This article was published in the February 23, 2007 edition of
The Leduc Representative.
Canadians are concerned about the effect that greenhouse gases and other emissions are having on our health, air quality, and environment. They have been calling for action from government for many years only to see emissions continue to rise. Our government shares these concerns, and I am proud to say that we are acting to strengthen the actions taken earlier this fall to achieve tangible improvements in protecting our environment.
Our challenge now is to be a clean energy power. That is why we recently announced three ecoENERGY initiatives:
The first is the ecoENERGY Efficiency Initiative, approximately $300 million to promote smarter energy use, including the new ecoENERGY Retrofit Program to support energy-efficiency improvements in homes, and small buildings and industries.
The second is the ecoENERGY Technology Initiative, a $230-million investment in energy S&T to fund the research, development and demonstration of clean energy technologies. New technologies are the key to solving two of our biggest environmental challenges — air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. To meet today’s challenges, we need to develop the technologies of the future that will focus on key priorities such as carbon capture and storage, and cleaner oil sands production that uses less “clean” fuels and less freshwater.
The third is the ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative, an investment of more than $1.5 billion to boost Canada's renewable energy supplies. This involves an initiative for Renewable Power which will invest $1.48 billion to boost Canada’s supply of clean electricity from renewable sources like wind, biomass, small hydro and ocean energy. A ten-year incentive program will be established to fund eligible projects to be constructed over the next four years.
It also involves an initiative for Renewable Heat which will provide more than $35 million incentives and industry support to increase the adoption of clean renewable thermal technologies for water and space heating in buildings such as solar air and hot water heating. In addition, projects for residential solar heating technologies will be explored with partners such as utilities and community organizations.
If you would like more information on these environmental initiatives, please visit
http://ecoenergy-ecoenergie.gc.ca/. And if you have any questions or comments for me, please do not hesitate to contact
my office.
These ecoENERGY Initiatives will ensure Canadians and future generations have clean air, water, land and energy. This is real change for real results.
