Pushing for alternatives

Even as the push for energy conservation grows in Canada, creating new jobs and a need for skilled workers, industry experts say much more must be done to ensure widespread acceptance of new energy-efficient products and green technologies, especially in oil and gas processing.

Joe Lukacs, president of Canadian Environmental Technology Advancement Corp. West (CETAC-West), says Canada is lagging behind other parts of the world, such as Europe, when it comes to developing businesses around alternative energy technologies.

Germany, for example, is experiencing a huge move toward enviro-jobs, including about 250,000 jobs created in areas such as electric cars, wind power, fuel cells and energy-efficient housing.

A 2007 study by the German environment ministry predicted that 150,000 new green jobs would be created by 2020, spurred by strong government policies and industry grants. (A Canadian solar-energy company, Arise Technologies Corp., built a $70-million photovoltaic cell factory in the former East Germany, with half the capital cost coming from a German government grant.)

Mr. Lukacs's not-for-profit Calgary organization, established in 1994 by Environment Canada, helps entrepreneurs and small businesses commercialize innovative green technologies.

He says that government regulations and incentives can force the adoption of new technologies, but that economic challenges remain in Canada - especially the corporate bottom line.

"The market tends to invest in products or technologies that improve or increase recovery," he notes. "Improving energy efficiency is lower on the priority list. ...

"For companies developing businesses around producing energy from alternative sources [such as solar or wind power], energy from those sources is often more expensive and not as reliable, so it is difficult to compete with conventional energy in Canada."

In general, Mr. Lukacs says, "the major barrier for entrepreneurs in developing energy-conservation businesses is lack of market pull. Rather, entrepreneurs are trying to push new technology into markets ...

"For the market demand to develop - and hence the market pull - society has to come around and put priorities on energy efficiency."

Greg McMillan