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Appendix 1:
Consolidated Breakout Reports – Morning Session
Breakout Session #1:
Identification of Opportunities and Strategies
There were four break out groups in the morning exercise as follows:
Energy Group “A”
Opportunities
- Domestic/international for all technologies
- Oil & gas industry: improving eco-efficiency & exporting
- Decentralized and distributed energy marketplace
- Low-sulphur diesel fuel, cleaner fuels
- National policy to lower emissions; national vehicle emission standards
- Exporting our brainpower and solutions
- Building a model regarding operation of emissions trading
- Solar energy, wind energy, fuel cells, pollution prevention and geothermal energy
- Technology: hydrogen fuel cells, solar energy, wind energy, bio-energy, and hydro
- Applications: green cities, remote communities (Aboriginal), export opportunities
- Policy: declare sustainable society; charter (e.g. France)
- Provinces to build on strengths; develop synergy between provinces; collaboration
- Wind and biomass – synergy between them: BC has natural advantages; other synergies in prairie provinces; synergy between fuel cells and others (using them as backup)
- Adapting foreign technologies
Strategies
Group 1
- Level playing field between green and brown energy
- Declare market for emissions trading – led by government
- Providing strong fiscal incentives
Group 2
- Overarching priority: commitment and leadership from government to signal commitment to sustainability
- Changing and creating appropriate regulatory mechanisms
- Demonstration projects through increased government procurement: e.g. success in Calgary
- Rural community renewal: infrastructure, training, marketing, and linking; pride in rural communities
Group 3
- Government procurement
- Updating codes to uniform standards
- Cannot excel at everything: targeted R&D credits
- Creating environment innovation networks
Group 4
- Building domestic capacity before pursuing exports
- Need for a national sustainability policy
- Commoditizing benefits of investment: emissions trading; green certificates, and credits
- Benefits of investing in the technology should go to the risk taker
- Consistency in government policy and regulatory mechanisms; consistency between provinces
Group 5
- Regulatory mechanisms: smart regulations, removing barriers, improving government coordination
- Fiscal incentives, policy, tax, and procurement
- Centres of excellence that are industry-driven; innovation networks; research chairs; building on existing strengths
Consensus/Overarching Priority
Dedication and leadership from government to signal commitment to sustainability.
Voting
- Fiscal incentives, policy, tax, procurement, targeted R&D credits (20)
- Regulatory mechanisms; smart regulations; removing barriers; improving government coordination and consistency of government policy (18)
- Centres of excellence that are industry-driven; innovation networks; research chairs; building on existing strengths (15)
- Demonstration projects through increased government procurement: e.g. Calgary success (12)
- Commoditizing benefits of investment: emissions trading, green certificates, and credits (10)
- Level playing field (6)
- Rural renewal (4)
Top Three Strategies
- Fiscal incentives and policy: tax, procurement, and targeted R&D credits
- Regulatory mechanisms: smart regulations, removing barriers, improving government coordination and consistency of government policy
- Centres of excellence that are industry-driven; innovation networks; research chairs; building on existing strengths
Overarching Framework
Dedication and leadership from highest level of government to signal commitment to sustainability. Do it domestically before we do it internationally.
Energy Group “B”
Opportunities
- Integration: how to put these new systems into the new framework; buildings/transportation systems
- Dollar value on renewable technologies; market potential on the environment
- Refocusing on opportunity timelines
- Market driven approaches to alternative energies; integrating remote technologies; return on investment
- Procurement and market drivers: being able to sell your product: e.g. Westport, windmills
- Production of energy, increasing efficiency
- Conversion of energy from the demand side
- Eco-efficiency, targeting waste, lean manufacturing
- Commercial building retrofit and residential retrofit: 3 million homes
- Large scale demonstrations: e.g. fuel cells to draw world attention
- Demonstrating technologies to close gap in risk
- Utility driven conservation programs: evaluating conservation for cost effectiveness
- Shifting away from abstract opportunities: What is the benefit to the consumer?
- Convenience to the customer also an issue: electricity supply, etc.
- Investment: opportunity for growth of energy demand
- Coherent vision of sustainability: includes meeting customers’ needs
- How to retrofit 3 million homes? e.g. look at reasons why consumer is going to retrofit, consumer has to have incentive
- Value proposition for the user: energy efficiency
Strategies (with Vote Numbers)
- Creating centres of excellence (17)
- Large scale demonstration (43)
- Providing fiscal incentives: full cost pricing (48)
- Implementing demonstration projects
- Blended energy policy/private sector approach
- Coordinating programs (16)
- Management development (7)
- Predictable regulatory framework
- Infrastructure renewal (6)
Criteria for Voting
- Human capital
- Connecting Aboriginal people to government and industry
- Accessing international markets
Prioritized Strategies
- Fiscal incentives and implementing regulatory predictability (48)
- Demonstration projects for access to larger markets (43)
- Creating centres of excellence (17)
- Coordinating programs (16)
Water, Waste Water, and Remediation Group
Opportunities
- Engage with early adopters of the technology by providing incentives that link to their business goals
- Identify target markets to expand global market : e.g. world water scarcity
- Brownfield remediation
- Demand for more sustainable urban and rural infrastructure to mitigate problems such as urban sprawl
- Showcase specific integrated solutions on-site and profile them at upcoming events
- Develop/innovate technologies that build on our world class resource base industries: e.g. mining companies
- Converting waste into energy for application in sustainable communities: has great off-shore potential
- Taking advantage of cold climate experience and provision of services to remote communities as drivers of innovation: e.g. waste water technologies suitable to small, cold locations
- Capitalize on our unique perspective on biological process technologies related to cold climate
- Canadians well-regarded in the export market; refocus Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to include a greater technology mission than it does currently
- Opportunity to streamline regulatory framework – make it predictable
Strategies
- Fiscal incentives
- Attracting increased venture capital investment (flow-through)
- Co-ordinate and streamline government funding programs
- Create mechanisms/incentive programs that provide a greater voice for SMEs within government/private partnerships
- Creating a more enabling regulatory framework
- Results-based, predictable environmental regulations
- Greater harmonization/partnerships between different levels of government
- Commercialization-oriented industry cluster
- Create centres of excellence
- Risk reduction through technology verification
- Cluster needs to be regional, national and international
- Support for technology certification, insurance, and bonding
- Create a comprehensive marketing strategy linking consumers/users with technology developers
- Demonstration projects
- Community solutions including Aboriginal, rural, and urban communities
- Industry-specific, cost competitive
Green Buildings Group
Opportunities
- Build the business case for sustainability
- Create a link between environmental technology and community health (healthcare technologies)
- Develop partnerships with Aboriginal organizations
- Institute policy linkages between health, environmental technology, healthy communities and environmental justice
- Federal government to work with the provincial government to give municipalities more control over energy bylaws (e.g. City of Vancouver has an energy bylaw)
- Reform building codes
- Change the federal government procurement practice
- The importance of demonstration projects through creative partnerships (university, Aboriginal)
- In addition to new buildings, we have the renewal of existing buildings, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 30%
- Build partnerships and a range of demonstration projects (demonstrate the different settings for environmental technology); use these projects for studies to identify benchmarks and areas for improvement
- Focus on sustainable construction – how we build urban infrastructure
- We have an expertise in Green Buildings (engineering, etc.) – start helping “us” develop partnerships, competency maps, clusters, and a marketing plan for Western Canada
- Tie the benefits of environmental technology into investment strategies in Canada: e.g. write reports on the economic benefits of Green Buildings in Western Canada
- Start measuring the “intangibles” (e.g. goodwill in the community)
- Bring the non-profit sector to the table – Canadians trust the non-profit sector and are looking to this sector for leadership
- Replace current infrastructure with sustainable infrastructure
- Increase the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ green funds for sustainable infrastructure
- Energy conservation dynamic model
- Use existing frameworks, such as LEED, to create common benchmarks
- Introduce more performance standards such as Energuide
- Federal government should establish a fund to backstop the risk for innovative energy and water systems
- Address what occurs inside buildings after they are built and renovated, including the positive use of buildings (e.g. alternative energy systems)
- Initiate a public awareness campaign exploiting the natural gas crisis
- Implement an ecological tax reform
- Build an incentive to reuse construction materials
- Create risk aversion strategies for developers of commercially marketable projects
- Venture Capital funds by government that reduce the pay back period (e.g. green roofs)
- Better packaging of the nodes of expertise for foreign markets – integrated environmental solutions are selling internationally
Strategies
- Market Expansion
- Create a “Green” Trade Commission
- Cascadia and Western Canada partnership is the go to place in North America for comprehensive business solutions in Green Buildings, sustainable infrastructure and sustainable city design
- Building code energy rating, outcome based not on prescriptive – evergreen
- Raise the bar – mandatory use of LEED – standard performance of building and energy codes
- Performance versus prescriptive buildings
- Overcome split incentives (building versus operations)
- Five-year incentive program
- Incentives
- Address professional liability for innovation
- Classify insurance for pilot projects differently
- Green financing, including tax incentives
- Incentive for early adoption
- Energy costs included in mortgage financing
- Offer incentives for smaller
commercial entities (not just large)
- Building Code
- Performance versus prescriptive building codes
- Environmental innovation mandate in every new building (code, bylaw)
- Demonstration Projects
- Implement demonstration projects
- Inventory best practices and existing green buildings; communicate this information
- Range of projects demonstrating different values and goals
- Evaluate economic health and productivity benefits
- All government funded projects built to LEED standards
- Partnerships with Aboriginal organizations
- Procurement
- Government to lead by example
- All federal dollars for infrastructure and buildings must include requirements for sustainability and LEED
- Federal government to lead by example with Green Buildings and innovative technologies
- All Government of Canada funded projects to be built according to LEED standards, silver standard minimum