Investing In Energy-Saving Technology

January 25, 2010 2:08 PM

McGuinty Government Supports Green Technology Business, Creates Jobs

Ontario is supporting breakthrough technology that promises to transform lighting in homes and businesses, help tackle climate change and create jobs.

Through the Innovation Demonstration Fund, the province is contributing $3.6 million to Group IV Semiconductor Inc. (Group IV), an Ottawa-based company, to help expand its fabrication facility at Carleton University and complete technology development.

The company's technology could lead to low-cost solid-state (consisting of semiconductor materials and components in which current flow is through solid material rather than in a vacuum) light bulbs that will use up to 90 per cent less electricity than regular bulbs and last much longer, significantly cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the waste burden on landfills.  Currently the company employs 25 people and expects to increase this number to 44 over the next two years.

This investment is part of Ontario's Innovation Agenda to make innovation a driving force of Ontario's economy and supports the province's five-point economic plan.


Quick Facts

  • Lighting consumes some 15 per cent of the world's electrical energy and $12 billion is spent globally every year on lighting.
  • Replacing incandescent bulbs in Canada with solid-state light bulbs could reduce greenhouse gases by five million tonnes annually - the equivalent of taking over 800,000 cars off the road in Canada.
  • Incandescent light bulbs waste more than 90 per cent of the energy they consume as heat, while the corresponding figure for compact fluorescent light bulbs is approximately 25 per cent.

Learn More


Contacts

  • Sandra Watts
    Minister's Office
    416-314-7067
    sandra.watts@nullontario.ca
  • Brigitte Marleau
    Communications Branch
    416-325-2479
    brigitte.marleau@nullontario.ca

Ministry of Research and Innovation
ontario.ca/innovation