Thank you.
Thank you for your time today. I'm going to share with you information that I am fairly certain you haven't heard before.
Canada produces 3 million tonnes of hydrogen each year. Think about this.The U.S. produces 9 million tonnes each year today--it's not a gas of the future--and Canada produces 3 million tonnes, 30% of what the U.S. produces.
Of our annual production, 2 million tonnes is used in the oil sands in Alberta. That hydrogen is used to clean up and lighten up the heavy oil that's taken out of the tar sands, so the hydrogen and fuel cell sector actually works with the fossil fuel sector. The rest of the hydrogen that Canada produces is used to make gasoline cleaner. That's used today as an energy carrier.
Most of the hydrogen we produce in Canada is, surprisingly, extracted out of natural gas, so natural gas and hydrogen go hand in hand. The more hydrogen you produce, the more hydrogen you will be using in Canada.
As for government funding, from 2003 to 2008, for five years, the Government of Canada invested $170 million in the hydrogen fuel cell sector. The private sector responded, raised capital of a billion dollars, and invested that. Eighty per cent of the capital in this sector comes from private financing, not government funding. Some 80% of the R and D in this sector is done by companies, not government labs, and not universities. I think it's pretty significant to recognize that.
This is a global industry and it's emerging. The hydrogen fuel cell sector in Germany benefits from federal German program funding of $200 million per year, because they see that as critical for the development of their energy efficiency and new clean technologies, along with economic development. Canada, in comparison, invests $30 million a year. Canada's total annual investment in the hydrogen fuel cell sector is $30 million a year, the same as Denmark's. Denmark has 5 million people. We took an early lead, but this is developing globally.
I also want to let you know the good news that the money spent by the government in R and D—$170 million—now is turning into sales. We are selling product in the United States today, where the United States has a tax-based fuel cell purchase incentive. That's what we're asking the Government of Canada to consider. It works. It's stimulating sales.
Earlier this year, the Government of Canada commissioned an economic impact study on the hydrogen and fuel cell sector. The result was that, on a conservative basis, this sector in Canada will create 14,500 jobs by 2020 in a sunrise industry, in the clean energy tech sector, which was developed here in Canada and which we will export elsewhere, as opposed to wind technology, which is great, but which we import into Canada. Please keep this in mind: 80% of the R and D investment is funded by private capital.
I believe you have in front of you our 2011 budget submission. I hope you will take a look at the last page, where we map out exactly what will happen over the next five years if a fuel cell purchase incentive is put in place. It indicates, year by year, what sales we'll have and what impact that will have on government revenues. I'm happy to say that the total impact on tax revenues will be only $60 million over five years, most of that back-end loaded, because you ramp slowly in sales.
We've invested in the R and D and we're here at commercialization. We've proved you can do it. It's happening in the U.S. We hope the committee will look favourably on this recommendation.
Thank you.