Good afternoon.
I represent Enbridge Inc., a Canadian leader in energy transportation and distribution. Our green energy footprint exceeds 850 megawatts of wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cell, and heat-to-power systems. We believe our pre-budget submission aligns with Canadian energy and environmental policies. It also creates and fosters new ideas and the ability to transform these ideas into new products and services for both our domestic and export economies.
Canada has stimulated significant investment in wind energy. As this technology matures, opportunities exist to diversify our low-carbon energy supplies with a portfolio of technologies having low or no incremental emissions. We call them non-combustion technologies. They include fuel cells and systems that harvest waste energy to generate low-impact electricity.
Fuel cells are like a continuous battery. They operate electrochemically without burning fuel, so they're very clean and efficient on both renewables and fossil fuels.
Waste-energy recovery technologies use expansion turbines. They include pressure recovery from natural gas pipelines and also the recovery of industrial waste heat for power.
To support Canada's energy and environmental objectives, the Government of Canada should consider early purchase incentives for non-combustion technologies by extending support to non-combustion technologies if Canada's ecoEnergy or ecoEnergy RP programs are renewed, or it should provide supportive tax policy environments for these technologies. Such measures could include investment tax credits for qualified non-combustion technology.
These recommendations support our energy priorities, which include clean power, energy efficiency, and cleaner use of fossil fuels. Stationary fuel cells support all three. They don't burn the fuel, so they provide clean electricity without smog, particulate, or sulphurous emissions. They have a very high electrical efficiency, so the greenhouse gases are reduced. They operate on a variety of energy feedstocks, including natural gas, renewable methane, hydrogen, synthetic gas from wood-waste gasification, paint fumes, etc. In short, they represent cleaner and wise use of fossil, renewable, and waste energy supplies.
Recovering waste energy for power also supports these priorities. It increases efficiency by using less energy per gross domestic product. Many waste-energy streams occur every day in Canada. We can harvest this for power with low or no incremental emissions. A few examples follow.
Enbridge developed a hybrid fuel cell for pipeline pressure control. It's more efficient and less polluting. A plant in Toronto was operated in 2008 with the support of NRCan and Environment Canada. It produces low-carbon electricity for about 1,700 homes without burning fuel, by harvesting waste pipeline energy. Canada's extensive natural gas pipelines offer many repeatable opportunities.
Ford Motor Company in Oakville operates a fuel cell on paint fumes. The fumes are extracted from the paint line and the fuel cell creates power without emissions. Many industrial processes across Canada could benefit from a similar approach.
In Saskatchewan, pipeline compressors have been installed with heat-to-power technologies. Before, hot air was dumped into the atmosphere. Now clean power is produced for the grid. The technology can be applied to cement plants, steel plants, and other high-temperature exhausts. The investment creates green jobs, but more importantly it helps preserve our existing industrial employment by making industry more competitive.
As part of the clean energy dialogue with the U.S. we're focusing on more efficient grids with renewable and clean generation. The dialogue encourages clean energy research, development, and deployment. Due to the integrated economies, Environment Canada is considering opportunities for policy and regulatory harmonization with the U.S.