Vancouver, B.C. – A new report from WaterTAP Ontario says clean-water technology is vital to meeting GHG emissions targets and explores how clean-water technology is making and can make a significant contribution to lowering GHG emissions.
“Water: The next frontier on the path to a low carbon economy,” which was released March 14 at GLOBE Forum 2018 in Vancouver, recommends a continuing focus on clean-water technology as a reliable, cost-effective way to lower GHG emissions and create energy savings.
Water and wastewater services can consume as much as one-half of a municipality’s total electricity use, and on average, over 30 per cent of municipal carbon emissions are related to water services, WaterTAP said in a news release. Across Canada, emissions from wastewater treatment increased by 22 per cent from 1990 to 2015.
This energy use results in substantial greenhouse gas emissions that can be reduced through application of clean-water technology across the full spectrum of water services – from water provision to wastewater treatment to stormwater management, the report says.
For instance, generating biogas at wastewater treatment plants across Canada has the potential to offset 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per year, which is the equivalent of taking 600,000 cars off the road.
The report suggests Ontario companies are making an impact around the world by creating energy efficiency in water systems, generating renewable energy from wastewater, and harvesting valuable resources from waste streams, and ready to apply their solutions to the domestic market.
WaterTAP brings private-sector experience and guidance to helping water industry entrepreneurs gain access to the resources they need to successfully market their products and services and grow their businesses.
“Our companies are translating innovative ideas into real-world applications,” said WaterTAP president and chief executive officer Peter Gallant in regards to the report. “In doing so, they are contributing significant value to the Province’s dual effort to create high-value, low-carbon jobs and to grow this critical sector of the economy.”
Ontario business innovations covered in the report include:
· Bishop Water Technologies, based in Renfrew, Ont., has developed a passive dewatering system for water, and wastewater, using its proprietary containers, that remove solids from wastewater at a fraction of the cost of traditional mechanical systems. In addition to reduced repair and maintenance costs from the technology, municipalities across Ontario are seeing large reductions in energy costs because the system requires no energy to operate.
· Lystek, based in Cambridge, Ont., specializes in converting municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities into resource recovery centres. The company is transforming organic waste streams into value-added products and services including a commercial-grade liquid biofertilizer that is being used in applications across the province.
· Based in Guelph, Ont., Mantech’s technology provides the pulp and paper, food and beverage and industrial wastewater markets with fast, robust water-quality analysis to enable energy savings through process optimization.
· Hydromantis & Alert Labs of Kitchener, Ont., partnered on a project to use dynamic sensors to feed information to novel wastewater and energy models capable of providing operators with real-time feedback for optimizing equipment and operating strategies that generate energy savings.
Read the full report, “Water: The next frontier on the path to a low carbon economy.”
Print this page
