ecoENERGY for Biofuels
Increasing the use of cleaner, renewable energy is an important part of the Government of Canada’s comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, helping to protect the health of Canadians and our environment.
The Government of Canada is investing up to $1.5 billion to increase the supply and availability of cleaner, renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. In fact, proposed regulations will require five percent renewable fuel content based on the national gasoline pool by fall of this year and two percent renewable content in diesel and heating oil by 2011 or earlier, subject to technical feasibility.
To meet these requirements, it is expected that Canada will need close to three billion litres of renewable fuels by 2012. The ecoENERGY for Biofuels initiative will help reach this target by providing operating incentives to encourage greater production of renewable fuels.
Compared to gasoline, grain-based ethanol can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 40 percent on a life-cycle basis. The GHG reduction for biodiesel can be as much as 60 percent. The coming regulation for renewable content in gasoline alone could reduce Canada’s annual GHG emissions by four million tonnes.
