Categories: General
      Date: Jan 12, 2009
     Title: President's presentation at Northern Economic Summit

The Northern Economic Development Summit held in Prince George, January 22-23, 2009 was by all accounts a resounding success for Alterna Energy Inc. Alterna President Leonard Legault was quoted in one association newsletter as stating “Great start…but there is much more to do. The practical actions after the conference are what are important.”

The Summit was hosted by Premier Gordon Campbell and attracted about 600 people from government, industry, business, communities and First Nations. Summit speakers and panels looked at what can be done to help Northern BC survive the current global economic challenges and what should be done to grow the Northern BC economy for the long term. Leonard was on a panel discussing the future of the Northern BC energy sector with Environment Minister Barry Penner, Plutonic Power President & CEO Donald McInnes and BC Hydro Board Chair Mossadiq Umedaly.

Leonard shared his vision for development of a BC Biocarbon industry and outlined how this will help diversify the BC economy and help achieve BC’s ‘Green Agenda’. Leonard briefly described how Alterna works within the natural carbon cycle to achieve environmental sustainability by harnessing the power of renewable resources. Leonard stressed three points during his presentation:

• We live in a carbon-based world, but not all carbon is created equally.
• Alterna Energy produces biocarbon from underutilized renewable resources.
• Biocarbon produces carbon-neutral energy, promotes crop growth, provides clean air and water, and reduces harmful emissions.

Leonard thanked the BC government for its work in securing a project development grant announced in 2008 through the Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) program and told the audience that Alterna welcomes the challenge of helping build the ‘New BC Economy’.