Conservative cleantech announcement: care to speculate?
So, we read in the National Post today that the Harper government is going to set near-term emissions targets and announce a bunch of other environmental initiatives over the next few weeks, including a relaunching/repackaging of some Liberal programs (ironically, programs the Conservatives killed!). And also today, the press is notified of an event Wednesday where Environment Minister John Baird and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn will announce “new funding for the development of clean-energy technologies in Canada.”
Of interest is that Vicky Sharpe, CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, will be part of this announcement. I’m not surprised. Sources tell me that the Harper government is quite fond of SDTC because investment in clean technologies is one area they have talked very enthusiastically about — i.e. turning global warming and environmental degradation into an economic opportunity by developing exportable technologies. SDTC has done a good job so far, so I imagine the feds are going to throw more money at them. I also have a hunch that any new money will be earmarked for investment in “clean” coal, carbon capture and sequestration, and other technologies that will make oil sands development and the burning of fossil fuels more acceptable to Canadians.
I’m not going to argue with the need to invest in these areas, but we also need to stop dwelling on research and development and start deploying existing technologies that can have a dramatic impact today.
Anyone care to speculate on the possible details of this announcement? Anyone have insight into this?
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca
January 16th, 2007 at 11:55 am
A bit surprised that you think SDTC is doing a good job. You might want to talk to some of the ‘contract award recipients’ and some that were unsuccessful with their applications. Most of industry thinks that SDTC is an excellent tool to NOT actually invest in clean/sustainable technologies. Just create the illusion of caring.
So yes, it makes sense that Harper would turn to SDTC with more money to not actually spend. Nobody else looks like they are doing as a good a job as SDTC so you are probably right.
And ‘clean coal’ is sure to get money – the DOE has switched most of its money to this so will Harper
January 16th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I would imagine that those who didn’t get a contract aren’t happy with SDTC. That’s not a sign that it hasn’t done a good job, though I do know it has strict criteria for selecting projects. I can only speak from my experiences with the organization and those companies that have received funding. On top of that, SDTC arguably represents the largest cleantech investment fund in North America, and many venture capitalists and entrepreneurs I speak with in the United States wish they had a similar federal funding mechanism.
January 17th, 2007 at 11:51 am
I have found that those that DID get a contract are less happy than those that did not! Not only is the selection criteria extremely strict, the reporting is horribly onerous, but they regularly do not allow significant portions of claims.
If it is even available, it would be interesting to see the difference between the total money given to ‘the foundation’ by the government, the amount allocated to projects and the actual amount spent. There is a real parallel to Bush’s “1.2B for hydrogen” announcements versus the actual spent – just ask the DOE guys that administer the programs.
Yes, probably the biggest noise about Cleantech investing in North America. And yes, SDTC is almost exclusively geared towards VCs and finance institutions and so it makes sense that our US friends would like to see less R&D funding and more ‘last step to commercialisaton’ money available to reduce their risks.
Statistic can be used anyway one wants: “1,249 submissions from more than 3,100 organizations, representing $10.1 billion” and only $217m allocated so are 98% of the cleantech people in Canada not worthy?
From another angle, look at the 1249 submissions, let’s be really crazy and say each takes one month, that is 104 person-years lost in applying for 33% funding.
I actually & truly appreciate the image Canada gets from SDTC but it is not the dreamy picture presented.