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6 Downstream Natural Gas Copyright © 2014 by SDTC ™

2.4 Non-technical Priorities

2.4.1 Integration of Natural Gas and Electricity Provision

Given Canada’s current energy landscape, minimizing the life-cycle environmental impact of energy-use within the residential and commercial sectors would involve the use of a combination of electricity and natural gas by region. However, separate regulation governing electricity and gas provision to the same customer presents a barrier to integrated solutions designed to minimize environmental impact.

2.4.2 Energy Literacy

There is a need for the education of policy makers, stakeholders and consumers with respect to the life-cycle impacts of various power generation alternatives, as well as Canada’s capacity to generate power through various alternatives in the short, medium and long terms. By simultaneously educating key decision makers while building social understanding and acceptance, the goal of energy literacy would be to ensure that energy decisions are made based on the best available information.

Also identified within this broader category is a need for improved education on how products and services use energy. This could empower end-users to make environmentally-based decisions, which could then impact the decisions of suppliers related to efficiency and energy source considerations.

2.4.3 Demonstration Opportunities for New Technologies

Many of the downstream NG sub-sectors are considered risk averse, and even those sub-sectors that may be more receptive to newer technologies look to demonstrated performance prior to adoption. Demonstration opportunities could come in the form of government programs or other methods to incentivize or reward utilities to incubate, install and nurture new technologies.

2.4.4 Clarification of Financial and Regulatory Structures

Adoption of some technologies with significant GHG reduction potentials will be reliant on financial and regulatory structures. Lack of clarity on these structures will have the potential to negatively impact adoption. They include:

• Natural gas taxation as a transportation fuel.

• Clarification from regulators regarding potential GHG emissions regulations.

• How the RNG cost premium will be overcome as RNG is not expected to be cost-competitive with NG in the short and medium term.

• CCS requirements for NG electric power generation.

3 Report Process, Scope and Structure

3.1 Report Process

The SDTC STAR™ Tool

The Sustainable Technology Assessment Roadmap (STAR™) is an analytical tool that is used to produce the SD Business Case reports. It is an iterative analytical process that combines data, reports, stakeholder input, and industry intelligence in a common information platform. It uses a series of criteria selection screens to assess and sort relevant information from a variety of sources. The output is an Investment Report that highlights key technology investment opportunities for the sector under study.

The SDTC STAR™ Process: Data Collection and Analysis

The STAR™ process uses a“vision-based, needs-driven”approach: it begins with an industry vision of where the sector is anticipated to be at some defined point in the future, and then identifies the most critical requirements that must be satisfied in order to achieve the stated vision.