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B.C. eco-friendly initiatives scoop up millions in federal government funding

Projects ranging from fuel-cell to tidal energy score over $14m from Sustainable Development Technology Canada

Vancouver, September 2, 2005 — New technology to eliminate hazardous wastes produced by the steel industry heads a rollcall of five ecofriendly projects in British Columbia to receive a multimillion-dollar cash injection.

The investments have been made by Sustainable Development Technology Canada, an arms-length federal body which funds projects that have support from a consortium of organizations. Current funding is targeted at projects in several sectors:

power generation,
energy use,
transportation,
agriculture,
forestry, and
waste management.

Starting next month, projects that support water and soil quality will also be considered. The total value of the five B.C.- based initiatives is around $60 million - with SDTC pitching $14.1 million of that total.

Experts at Vancouver's Terra-Gai Inc. are involved in a $32.5 million plan to demonstrate technology to help the steel industry deal with dust from electric arc furnaces and waste hydrochloric acid. According to SDTC, disposing of these wastes is not only costly, but also has significant environmental liabilities and produces greenhouse gases. Terra's project has been backed by a consortium of Bateman Engineering, Enpower Corp. and Norambar (Stelco Inc.).

Meanwhile, North Vancouver-based Angstrom Power Inc. is planning the first major deployment of portable hydrogen fuelcell electronic devices in Canada. They will include lights and chargers and will be tested in remote operations that have no access to the electricity grid.

Angstrom will demonstrate the use of micro hydrogen™, which can recharge faster than battery-powered devices, requires less maintenance and has zero emissions. The $1.3 million project - a third of which is funded by SDTC - includes on its consortium the Vancouver Airport Authority and Powertech Labs Inc., Vancouver City and HTEC Hydrogen Technology and Energy Corp.

"A project of this size is not changing global warming, but the environmental benefits are clear," said Ake Almgren, Angstrom's president and CEO. "It takes hydrogen fuel cells from the laboratory environment into the real world." One of the most potentially far-reaching alternative energy initiatives is taking place 10 miles off the coast of Vancouver Island. Beginning next year, the project, to be installed at a marine ecological reserve, will convert tidal energy harnessed by a five-metre diameter underwater "windmill" into electrical power. The energy will replace power supplied to the island by two diesel generators.

"It is renewable and it is absolutely predictable," said Glen Darou, president and CEO of Clean Current Power Systems Inc., which is spearheading the project. "The truth is that until there is a commercial technology to exploit tidal current, people will not go out and properly delineate it. It will grow, much the same way as wind has grown. Most countries are encouraging renewable energy, particularly in Europe.

"B.C. is very difficult; there is so much cheap energy. It is going to require a lot of leadership to get people to pay extra for renewable energy." The project team includes AMEC, EnCana Environmental Innovation Fund and Ocean Works International. A fourth key enterprise has received $5.2 million from SDTC to support a $16.5 million plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions through chemical recycling and the increased use of biomass as a fuel.

Tembec's pulp mill in Skookumchuck will host the first phase of the project, which is led by Vancouver's Noram Engineering and Constructors Ltd. In addition to reduced emissions, benefits from the project, according to SDTC, will include the recovery of valuable chemical, energy and fibre components from waste.

The final B.C. project to secure SDTC funding is an energy-saving building system to be installed at the new Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability. The project is led by the University of British Columbia.

For each of the five initiatives, SDTC funding has been approved subject to successful contract negotiations with project leaders.

Paul Harris

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