Government of Canada Providing C$80M Funding to GreenField Ethanol Facility
18 March 2010
The Government of Canada will provide up to C$79.75 million (US$78.97 million) in funding over seven years to GreenField’s ethanol facility in Varennes, Quebec through the ecoENERGY for Biofuels program. GreenField is Canada’s largest ethanol company, producing 450 million liters (119 gallons US) in fuel ethanol annually.
GreenField’s Varennes facility will produce about 145 million liters (38 million gallons US) of corn ethanol per year.
The Government of Canada will invest up to $1.5 billion over nine years through the ecoENERGY for Biofuels program. The Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan also dedicates $1 billion to the Clean Energy Fund and $1 billion for the Green Infrastructure Fund to provide additional economic stimulus.
How ridiculous or copy-cat can you get? Canada has a huge oil surplus and the potential to produce 2x to 4x the national consumption. It does not need to use edible valuable food stock to produce liquid fuels.
That's what strong lobbies can do.
Why not give away corn surpluses (if any) to feed the hungry people of the world and those on the streets a few miles away.
Posted by: HarveyD | 18 March 2010 at 07:09 AM
This does not say whether it is cellulose ethanol or not. The Government can be a partner to the private sector, there is no reason that the government can not make a profit doing something good for all of its citizens.
Posted by: SJC | 18 March 2010 at 08:32 AM
SJC:
Those $79M are for a corn based ethanol factory, nothing to do with future cellulosic ethanol facilities.
Posted by: HarveyD | 18 March 2010 at 10:19 AM
Well, in that case they probably do not need nor deserve the money. U.S. ethanol producers got caught in a bind over high corn prices bid up by hedge funds. The U.S. government did not step in and bail them out, some were sold and some went bankrupt.
There was a story about $1.5 billion spent over 20 years by the U.S. government filling in eroded beaches that just eroded again. They used to bail out people in the Mississippi river valley that kept getting flooded out. Some times the policy does not make sense and needs to change.
Posted by: SJC | 18 March 2010 at 01:03 PM
This is just more of Harper's greenwashing, as a politico from Alberta he really DOES NOT want Canada to go green.
I heard a funny story about these ethanol plants; they were originally suppose to be fed grains like wheat, which Canada grows more than enough of, but for some reason they now use corn, which only really grows in Ontario. As a result, to meet the proposed mandates for high ethanol blends we have to import corn from the states. Somebody please tell me if this is true or not.
Posted by: ai_vin | 18 March 2010 at 01:56 PM
You all know much more about the politics of this than I do, but at first glance it really does not make much sense. Of course corn grain ethanol is not the best way in the U.S. either, but we continue on with it.
I hope that cellulose processing becomes a big part of ethanol plants in the U.S. It seems like we can do this and I believe that the people would see it as progress instead of the status quo. It may not end the food/fuel debate completely but it would be a step in the right direction.
Posted by: SJC | 18 March 2010 at 06:59 PM
ai-win:
Yes, corn ethanol facilities are going up mostly in eastern Manitoba, Ontario and Western Quebec. Since Canada does not have a corn surplus, most of it is effectively imported from USA. That's why I called it 'Copy-Cat' foolish policy.
However, there is a great difference between the two countries. Canada produces almost twice as much oil as it uses but USA has to import almost 70%. Producing corn based ethanol in Canada is therefore ridiculous. We could import lower cost sugarcane ethanol from Brazil or produce cellulosic ethanol to mix with home made gas (if required).
Posted by: HarveyD | 19 March 2010 at 08:36 AM