The BC Energy Plan

BACKGROUNDER

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

The BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership puts British Columbia at the forefront of environmental and economic leadership in our energy policies. The Plan outlines the steps required for all stakeholders — including industry experts, environmental agencies and the people of British Columbia — to develop realistic and achievable goals for conservation, energy efficiency and clean energy.

Highlights

• Establish a new Innovative Clean Energy Fund of $25 million to support the development of clean energy and energy efficient technologies in electricity, alternative energy, transportation and oil and gas sectors. The fund will support projects that:
• Address specific British Columbia energy and environmental problems that have been identified by government.
• Showcase B.C. technologies that have a strong potential for international market demand.
• Feature pre-commercial energy technology that is new, or commercial technology not currently used in B.C.
• Implement the soon-to-be-released BC Bioenergy Strategy to take full advantage of B.C.’s abundant sources of biomass and renewable energy. The strategy is aimed at:
• Enhancing British Columbia’s ability to become electricity self-sufficient
• Fostering the development of a sustainable bioenergy sector including creating power from pine-beetle timber
• Creating new jobs
• Supporting improvements in air quality
• Encouraging diversity in the forestry and agriculture sectors
• Invest $89 million in the world’s first fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses and refueling infrastructure through a federal-provincial partnership.
• Develop a leading hydrogen economy by continuing to support the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Strategy for British Columbia. The vision of the Province’s hydrogen and fuel cell strategy is to:
• Promote a sustainable energy future
• Increase energy efficiency
• Reduce air pollutants and greenhouse gases
• Implement a five per cent average renewable fuel standard for diesel by 2010 to help reduce emissions and advance the domestic renewable fuel industry.
• Support the federal action of increasing the ethanol content of gasoline to five per cent by 2010
• Support cross-government initiatives that support transportation demand management, reducing traffic congestion and better integrating land use and transportation planning. Key initiatives include:
• Extending the tax break on hybrid vehicle purchases to March 2011
• Purchasing only hybrid passenger vehicles for the government fleet
• Adopting California’s tailpipe emission standards for greenhouse gas emissions
• Implementing the LocalMotion program for capital projects which include expanding rapid transit, building cycling and pedestrian pathways and reducing air pollution

-30-

For more information or a copy of The BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership, visit http://energyplan.gov.bc.ca on the Internet.

Media contact:

Jake Jacobs
Public Affairs Officer
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources
250 952-0628

For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.