Business Drivers

Although there are significant differences from one jurisdiction to the next across Western Canada with respect to the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for environmental technology development, there are a number of common business drivers that must be noted. These include adaptation to climate change; the need to conserve energy and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; changing corporate perspectives with respect to environmental management, compliance and liability; growing demand in the global environmental marketplace for integrated solutions to environmental problems; and increased demands for sustainable communities and improved quality of life. These factors are not peculiar to Western Canada, but they do affect how the environmental business sector is adapting to changing market demands.

CLIMATE CHANGE:

Climate change will emerge as the major driving force affecting the business of the environment in Western Canada. Described as the ultimate sustainable development issue, climate change represents both an environmental challenge and an economic opportunity. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and introducing sustainable development principles into all aspects of society without causing major disruption to our economic and social well being is the challenge. Achieving the benefits of sustainable development technological innovation and energy efficiency in our transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and primary resource sectors, as well as creating more sustainable cities represents the opportunity. Many impacts of climate change are already evident, such as altered weather patterns and severe weather events including fires, floods and droughts. These will continue to impact significantly on economic sectors of importance to Western Canada.

Every province as well as the federal government has developed strategies and programs to deal with climate change and the business opportunities related to adaptation. These range from public education programs on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, through to ambitious initiatives to develop alternative energy technologies such as fuel cells, small/micro hydro-electricity generation systems, wind energy, solar and photovoltaic energy systems, exploitation of geothermal heat sources, tidal and wave power generation in British Columbia and biomass and cogeneration of heat and power from landfill gases, wood residue and municipal solid wastes. The compelling point is that all areas of human activity will be affected by the impacts of climate change and virtually every aspect of business and economic development is open for innovative technologies and environment-related solutions.

ALTERNATE ENERGY SOURCES:

Climate change and the rising costs of energy have also sparked renewed interest in energy alternatives and energy efficiency measures. While alternatives to fossil fuels are many, on a global scale no one source has the capacity to replace our dependency on oil and gas in the near term. Fossil fuel reserves according to most long-range forecasts appear adequate to meet anticipated energy demands for at least the next three decades. But continued dependency on hydrocarbons raises concerns about future investment in energy infrastructure; the potential environmental damage caused by fossil fuel energy production and use; and perpetuation of unequal access of most of the world’s population to adequate energy supplies. In Western Canada today there is a shift taking place from conventional oil production to such non conventional sources as oil sands; to a greater emphasis on natural gas exploration and production (natural gas is seen as a transition fuel); the exploitation of methane from deep coal reserves; integration of wind power into energy grids; the utilization of carbon dioxide as a commodity for hydrocarbon energy extraction; integrating hydrocarbon resource development with the petrochemical industry to produce saleable petrochemicals, oil, gas, electricity and hydrogen as by-products; and addressing a wide range of environmental issues to protect air, land and water ecosystems associated with the oil and gas sector. Technologies to reduce waste generation, to measure low flow and flares, to eliminate natural gas venting at well sites, to prevent fuel spills, to harness alternate power sources generated from wastes, or to deal with the bio-treatment of drilling fluid wastes are of particular importance in this sector.

As noted, while alternatives to fossil fuels are many, on a global scale no one source has the capacity to replace our dependency on oil and gas in the near term. Western Canada does have a competitive advantage with respect to fuel cell technology. British Columbia has the largest concentration of fuel cell expertise in Canada, including companies developing hydrogen-fuelling infrastructure. Despite optimistic growth predictions of 60% and more over the next decade, many fuel cell companies in Western Canada are focusing on knowledge development and support technologies market areas as opposed to becoming major manufacturers of fuel cell stacks. In part this is in recognition of the enormous market power of competing jurisdictions, the main challengers being Japan, the European Community and the United States.

CLEAN PRODUCTION:

Growing concerns about resource scarcity, damage to the ecosystem and human health risks are affecting market demands for environmental technologies and services across the West. These have given rise to new regulatory requirements which in turn are stimulating businesses large and small to develop new approaches to environmental responsibility and to implement management systems and integrated process technologies that reduce or eliminate pollution problems at the source rather than relying on end of the pipe solutions or costly remediation efforts. The next generation of environmental technologies will serve both environmental and economic objectives. Clean production/processes decrease input, resource and energy requirements, and reduce the dispersion of toxic substances into the environment. Because significant cost savings are involved, investments in clean production processes essentially pay for themselves over time, with demonstrable commensurate impacts on domestic and international competitiveness. This area of environmental technology development is expected to eventually dominate the growing international market for environmental goods and services.

GREEN BUILDINGS/SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION:

Sustainable communities and quality of life issues will also be major factors influencing technology development in the environment sectors of Western Canada. With respect to green building, British Columbia is one of the foremost centres of excellence in green building design and construction in North America. There is a readily available pool of expertise, as well as the resources to support the expansion of green building in the region and to export this business expertise to other markets. The newly established Communities of Tomorrow in Regina will help Saskatchewan to become a centre of excellence in environmental sustainability, community development and urban-related technology commercialization. The EcoSmart Partnership Initiative in British Columbia holds equal potential in terms of introducing sustainable construction practices in this sector.

WATER/WASTEWATER:

Global market opportunities for water-related technologies are huge - estimated by the World Bank to be in excess of $600 Billion. The Western Canadian water and wastewater technologies market is relatively small in comparison to the world-market demand. The US is undergoing major infrastructure renewal programs related to water and in order for smaller Western Canadian companies to be successful in the US marketplace (or elsewhere), they must develop partnerships and collaborations with larger players in this sector and consolidate their hold on local water/wastewater niche markets, which as of present are largely dependent on imported goods and technologies.

HAZARDOUS AND TOXIC WASTE TREATMENT:

New funding is being directed toward the remediation of contaminated sites across the country and for the recovery of brownfield sites in or adjacent to major urban areas. The clean up of toxic waste sites across Canada (estimated at over 10,000), suggests the hazardous wastes component of the national environmental marketplace also will become increasingly important. This is particularly important in Western Canada with respect to abandoned sites associated with mining and energy sectors.

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