News Release

Canada's New Government Celebrates Milestone in the Reduction of Greenhouse Gases in Hospitals 

OTTAWA, April 2, 2007 -The Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, joined Vicky Sharpe, CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, Dusanka Filipovic, CEO of Blue-Zone Technologies and Michel Bilodeau, President and CEO of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to celebrate the installation of Blue-Zone Ltd.'s patented Delta^TM technology in all of CHEO's operating rooms.

Blue-Zone Ltd. has developed an innovative technology to capture, reclaim, and purify halogenated inhalation anaesthetic gases used in hospital operating rooms. These are very aggressive greenhouse gases, and some have global warming potential up to 1,900 times that of carbon dioxide. Most of these gases escape into the atmosphere during medical application. Blue-Zone's technology can capture the vented gases and extend the life cycle of the anaesthetic gases by ten to twenty times. In future, this technology could enable hospitals to achieve significant savings in their expenditures on anaesthetic gases as well as preventing the release of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

"Canada's New Government is taking concrete and realistic actions to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions," said Minister Baird. "This project is an example of the great strides that we can make by investing in sustainable, clean technologies to tackle climate change and air pollution."

This $8.1 million project was made possible through the combined contributions of partners from both public and private sectors. Sustainable Development Technology Canada, invested $2.7 million in the project, as part of its mandate to build a sustainable development infrastructure in Canada. Sustainable Development Technology Canada is a foundation created by the Government of Canada that operates a $550 million fund to support the development and demonstration of clean technologies - solutions that address issues of clean air, climate change, clean water, and clean soil to deliver environmental, economic and health benefits to Canadians.

"Today is an example of how investing in the development of sustainable, green technology gets results," said Minister Baird.  "Canada's New Government isfocused on the long-term needs of Canadians and on investing where Canada can become a global leader in next generation technologies.  That is why, in Budget 2007, this Government announced $500 million in additional funding to Sustainable Development Technology Canada to support private sector production of the next generation renewable fuels."

For more information, please contact:

Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
(819) 997-1441

Environment Canada Media Relations
(819) 934-8008
1-888-908-8008

Pat Breton
Director, Communications
Sustainable Development Technology Canada
613-234-6313x295