Enhancing the Production and Use of Renewable Energy
Status: Completed
Operational Plan: 2009
Canada, Mexico and the United States are committed to enhancing development of clean and sustainable energy.
The objective of this activity is to promote policies and actions that provide benefits for the environment, trade and the economy, and encourage sustainable consumption, production and trade of Renewable Energy in North America.
Background
Renewable Energy has multiple environmental benefits, including reduced air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable Energy can help address the key challenges of sustainable development, promote energy diversification, and foster economic growth while reducing the environmental impact caused by the production and consumption of fossil-fuel based energy.
Since 1995, the CEC has addressed opportunities to promote energy efficiency. A significant milestone in this regard was the CEC’s 2002 Article 13 report, Environmental Challenges and Opportunities of the Evolving North American Electricity Market.
Actions to date include reviewing existing technologies that could foster Renewable Energy, working on methodologies to evaluate non-air benefits of Renewable Energy, and reviewing existing literature on the environmental effects of liquid biofuels.
Rational
The objective of this project is to promote policies and actions that provide benefits for the environment, trade and the economy, and encourage sustainable consumption, production and trade of Renewable Energy in North America.
Key Activities
- Analysis of opportunities to promote development of North American Renewable Energy capacity.
- Identification of areas where wind power may threaten avian and bat populations.
- Dissemination of key outputs of the project to target audiences, particularly local and indigenous communities.
Achievements
- Increased use of existing carbon financial instruments for the promotion of Renewable Energy.
- Increased use of the CEC outputs as a guide in support of small-scale projects.
- Improved assessment of the potential risk of wind farms to avian and bat populations.
- Increased number of projects being implemented by or in partnership with local and indigenous communities.
Future Work
The activities planned for 2009 will allow the project to have achieved progress on all areas, including the CEC’s 2005-2010 Strategic Plan objectives. No further activity would be expected in this project beyond 2009.