Clean Technology

Clean technology, or “CleanTech”, refers to innovative products and services that seek to improve operational performance, productivity and efficiency, while reducing energy use and waste and minimizing environmental impacts. Companies that generate power from renewable sources are often referred to as “CleanTech”, but CleanTech encompasses a broader range of technologies that promote the more efficient use and re-use of natural resources in industrial production and consumption. CleanTech spans many sectors including energy generation, energy management and storage, energy efficiency, transportation, water and wastewater, air and environment, manufacturing and industrial, agriculture, and recycling & waste. Clean technologies are competitive with their conventional counterparts and are sought after for their ability to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges.

In Canada, both the federal and provincial governments play an important role in shaping the domestic CleanTech market through regulatory initiatives, investments and financial incentives. The most popular subsectors for CleanTech development in Canada are power generation, energy efficiency, air quality, and water and wastewater treatment. According to the 2010 SDTC Cleantech Growth & Go-to-Market Report (the Report) prepared by Sustainable Development Technology Canada, the Canadian CleanTech sector is expected to experience compound average revenue growth of 117% from 2010 to 2012. In addition, the Report found that Canada’s CleanTech industry will shift from being primarily a domestic market (with 58% of sales domestically in 2009) to being primarily an export market in 2010 (52% of sales). For the period from 2010 to 2012, the highest growth rates are expected in the following sectors: power generation, energy efficiency, energy infrastructure and industrial process efficiency.