CleanBC lays out a blueprint for a new, low-carbon economy. Companies of all sizes in B.C. are already leading the way when it comes to cleaner solutions and innovative technology.
Tell us how we can expand these successful businesses and create more job opportunities closer to home. These new sectors may include:
- renovating homes and buildings to be more energy efficient,
- working on zero-emission vehicles,
- developing renewable energy solutions and clean technology,
- helping business and industry reduce their emissions,
- designing communities and transportation to reduce carbon pollution, and so much more.
Questions:
Do you run or work in a business in one of these sectors? Would you like to?
Where should we start to support your growth?
Develop and implement initiatives that support the harnessing of BC’s vast geothermal energy potential as neighbouring jurisdictions up and down the pacific rim have been doing for years already.
Also stimulate industrial hemp growing capacity and production facilities within B.C. ‘s agricultural zones. The prairie provinces are years ahead of us on this front as well.
Clean up our oceans and protect what’s left of our wild salmon stocks by shutting down open-net phish pharms in the Salish Sea and developing, supporting and promoting a land based aquaculture industry.
Find ways to support and scale-up the Captured CO2>Clean Energy technology proven by Carbon Engineering at their demonstration facility in Squamish BC.
‘If you’re not part of the solution then you’re part of the problem.’ BC is at the epicentre of the climate problems that face our planet as well as the source of resources and solutions that could solve them all.
And of course “There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come”.
We need to support these start ups with new technology so that they are scalable, have opportunities to pilot without being burdened by regulatory processes or rules, and are connected with community leaders who would be interested in technology and bringing it to life.
In the buildings industry in BC, there is an acute lack of skilled trades to support the necessary increase in energy efficiency and reduction in GHG emissions from buildings. Better training is needed to improve the quality of building retrofit projects, and to provide a supply of qualified people to allow the industry to expand. Specific training is need for renovators, insulation installers, window and door installers, HVAC technicians, and energy analysts.
The training needs to be low cost to the user and accessible across the province.
Honestly this is all stuff we should have been doing 50+ years ago, its only now that our wrongdoings are catching up to us
Reactionizm and hipocracy at its finest
Investors need/want ethical green transition guaranteed investment instruments through gov’t bonds, GICs, etc. So far, I checked with one bank and their GICs go into General Bank investments – which means my money will be lent to businesses in fossil fuels, Hydro Dams, Big Agriculture, shipping, etc or possibly unethical unsustainable businesses like some forestry, fish farms, pet food companies, etc. I don’t want the hassle of picking each individual stock or RRSP, etc.
Does the Gov’t of BC offer so called “green bonds” in their CleanBC plan so investors like me and Millenials can have principal investment secured while knowing they are not contibuting financially to even further climate change, extinctions and enviro harms? When I think about green energy: geo-thermal, hydrogen, wind, wave, water pipe turbines, solar solutions comes to mind. NOT hydro dams, LNG or wood pellets, those are of the lazy – corrupt – low hanging fruit variety..
This is the most pertinent area of this discussion. My concern is the growth perspective. Growth is no longer possible. We have to look at this more from a scaling perspective.
1 prime example of creating pathways to a lower-carbon economy is to provide the appropriate funding to BC Hydro in order to reduce the number of non-integrated areas where communities rely on (primarily) diesel generators. In addition, a collaboration between BC, Yukon and the federal gov’t to tie the Yukon power grid into the rest of the North American grid can provide a synergy for both provinces and work to meet the overall national carbon reduction goals.
Centralizing, nationalizing, and improving transportation services.
Start encouraging shared resources and facilities.
Support innovative developments using existing underutilized industrial facilities.
Diversify existing failing industries – e.g. sawmills could very well start manufacturing modular homes.
I don’t run or work in a business in any of the categories listed under Discussion 4, but do I operate a small business and network that assists individual professionals, organizations and groups to adopt information and communication technology (ICT) for the purposes of more efficient, on-line collaborative work and and a con-commitment reduction in their carbon footprint.
As responded to in an earlier question, I believe that support by CleanBC to a type of “eco-system” fund or program that would assist pilots launched by small companies and organizations could be of value.
reduce regulation and get out of business’ way to enable them to make as much revenues and profits as possible. This will clear the way to hire more ‘green’ jobs and employ more folks.
Yes, I run a practice that works with Indigenous communities and organizations that are aiming to become self-sufficient and sustainable when it comes food, energy, financial and employment matters. Communities want to everything on their own but lack certain types of resources to execute their plans. That is where I provide my service and assist them in getting things done. Why? Such communities have a bigger proportion of vulnerable populations and climate change has the potential to impact them the most. People with money will continue to buy their produce from store and power from hydro but smaller and more rural communities are restricted for such endeavors. They have to, therefore, create their own food and energy, and their own local jobs. A good starting point to support our growth would be to create competitive funding opportunities that allow us to recruit more young and passionate people who want to make a meaningful impact in lives of vulnerable groups. There are several opportunities for sectors such as tech. Ok, but why only tech and not other products/services that are equally and maybe even more important? Can we stop focusing on individual sectors and encourage all sectors to do what really matters?
To support growth in BC’s renewable energy sector, and specifically to encourage the development of geothermal energy projects, a number of steps can be taken:
1) Un-suspend the Standing Offer Program to provide independent power producers an opportunity to develop small-scale renewable energy projects.
2) Don’t forget about heat. Although the Province has done an excellent job decarbonizing the electricity grid, fossil fuels are still the primary source of heat in the Province. There are renewable alternatives to explore, like geothermal direct use and ground source heat pumps.
3) De-risk exploration drilling by funding more geothermal-focused geoscience research in BC and/or creating a premium-based insurance program to de-risk exploratory drilling for geothermal developers. In the early days of Canada’s history, when the mining and oil and gas industries were just getting their feet, they received significant support in terms of public geoscience research and royalty credits, and continue to provide subsidies (a recent report from the International Institute for Sustainable Development calculated total subsidies to BC’s fossil fuel industries totalled $830 million). These same opportunities should be afforded companies in the renewable energy space.
4) More holistic evaluation of energy projects should be considered for investment and cost recovery. For example, the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) measures the lifetime costs of a project, divided by the amount of energy produced. Although geothermal energy has a high upfront cost in comparison to other renewables, the long lifespan, high capacity factor, and no to low fuel inputs constitute a picture of cost competitiveness that a simple $/MW analysis does not provide.