A group of five young professionals from a Vancouver-based organization called Action Canada wants the Canadian government to back the creation of a Green Bond that would guarantee a modest return on investment and assure a steady flow of money into green technologies and projects. You can read a 41-page summary of their ambitious proposal here. The group describes it as a “modern-day Victory Bond for the environment — purchased by Canadians, backed by government, managed by the private sector, and designed to accelerate the rollout of sustainable energy.” They think Canadians will jump at it. “It’s simple, politically sexy, and we have every reason to believe it will be wildly popular.” Apparently the federal government is taking a serious look, and so they should. It has been successful in the European Union, which launched a “climate awareness bond” in 2007 that has so far raised $1.5 billion for renewable energy projects. It seems like a perfect way for people who feel powerless against a global climate menace to help fund some positive change while getting a little in return for their investment. With one caveat: it has to be managed responsibly and have enough checks and balances to make sure money doesn’t flow to a select groups of companies and projects — some of them suspect — who benefit from the right political connections.

Railpower Technologies Corp., once a high-flying cleantech play, has struggled of late and continues to play in penny-stock waters waiting for the tide to lift its fortunes. Oil above $130 a barrel helps, given the company is in the business of making hybrid locomotives for railyards that significantly reduce emissions and fuel consumption. But a number of expensive recalls on its first round of sales has left it with a confidence deficit, so the only hope for this company is for sales to move beyond a trickle and into a strong momentous flow. Railpower, based in Quebec, has had some help from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which invested $35 million in the company earlier this year and just announced it’s throwing in another $20 million, in the form of a convertible debenture, to help Railpower build a manufacturing facility near Montreal. The new plant will lead to 125 new jobs, but more importantly it allows the company to bring quality control under its belt and improve manufacturing efficiencies, not to mention margins. It’s a good sign, if only because the injection from a conservative pension fund is a vote of confidence that the company — while it struggled as many startups do — has a good product at a good time for an industry about to face tightened emission limits. General Electric is also in this game, and others, though they have focused more on longer range locomotives. Railpower has a niche business, but it’s also venturing into new territory, whether it’s hybrid tugboats or hybrid loading crains. What the company really needs is to follow up this latest announcement with a major sale or two, which would indicate that railway customers haven’t given up on the company.

It’s a pilot project for now, but one that could expand across the province. Ontario’s largest transmission/distribution utility, Hydro One, has partnered with local utilities in the communities of Mississauga, Brampton and York Region to test out a zero-interest loan program — called the PowerHouse Initiative — that supports the use of residential renewable-energy systems. Homeowners in the area can get access to zero-interest loans ranging from $2,000 to $50,000, or a rebate for installing qualifying solar PV, solar hot water, geothermal and small-wind systems. If the one-year program is successful and broadly expanded, this could have a dramatic impact on renewable-energy adoption in Ontario.

The repayment period for the loan depends on the size. Loan that are around $2,000 to $5,000 must be paid back in three years. A $50,000 loan can be repaid in up to 10 years. Alternatively, a customer can opt for a rebate instead — 10 per cent for the first $5,000 of project cost, followed by 15 per cent for the next $15,000 and 20 per cent on the next $30,000. It doesn’t completely eliminate the barriers to adoption, but it goes a long way toward helping.