Thank you, M. Chair.
First of all, we sincerely would like to thank the committee for inviting us here today to discuss Canada's ecoENERGY initiative. During the first hour, we will be covering all of the programs, and during the second hour, we will provide you with a more detailed summary of the ecoENERGY Retrofit—Homes program. I know that this is a matter of concern to you, and we will be discussing it in greater detail.
We also have a handout, which I'll be speaking to.
Page 2 of the document pertains to ecoENERGY initiatives that are part of the government's Clean Air Agenda Program and all of its EcoAction programs.
These initiatives represent an investment of more than $4 billion and are designed to promote energy efficiency, increase the supply of renewable energies—including biofuels—and to create clean energy technologies. The three objectives of the ecoEnergy programs are as follows: To help Canadians consume energy more efficiently, to promote the supply of renewable energies and to create and roll out technologies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The programs have been divided into the following four categories: energy efficiency, renewable energy, biofuels and technology.
Significant progress has been achieved thanks to these investments. Investing in clean energy technologies and energy efficiency stimulates the growth of the clean energy industry, creating high-paying jobs for Canadians, and at the same time protecting the environment.
I am going to read you a brief presentation about our ecoENERGY programs and the achievements to date. For practical reasons, I divide them into four categories, as I mentioned earlier.
I will be talking again to the four basic groupings of the ecoENERGY programs.
The first one is energy efficiency. This has a lot of programs in it, as you can see from the slide, from the retrofit homes program down to the equipment one. The ecoENERGY efficiency initiatives promote smarter energy use by Canadians at home, at work, and on the road. The programs use multiple instruments to improve energy efficiency. We use incentives, codes and standards, training, education, and awareness. The programs address each sector of the economy. They rely on partnership and collaboration to lever resources from provincial, territorial, and utility partners.
Frequently the federal initiatives provide a foundation to which other organizations can add their complementary measures, furthering the reach of energy efficiency across Canada. The initiatives include the ecoENERGY retrofit homes program, which has been a very popular program, as you know. Carol Buckley, our director general, will be doing a presentation on that during the second hour, and I think we'll be really focusing on that program in the second hour.
On the fifth page are the results of the energy efficiency programs. Training, for example, has been provided for between 1,000 and 2,000 home builders every year, so they can build R-2000 and Energy Star homes that are 25% more efficient than conventional new builds. Commercial truck and bus drivers learn how to maximize fuel economy through training, as do plant foremen and energy managers in industry. The popular Energy Star label identifies the top performers for 50 products, and 60% of Canadians use this label now to inform their energy purchases. Many provinces and utilities also base their rebate programs on Energy Star products.
A strong regulatory package will address 80% of the energy used in the commercial and residential sectors. Thirty new and more stringent product regulations will be in place by March 2011 to address lighting, refrigerators, motors, consumer equipment like televisions, and more. The provinces with energy efficiency regulations work closely with Natural Resources Canada to make sure our approaches are aligned.
Slide 6 talks about renewables. The ecoENERGY renewable initiative is focused on increasing the commercial deployment of renewable energy technologies. In the case of renewable electricity, this has taken the form of a production incentive designed to improve the relative competiveness of these technologies. In the case of renewable heat, this has been achieved through a broader set of initiatives, including a capital incentive to install solar thermal systems, partnerships with the utilities and other service providers to increase the use of solar hot water systems, and actions to increase industry capacity such as training certified installers. Response to both of these initiatives has met or exceeded expectations, and we expect to meet or beat our initial targets in these programs.
Slide 7 talks about the biofuels component of the program. The ecoENERGY for biofuels program supports Environment Canada's renewable fuel regulations that will come into force in 2010. The program provides incentives to increase the supply of renewable transportation fuels. As of March 2010, the program is committed to supporting the production of up to 1.6 billion litres of biofuels by 2012. The budget has largely been allocated, and the remaining bit will be committed over the next few months.
Slide 8, the last section, is on the ecoENERGY technology initiative fund, which funds research, development, and demonstration to support the development of next-generation clean energy technologies such as carbon capture and storage and renewable energy technologies. For example, seven new CCS projects, ranging from $4 million to $33 million, support preliminary engineering and testing activities.
The other program we use in conjunction with this, which I mentioned, is the clean energy fund program, which is also making a major contribution to carbon capture and storage. The clean energy fund was announced in January 2009 under the economic action plan, and to date it has committed $466 million for major integrated large-scale CCS projects.
The ecoENERGY technology initiative and CCS projects have helped set the stage for clean energy fund projects. Opportunities are being taken where possible to co-fund projects through both ecoENERGY technology initiatives and the clean energy fund to move projects along to large-scale demonstration.
The last slide talks about the future. I know this is a question we'll get. As indicated in the March 2010 Speech from the Throne, the government is now reviewing its energy efficiency and emissions reduction programs to ensure they are effective. I should mention that this is actually fairly common. A lot of times the government will fund programs for a four- to five-year period, or longer.
When the period is up we usually review them in the last year to make sure that the programs are still necessary and effective. For a number of these programs that finish at the end of this year, such a review is now ongoing and it will be basically for ministers to review and to decide. But again, the government has not decided yet on the future of these programs.
