Thank you for inviting me to give testimony before the Standing Committee on Natural Resources.
My presentation will be very practical in the sense that I am going to tell you about three of our projects. I am also going to conclude by telling you about changes and approaches that I think our legislators should consider in order to improve, increase and speed up the development of technologies with a view to fighting greenhouse gases.
I founded Biothermica 25 years ago to recover methane from landfill sites and, later on, from underground coal mines. Since 1987, our company has invested more than $150 to $200 million in projects. It has developed over 12 active patents linked to those technologies. All the things we do today did not exist 25 years ago.
Today, our company owns infrastructure. We are a private producer of landfill gas power. I set up the first landfill gas power plant in Canada, which is actually the largest. The power plant is called Gazmont and it is in the City of Montreal, on the landfill site formerly known as the Miron quarry. This plant generates 25 MW of electric power.
For four years, we have been connected to TOHU, a Cirque du soleil subsidiary. We bring them hot water so that they can heat all their facilities with green energy. Soon, we will be connected to Cirque du soleil's head office to replace the one million cubic metres of natural gas that their head office is currently using in Montreal. They will simply use the heat generated by our turbine that produces electricity from biogas.
This company that I have created belongs to my family. We were able to develop technologies especially because of the research and development tax credit program. I would really like to thank the Canadian government because our company would not exist if it weren't for this Canadian program that was implemented in the 1980s and followed by Quebec. This program is extremely and fundamentally important for any company that wants to develop green technologies.
Fortunately, last year, the Jenkins report provided some very positive recommendations. There have been some cuts to the program, but the key aspects of the program have been kept. This program is one of a kind in the world.
As an entrepreneur, I encourage you to keep this program and to improve it because it is fundamental. Why? If we compare it to grants, the program has continuity over time. As business people, we are able to create long-term R and D programs because we know that the program will exist in 5 or 10 years. With a grant program, if the government changes, the program can disappear. So we cannot develop a long-term technology. Developing technologies does not happen in a year; it takes 10 years.
We specialize in methane. Last week, I was in Vancouver for the largest conference in the world on the Global Methane Initiative. The conference was sponsored by the Canadian government, Environment Canada and U.S. EPA. Canada's Minister of the Environment opened the conference. The conference brought together 70 countries, the stakeholders of which are all methane emitters, be it methane from coal mines, landfill gas or oil refineries.
At that conference, since we are world-renowned in the field, Biothermica had an opportunity to present two projects that are unique in the world. The first project was in Alabama where we are the first company to recover methane from underground coal mines.
Let me say a few words about methane. Fifteen per cent of the world's greenhouse gases are emitted through methane and the increase rate of methane emissions is twice as high as that of CO2. Methane has an impact that is 21 times stronger than that of CO2. In other words, every tonne of methane emissions is equal to 21 tonnes of CO2.
Canada, with the United States and 30 other countries, launched the Global Methane Initiative in order to help private companies develop technologies to reduce methane emissions, whether from waste, biogas, underground coal mines, manure—animal excrement, that is— or rice plantations, which abound in China.
Still from a practical perspective, Biothermica has developed three methane-related projects. The first one is Gazmont, which I have talked about. We were the first to recover more than 15,000 m3 of biogas. At the beginning of Gazmont, we were generating 25 MW of electricity, enough to power 30,000 homes. Today, we power 6,000, since the curve is slowly dropping.
That was a pilot project and, since it was our project, we funded it. We are talking about $38 million. We put in $7 million as equity and we had a debt of $30 million. This project became a technology showcase for Biothermica. It allowed us to carry out a similar project in El Salvador that we registered under the Kyoto Protocol in 2006 through the clean development mechanism.
The Canadian government had ratified Kyoto. It gave us a letter of approval, except that, afterwards, since Canada did not create a greenhouse gas registry, we signed an agreement with Luxembourg to be able to sell the carbon credits that we were generating in El Salvador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. As a result, we didn't have to go through Canada's greenhouse gas registries. That project won first prize in infrastructure in Latin America in 2008, for its technical quality and especially for its technological success. Today, we have a 6 MW power plant. The project is still running with revenue from electricity rather than carbon credits, because the price of carbon has dropped tremendously in Europe.
The second project is in Alabama. We were the first to set up a plant using our VAMOX technology that recovers methane from one of the largest underground coal mines. This underground methane creates explosions. The project was registered under the Climate Action Reserve. The state of California is currently telling us that it will recognize those carbon credits in the California carbon market that was created. Quebec has been linked to that market through a liaison initiative since last month. Clearly, we will be able to deploy the VAMOX technology as a result of a regulated carbon market being established between California and Quebec.
To conclude, Biothermica is a company that has always been profitable. The development of green technology is a source of wealth. In addition, we have come to the conclusion that legislators must consider the fact that, every time we use a cubic metre of clean air to create energy, whether it is for cars to move by burning gas or for burning coal and natural gas, we should put a price on this cubic metre that we are taking away from the environment and that becomes “a little dirty”. If we put a price on a cubic metre of clean air, the way we do for each cubic metre of wood or water, we will send a message that it is limited. That is economics 101. As a result, we would pay attention and use clean air rationally. I have always wondered why, politically, we have a hard time putting a price on a cubic metre of clean air.
It is one of our planet's resources, just like a cubic metre of wood, water or gravel. So that is our message to you. As legislators and policy makers, you have a role to play so that we can eventually put a price on it. It is your job to decide whether the price will be added through a carbon market or as a carbon tax. Once there is a price on every cubic metre, we will do our job as technological entrepreneurs. We will develop technologies and, as a result, we will create wealth, a cleaner environment and a sustainable planet.
Thank you.