption and shave peak demand, thereby easing pressure to build new generation capacity.

5. Lead Organization: EnerWorks Inc., Dorchester, Ont.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
Clean Energy Developments Corp.
The Quantum Leap Company Limited
Toronto Hydro Energy Services Inc.
Windfall Ecology Centre

Project Description:
The consortium led by EnerWorks will develop and demonstrate advanced renewable energy systems in 500 Canadian homes. The project integrates highly energy efficient solar water heating and geoexchange space heating and cooling technologies into a system that will be installed in homes at no upfront cost to the homeowner. The new business model removes the main barrier to market adoption – initial capital cost – and at the same time introduces innovative renewable energy generation for residential housing. Heating, air conditioning and hot water account for over 80 percent of the energy consumed in Canadian households.

6. Lead Organization: GE Canada, Mississauga, Ont.

Economic Category: Power Generation

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
Ecole de technologie supérieure
McGill University
University of Western Ontario

Project Description:
This project will develop and demonstrate an advanced turbine drive train that converts mechanical energy into electrical power for next-generation multi-megawatt wind turbines. The technology will provide enhanced performance, increased reliability and higher power density in the turbine’s rotating equipment. The project will design and test a prototype drive train at GE Canada’s Peterborough facility, followed by wind turbine validation tests at a consortium partner’s site in Canada. The technology will advance wind as a mainstream energy supply option with a competitive cost of energy.

7. Lead Organization: Group IV Semiconductor Inc., Ottawa, Ont.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Clean Air/Climate Change

Consortium members:
Business Development Bank of Canada
Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre (NRC)
Carleton University Faculty of Engineering
McMaster University Faculty of Engineering

Project Description:
Group IV Semiconductor will develop and demonstrate a new breed of energy-saving solid-state lighting products. The project builds on a revolutionary silicon thin-film process that for the first time will enable solid-state lighting to reach the mass market. The goal is to develop a light bulb that achieves the performance and price that could enable widespread adoption and the full energy savings potential of the technology. The benefits of solid-state lighting derive from a much higher efficiency than conventional light bulbs, reducing energy consumption by as much as 80 percent.

8. Lead Organization: NORAM Engineering and Constructors Ltd., Vancouver, B.C.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
PAPRICAN (Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada)
Tembec Industries Inc.

Project Description:
NORAM will develop and demonstrate the first full-scale implementation of a new approach to creating a closed-loop kraft pulp mill. The Tembec mill at Skookumchuck, BC will play host to the first phase of the program, which involves progressively closing the mill’s water consumption and effluent loop. The project will demonstrate the viability of technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions through chemical recycling and increased use of biomass as a fuel; reduce demand for water; and reduce waste effluent. In addition to reduced emissions, benefits include the recovery of valuable chemical, energy and fibre components from waste streams.

9. Lead Organization: Parkland BioFibre Ltd., Dauphin, Man.

Economic Category: Agriculture and Forestry

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
McMunn & Yates Building Supplies
North American Natural Fibers
Olds Agtech Industries Inc.
Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Coop
Plant Fibre Technology
UKAL (Canada) Ltd.

Project Description:
This project involves a process that will utilize raw industrial hemp fibre to produce insulation and other products while reducing waste streams. The process will utilize European technology, currently used in small-scale operations, that will be adapted and configured into a larger pilot processing facility. The main value-added product will be biofibre insulation, which can be used in place of “pink” fibre glass insulation in the construction industry. Other products produced initially will be non-woven matting for use in the horticulture industry, fibre for the paper recycling industry and short fibre that makes excellent horse and pet bedding. Products made through this initiative will eliminate the atmospheric emissions from the current practice of burning hemp plants after grain harvest and will sequester carbon for extended periods if used in long life buildings.

10. Lead Organization: Prairie Pulp and Paper Inc., Winnipeg, Man.

Economic Category: Agriculture and Forestry

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
Bannatyne Financial
Manitoba Straw Producers Co-op Ltd.
Provincial Government of Manitoba
SNC Lavalin Engineering

Project Description:
The consortium led by Prairie Pulp and Paper Inc. will explore the viability of producing high quality paper products from 100 percent agricultural materials. Employing an innovative, agricultural fibre pulping process, this project has the potential to reuse otherwise discarded agricultural residues and help offset the demands on Canadian forests. The project will evaluate, develop and trial the process for producing ‘tree-free’, 8.5” x 11” sheet paper for use in computer printers, fax machines and photocopiers.

11. Lead Organization: Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp., Longueuil, Que.

Economic Category: Transportation

Environmental Benefit: Clean Air/Climate Change

Consortium members:
Goodrich Corporation's Turbine Fuel Technologies division
Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation
INCO Ltd.
National Research Council
United Technologies Research Center
University of Toronto – Institute for Aerospace Studies

Project Description:
This project will develop and demonstrate an innovative, low-emission technology for gas turbine engines used in air transportation.  The technology has the potential to deliver major reductions of NOx, CO, VOC and particulates, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions.  It also has the potential to be used in land-based applications as well. Pratt & Whitney Canada will undertake the majority of the engine demonstration project in Ontario and Quebec.

12. Lead Organization: SAIC Canada, Ottawa, Ont.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
ATCO Gas
City of Medicine Hat
Enerworks
IF Technology International
Sterling Homes
Town of Okotoks
United Communities

Project Description:
This project involves the development and demonstration of high-temperature thermal underground energy storage, and would be the first one of its kind in North America utilizing underground thermal energy storage (UTES) technology integrated with a solar thermal energy application. The concept of UTES is simple: store the energy (cold or heat) underground when it is available and use it when the stored cold or heat is needed in the next season. This is a new and innovative concept in the Canadian energy market.

13. Lead Organization: Sunarc of Canada Inc., Montreal, Que.

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change

Consortium members:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre
Fonds en efficacité énergétique
Les Industries Harnois Inc.
Les Jardiniers du Chef and two additional Quebec greenhouse growers
Université Laval, Faculté des sciences de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation

Project Description:
Sunarc of Canada has developed on-demand insulation systems for transparent structures such as greenhouses, reducing by 50 percent the use of fossil fuels for heating in greenhouses and other solar-receptive buildings. This project will enable Sunarc to further develop its technology and to conduct demonstration projects with growers in Quebec and Ontario. SUNARC L-FOAM™ is inserted automatically when required between two layers of translucent plastic film forming the covering of the structure.  When in place, the foam dramatically increases insulation values by ten-fold or more (R15-20). As the foam collapses and returns to liquid state, it is recovered and re-used. Sunarc’s technology, which can be installed in both new and existing greenhouses, will contribute to efficient and competitive horticulture.

14. Lead Organization: Terra Gaia Inc., Vancouver, B.C.

Economic Category: Waste Management

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change

Consortium members:
Bateman Engineering
Enpower Corp.
Norambar (Stelco Inc.)

Project Description:
Terra Gaia will demonstrate technology that eliminates two of the largest hazardous wastes produced by the steel industry: electric arc furnace dust and waste hydrochloric acid. Current disposal practices for these wastes results in a substantial cost to the industry, including significant environmental liabilities, energy consumption and greenhouse gas production. Terra Gaia’s patented technology involves a low-pressure, low-temperature process which is cost-competitive, produces significantly less greenhouse gas emissions and provides additional revenue streams through the generation of saleable byproducts.

15. Lead Organization: University of British Columbia

Economic Category: Energy Utilization

Environmental Benefit: Climate Change/Clean Air

Consortium members:
Busby Perkins + Will Architects
British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) - Technology Centre
Keen Engineering
Siemens Building Technologies Ltd.
Visionwall Corporation

Project Description:
This project involves the development and demonstration of an advanced, high performance building envelope system that will reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The building envelope includes everything that separates the interior of a building from the outdoor environment, including the windows, walls, foundation, basement slab, ceiling, roof and insulation. UBC’s system will utilize photovoltaic panels and other energy saving components, coupled with a sensing, monitoring and controls system, to be installed in the new Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), to be built in Vancouver, BC. This project will facilitate the adoption of streamlined monitoring and controls protocols that can be widely replicated in buildings across Canada.