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Jurisdictions around the world are responding the to potential of smart grids in different ways. This paper employs a multi-level perspective approach to socio-technological transitions to examine why the Canadian province of Ontario has seen a relatively smooth transition of smart meter technologies from the niche to regime levels as compared with other Canadian provinces, and other jurisdictions in the United States, European Union, and Australia. The paper also examines the reasons for Ontario's advanced legislative and policy framework around Smart Grid development, relative to those of other provinces. The complex institutional landscape around electricity that has emerged in Ontario since the break-up of the province's monopoly utility Ontario Hydro in the late 1990s emerges as a significant factor in both outcomes. The role of the province's municipally-owned LDCs spell out "local distribution companies (LDCs) as the primary agents for smart meter deployment, as opposed to a dominant vertically integrated utility, appears to have had an important mediating effect on public opposition to smart meters. With respect to Smart Grid policy, the diversity of high capacity institutional actors that now define the province's electricity policy landscape has facilitated the emergence of several interagency policy development niches. In a manner consistent with the concept of technological niches in the socio-technical transitions literature, the interagency status of these policy niches has shielded them from the regime level selective pressures that would likely have existed in a more unified institutional structure, and empowered new policy ideas to move from the niche to regime levels. These outcomes have significant implications for the understanding of socio-technological transitions, particularly around the role of institutional complexity in the emergence of niches for technology and policy development purposes and in niche to regime level transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's cellulosic ethanol biorefinery concept is supported by federal and provincial government legislative ethanol mandates as well as enabling science and innovation policies for technology development to support the economic and sustainable production of cellulosic ethanol and co-products from Canada's abundant supply of lignocellulosic agricultural and forestry biomass. In particular, the development of pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation technologies is regarded as a critical integrating step for the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol biorefinery business concepts. These critical steps are necessitated by the chemical structure of lignocellulosic biomass comprising carbohydrate polymers and lignin which constrains the ability of enzymes to convert these polymers into fermentable sugars without expensive and highly capital intensive pretreatment processes. This paper reviews science and innovation efforts by Canadian researchers in finding solutions to these constraints, in particular the development of hydrolysis and fermentation technologies. This paper also highlights the role of multi-institutional science and innovation collaborative approaches for advancing Canada's cellulosic ethanol biorefinery concept further downstream. While highlighting Canada's scientific progress, this review also outlines technology commercialization lags between basic research and full scale commercialization of a Canadian cellulosic ethanol biorefinery concept. Although this paper focuses on the near-term goal of cellulosic ethanol production, it nevertheless recognizes that ethanol is only the first step in the longer-term goal aimed at a full integrated bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels and a wide range of value-added biochemicals and biomaterials, consistent with the cellulosic biorefinery concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a number of jurisdictions have taken significant steps to encourage the diffusion of solar photovoltaic technology (PV). Supportive policy frameworks have been widely adopted, spurring deployment and driving down the cost of PV components. The increased competitiveness of this technology presents a promising opportunity for meeting energy needs in a low-carbon fashion. Indeed, a growing body of research suggests that PV could produce significant quantities of energy. However, the diffusion of PV in Canada has been comparatively slow and GHG emissions in this jurisdiction are on an upward trajectory. As a result, we explore the potential of PV in Canada in regards to: (1) the scale of possible contributions to energy supply and GHG abatement, and (2) the particular functional roles and niches this technology could occupy looking out to 2050. In doing so, this study reviews the current status of knowledge on PV potential in Canada and argues that estimates which revolve around technical parameters such as solar irradiance, module efficiency, and land area (and even those that include some reference to current prices), are limited in their ability to understand the place this technology might actually occupy in Canada in coming decades. While technical potential is an important consideration, the interrelated economic, socio-political, and environmental influences need to be taken into account. This paper discusses the nature of these influences and explores PV potential in the context of key features of possible low-carbon pathways for Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural biomass is emerging as a sustainable and suitable resource for use in the production of solid fuel, designed for residential markets. The development of such a fuel source faces several challenges including combustion properties, a reliable supply of raw materials, distance from and access to conversion facilities, production scale and market access for agricultural biomass products. This paper evaluated the economic feasibility of an “integrated on-farm production system” based in Nova Scotia, Canada and considered the importance and influence of policy on the development of a sustainable on-farm production system. This integrated approach is evaluated with input and output based incentive models, both of which are currently available in the USA and Prince Edward Island, Canada. The results indicate that the development of an integrated on-farm approach, while showing promise, will require policy implementation and pragmatic incentives to be truly sustainable. It is proposed that the benefits to the agricultural sector, rural communities and the environment should outweigh the costs of such incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]