Certainly I could talk all day, but I know I have 10 minutes. I will not talk about Transport Robert, but about the preoccupation of the industry.
Mr. Bradley has touched on many issues. One of the things that concerns me as an individual who has been in the trucking industry for 45 years is that if we want to make things more productive tomorrow, we need to create changes. If we leave things as they are today, nothing is going to happen, ever. In our industry, we need to change. We need to change; we need to go with new technologies to take us to 2020, 2030.
We keep our trailers 20 years, which means that if I make a decision today on equipment, that trailer's going to be on the road until 2030. People do not realize that the decisions we make are long-term decisions. It's not a car that you trade in every three years. We need to go with new technology, and these technologies come from Europe and from all around the world.
We have the privilege in Canada to have a corporation called Westport, which is manufacturing a new injector technology that uses natural gas. If there is a commodity that is abundant in Canada and abundant in the United States, it is natural gas. I have left six packages for you that are very detailed about the technology of LNG. I have offered to give the clerk, Alexandre, all the information electronically for your laptops so that you can understand in detail.
This is very peculiar in terms of technology, but the beauty of it is that you automatically use about 4% to 5% fuel, and the rest, 95%, is natural gas. This natural gas has to be liquefied, and the liquefaction of the gas means that it is carried on the vehicles and into our yards at minus 260 degrees. In order to be able to be able to cope with this extreme temperature and the characteristics of the LNG, we need to make major investments.
In our industry, if you put a tank in your yard to get LNG, well, you pay for it. If the same organization that manufactures the tank puts a tank in development for new technology, they will get grants and support or additional amortization or accelerated amortization to do the investment. In our case, we don't get any of that. Only in Quebec do we get a small portion right now, and I'm here to pledge that we have to sensitize the people of the country to the need to get together and ask where our future is.
Even though we export—well, we try as, you know. I'm not going to comment on the situation in the west with the United States, which you know that better than I, but, as you know, in the east we import all our basic petroleum. We do have natural gas reserves, and we could heat our houses, fuel our trucks, and eventually do a lot of other things.
I'm future-oriented. I know I'm going to die soon, although I don't know when, but one thing is certain: the gas of the future is natural gas. The alternative gas is will come about through natural gas. Look at the formula of natural gas: CH4. What is important? It's the H4. What is the “H” for? It's hydrogen. The trucks of the future, the cars of the future, are going to be using hydrogen. Where is this hydrogen going to come from? Certainly not from water, because water's only H20; it's going to come from CH4.
Whether people like it or not, they should look ahead. I feel so bad sometimes when I discuss with people who do not have that vision. I swear to God, I was in a shop in Phoenix and saw that people were running engines on hydrogen right now, using methane to produce the hydrogen. It does exist today—not tomorrow, but today—so what are we going to do to bring Canada up to par and into that environment of tomorrow? I thank the people who invited me, Monsieur Coderre and others, but this is the message I'd like to bring over to you.
As well, we have a pile of technology coming from Europe, but through Transport Canada we decided to shut the door on these technologies. Why did we do that? The answer is that a deal we signed a long time ago with the Americans says that all the trucks should come from the United States.
Well, this is not true anymore. Even the Americans are importing the Hino and other trucks of the world that are made by Toyota. They come Japan. It's fine if they come via the United States to Canada, but in Canada we cannot stand up and say that we could have a partnership with Europe. All the advanced vehicles are made in Europe. In Europe, they adopt technology that is recognized worldwide, whereas here in North America we use the EPA standard.
Earlier I showed some of you a document I picked up yesterday. The title is “EPA’s cost analysis of 2004-2010 emissions mandates questioned”. A group of people created an organization, EPA, under the government's support, and today it's costing us an average of $20,000 per truck to support EPA. We've lost two miles a gallon on fuel economy. In our case, that represents 25% of our consumption.
People are still supporting EPA standards without question, whereas we have standards that we could develop, working together with Europeans, that would be worthwhile and that are much more efficient. The beauty of it is that now the Europeans are buying into Westport's natural gas technology to bring it to Europe; we in Canada use the Westport technology, but through EPA, so for 4% and 5% of diesel into our engines, we respect EPA and we pay $20,000 more per truck. That is what we are and this is where we are.
I certainly wish I could speak with you for hours, because I know the details and everything behind this. These were some of the things I wanted to share so that you'd be fully aware that the world doesn't stop here. The world is far ahead of us, and we need to have an open horizon to look at things differently. If we want to change, let's look for the change. I keep saying that if you keep looking into your mirror, you only look at the past, because what is behind you is behind you—it's the past. You need to look through the windshield to look ahead, to look in front. That's my philosophy of life and that's what I wanted to share.
Thank you.