It’s frustrating sometimes. There’s so much talk about what we can do down the road to mitigate climate change that there’s less talk — and certainly little action — when it comes to taking meaningful action today. Earlier this month a bunch of Canadian oil companies put out an elaborate report talking about plans to build an integrated carbon capture, delivery and storage network that would cost many billions to start and would take many years to complete. The ICO2N, a group of 15 of Canada’s largest industrial companies, wants the government to share in a substantial part of the risk, even though the network would allow for enhanced oil recovery (ultimately meaning more oil sucked from the ground and more profits for the industry).

Now, I’m not opposed to such a scheme. We need to capture and store CO2 down the road as part of a larger climate mitigation strategy, and if any of this is going to happen it will require the creation of a significant carbon tax to make the investment worthwhile. But these kinds of ambitious projects, while necessary, also tend to detract from more immediate solutions because they give politicians something to talk about in speeches and give the public the perception that something is being done — when, in reality, what’s being talked about as a silver bullet is just a concept begging for money and nowhere near having an impact.

Then I read about a new law passed in Germany that, among other things, will require all new homes built in the country to get 14 per cent of their energy from renewables. The law is primarily targeted at home heating, whether for space heating or hot water, and opens up huge opportunities for solar thermal and geothermal markets. In the words of Germany’s federal environmental agency: “The heatig sector is the sleeping giant of renewable energy.” According to RenewableEnergyAccess.com, “Existing houses will also have to be remodeled to incorporate renewable-energy-based heating systems from 2010 on. For old houses, 10 per cent of the heating and domestic hot water energy needs will have to be provided by renewables.” With the stroke of a pen, you get much-needed change. It’s an illustration of how we can start taking serious action today using existing technologies. All we have to do is, like Germany and Spain, give a legislative nudge supported by incentives that instantly spark large-scale societal changes.

The market alone isn’t going to solve our problems, nor are Canada’s oil companies. Yet somehow, the proposal of a multibillion-dollar plan — one that’s years away from implementation and which encourages the production and consumption of oil — grabs more attention than a simple pen stroke that, like seatbelt legislation or no-smoking legislation, would have greater impact sooner.

Montreal-based 5N Plus Inc., a developer and producer of high-purity metals, has filed its final prospectus for a $62 million initial public offering, which is expected to close Dec. 20. The company says it will use the money to fund construction of a new 40,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Eisenhuttenstadt, Germany. This facility will be devoted exclusively to cadmium telluride production.

5N’s traditional business services the electronics market, but the German plant appears to be dedicated to supplying Phoenix, Arizona-based First Solar Inc., which as we all know is a stock-market darling (a 9-fold jump in the company’s stock price in 14 months!). First Solar’s solar modules are based on cadmium telluride cells, and 5N Plus is a major supplier of this material.

It stands to reason that 5N can benefit tremendously from First Solar’s success, and no doubt its IPO seems aimed at riding in First Solar’s wake.

My Clean Break column today takes a closer look at a New Brunswick, Canada-based company called Atlantic Hydrogen Inc., which has developed a plasma system that extracts hydrogen and carbon out of a natural gas stream. The hydrogen is then reinjected back into the natural gas — representing up to 20 per cent of its volume — leading to a 7 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide and dramatic reduction in nitrogen oxides when the gas is burned as a fuel for vehicles or in a turbine for power generation. The carbon that is extracted is collected in the form of a black dust — a highly pure form of carbon black that has potential for use in making carbon composites for vehicles parts and other applications. It could also be used to make inks, tires, paints, etc…. and even has potential as an agrichar for carbon sequestration and soil enhancement.

Atlantic Hydrogen believes its system — called CarbonSaver — could be installed at natural gas gateway in communities, allowing the local gas company to deliver “green” natural gas — what the company calls hydrogen-enriched natural gas. The system could also be used at natural gas refuelling stations for vehicles and, on a larger scale, at natural gas power plants.

A few questions remain, however. How much energy does the system require to function? If it’s too parasitic, then its value is limited. Also, is a 7 per cent reduction in carbon really enough to make this worth the extra cost? It all comes down to the economics of the technology. That said, given that we’re likely to be dependent on natural gas for many decades to come, any economical method for reducing the environmental impact of burning that gas within our existing distribution infrastructure is certainly worth considering.

My Clean Break column today takes a closer look at a New Brunswick, Canada-based company called Atlantic Hydrogen Inc., which has developed a plasma system that extracts hydrogen and carbon out of a natural gas stream. The hydrogen is then reinjected back into the natural gas — representing up to 20 per cent of its volume — leading to a 7 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide and dramatic reduction in nitrogen oxides when the gas is burned as a fuel for vehicles or in a turbine for power generation. The carbon that is extracted is collected in the form of a black dust — a highly pure form of carbon black that has potential for use in making carbon composites for vehicles parts and other applications. It could also be used to make inks, tires, paints, etc…. and even has potential as an agrichar for carbon sequestration and soil enhancement.

Atlantic Hydrogen believes its system — called CarbonSaver — could be installed at natural gas gateway in communities, allowing the local gas company to deliver “green” natural gas — what the company calls hydrogen-enriched natural gas. The system could also be used at natural gas refuelling stations for vehicles and, on a larger scale, at natural gas power plants.

A few questions remain, however. How much energy does the system require to function? If it’s too parasitic, then its value is limited. Also, is a 7 per cent reduction in carbon really enough to make this worth the extra cost? It all comes down to the economics of the technology. That said, given that we’re likely to be dependent on natural gas for many decades to come, any economical method for reducing the environmental impact of burning that gas within our existing distribution infrastructure is certainly worth considering.

It’s good to see more activity in Canada on the solar front. Sure, we’ve got Carmanah, Arise, and a handful of private players — such as Cyrium, as I’ve recently pointed out — but for a while there the small publicly traded stable we did have was shrinking, not growing. I’m referring, of course, to the stellar rise and spectacular fall of ATS’s Photowatt IPO.

I’m happy to see British Columbia-based Day4 Energy Inc. taking it public. The company was co-founded and is led by veteran Canadian businessman John S. MacDonald, best known as the co-founder and 30-year CEO of aerospace pioneer MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates. Day4′s edge in the market is that it has developed a better way to connect solar PV cells to solar modules and each other. The company’s patented Day4 Electrode reduces the electrical resistance, by a factor of 10, of the material and process traditionally used to connect cells and assemble modules. It claims it has developed the highest efficiency polycrystalline solar panel on the market, with an efficiency of 14 per cent. The company’s electrode technology can also work with monocrystaline and thin-film cells, improving efficiencies and — most importantly — not increasing the cost of production.

“We’re really just at the beginning,” said MacDonald in an interview, adding that the new design approach opens up many possibilities for improving the look, cost and efficiency of solar panels. “We’re the only outfit that builds panels this way.”

Currently, the company only has 12 megawatts a year of capacity. With the IPO, which raised $100 million with an option to increase that to $115 million, the company plans to grow its capacity aggressively to 90 megawatts by the end of 2008. MacDonald says Day4 has secured 300 megawatts — or four years worth — of silicon supply from its suppliers and has a backlog of 100 megawatts worth of module orders. Currently, it is using standard cells provided by QCells and two other suppliers, but with increased volume it expects to start customizing its cell designs to improve energy densities even further.

It doesn’t plan to license the electrode technology — at least not yet — but MacDonald didn’t rule that out in the future. Commenting on the IPO, MacDonald said he’s happy with the outcome but not obsessed with that aspect of the business. “There was a lot of demand for the stock, even in a bad market, so I guess that’s a positive thing,” he said. “My own philosophy is that this company achieve its objectives. I don’t worry about the stock market too much. I just hope things go well.”

He emphasized there’s a lot of work still ahead to reach cost parity with the grid. “It is an this point an objective… Everybody else is going after it but we think we’ve got a better path to getting there.”

Now that’s refreshing. A solar company with something unique to offer that’s focused on hard work and steady progress. Under promise, over deliver? This appears to be Day4′s game plan.