Investing in a Greener Future
Today's Environmental Challenges Require Large Scale Disruptive Solutions.
Replacing Our Aging Industrial Complex
Canada’s midstream and downstream energy industry is dominated by facilities that were designed and/or constructed over forty years ago, long before modern environmental standards were conceived. There is an urgent need to replace this aging industrial infrastructure with new facilities that make better use of our natural resources, manufacture products for a rapidly changing marketplace and are designed to meet environmental standards that an engaging public now demands.
Climate change is a serious issue
Everyone's right to a better quality of life is also important
Aggressive GHG emission targets have been set to manage climate change but cannot be achieved without a major overhaul of the industrial complex that produces the energy and related products that are integral to our current lifestyle. Growing Asian economies are going to need new sources of energy and related commodities and this can provide the economic incentive to modernize the industry. The advances in information technology, material sciences and environmental standards should have driven major changes to the design of modern manufacturing facilities, but have not.
Frequently, opposition to new industrial projects comes from two fronts. The dominant companies that own the existing manufacturing facilities will defend their markets from new competition and endeavor to operate aging manufacturing facilities with minimal changes to their practices. The failure to modernize has given rise to today’s environmental movement demanding better environmental performance. The environmental movement that strives for better outcomes is important. However, as with many things, it is the most extreme environmentalists that want to shut down the energy industry immediately that present a major roadblock for new industrial projects. It is an ironic twist of fate that both the established industrial companies and extreme environmentalists are now aligned in their objectives to stop replacement of the aging industrial complex.
At West Coast Olefins Ltd., we believe that the best thing we can do to realize a sustainable future is to accelerate the replacement of aging industrial infrastructure with new state-of-the-art technology that is designed to make products that meet current and future demand, and do so in a way that creates the most value from our natural resources, benefits the local community and adheres to modern environmental standards.
It may not be easy, but it is possible, to design industrial manufacturing facilities that can be economically competitive and dramatically improve environmental performance. At West Coast Olefins Ltd., we are willing to work hard to develop solutions that meet these objectives and will work closely with local communities to ensure they understand how we are doing that.
What are the barriers slowing the modernization of the industrial complex?
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Canada's economy is heavily reliant on our natural resources that provide us with the lifestyle that we are used to. In order for us to sustain our lifestyles, it is the responsibility of Canadians to invest in modern and efficient technologies to process natural resources and lower the environmental footprint on a global perspective.
West Coast Olefins Ltd. is proposing a project that produces more value from products that already exist in Canadian natural gas pipelines while reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. These products can be converted to higher value products in Canada and sold globally to strengthen Canada's economy.