Thursday, January 14, 2010

Elaine McCoy On Government's Clean Energy Initiatives

Yesterday afternoon, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt announced 146 million dollars in funding to support 19 projects under the Clean Energy Fund. I am happy to see the Minister put the money forward, but will refrain from leaping for joy just yet. Of that sum, many projects can only expect to receive 2 - 5 million dollars.

One project listed to receive funding is the Bay of Fundy tidal energy demonstration. Alas, we heard about this (and I blogged on it!) last October. Same goes for the geothermal project in Yellowknife, the Senate heard about that one two years ago while on a trip to the North. The list can likely go on. Regrettably it seems as though the most renewable thing about this news release, is the re-release of information.

How serious is this government? All of the projects are called demonstration projects. Many with huge capital costs, that make the 2 - 5 mil just a drop in the proverbial bucket.

So, how real is this?


Listen to her words. This Senator is both wise and hot.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yup, a drop in the bucket. The serious money is funding carbon capture and storage projects for coal-fired power plants and tar sands upgraders. Harper and Ignatieff are both counting on greening the tar sands to produce "clean" energy. I guess renewables just aren't a priority for Canada.