In Québec, we’re proud of our clean energy: hydropower. What if we were able to convince companies from elsewhere to set up here and take advantage of this asset? That would be great, but above all, we want local industries to convert to electricity. They could reduce their GHG emissions and improve their environmental footprint thanks to our green energy.

Quebecer’s priorities for transforming the economy and making it greener:

What if sustainability was a compulsory subject at school? Many of us believe that, starting in elementary school, children should be taught the extent to which our daily actions and our energy use have a real impact on the environment and contribute to climate change. One thing is certain: education is the key to changing our behavior.

Another infinite resource at our disposal is our creativity. We love that there are so many young companies in Québec that help us dream of a greener future, whether converting waste to clean fuel or finding innovative ways to recycle plastic or treat wastewater. What if Hydro-Québec helped them make this dream a reality? The idea enjoys widespread support.

To make a difference, we’re willing to take concrete steps on a daily basis, such as cutting the grass with an electric lawnmower instead of a gas-powered model. We even imagine sharing more than just smiles with our neighbors. Sharing our tools, a snowblower or even our car? We could be convinced to give it a go.

Once we get started, we find lots of ideas for developing our renewables. Québec has an abundance of natural resources—there’s no shortage of wind, sun and water! We dream of taking advantage of the potential of tidal energy. The strong winds that blow in the Gulf of St. Lawrence could be leveraged through wind turbines. Why not generate energy with forest biomass, the branches and wood chips found in large quantities in our forests? We even came up with the idea of installing marine turbines at the bottom of our rivers to take advantage of their high flows.

When it comes to what we’d like to put on our plates, we’re not short on ideas. Especially when it comes to growing fruits and vegetables here—even in winter! In the Centre-du-Québec region, we imagine vertical farms that would use the heat from neighboring factories. In the Laurentides region, we’d opt for aquaponic systems that combine farming fish and raising crops. In the Capitale-Nationale region, we dream of community greenhouses that would guarantee our food self-sufficiency.

Compromises Quebecers would make to contribute to the transformation of our economy: