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On the other hand, some say that we should pursue these subsidies because they are better for the environment and green business than nothing at all. Tom Rand, author of Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit and a lead adviser at MaRS Discovery District, an innovation centre that helps fund clean technology firms, notes that buildings account for 40 per cent of our energy use, and making them more efficient is “low-hanging fruit on the carbon tree.” He also sees the program as an effective economic stimulus for the Canadian market for green business.

But Rand agrees with all the people who say the only way to solve the environmental problem is to put a price on carbon. “We’ve been talking about that for 15 years and we’re not going to get it any time soon.”

“might just get investors over another risk hurdle that might prevent them from making that investment,” says MaRS’s Treurnicht.

“The feeder system of great technology platforms is very strong,” says Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of the Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District, one of Canada’s largest start-up incubators.