Canada is ready for a transformative energy experience.
by David Suzuki
Some people think a widespread shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources is not practical or even possible. You’ve probably heard the arguments: wind doesn’t always blow, sun doesn’t always shine, the technology’s not advanced enough, installations take up too much space, we need sources of baseload power that can only come from fossil fuels or nuclear power. And so we carry on, rushing to squeeze every last drop of oil and gas from the ground using increasingly difficult and destructive methods like fracking, deep-sea drilling and oil sands extraction, with seemingly little concern for what we’ll do after we’ve burned it all.
A lot of research is challenging those skeptical assumptions, including some by the David Suzuki Foundation, working with the Trottier Energy Futures Project. “Canada has vast renewable energy resources in the form of hydropower, solar, wind energy, and biomass, as well as geothermal, wave, and tidal resources that are many times larger than current or projected levels of total fuel and electricity consumption,” the recent Trottier report, An Inventory of Low-Carbon Energy for Canada, concludes.
“You could power America with renewables from a technical and economic standpoint. The biggest obstacles are social and political — what you need is the will to do it.”
An article in the New York Times points to research by the Paris-based International Energy Agency, showing, “Thirteen countries got more than 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy in 2011.”
The Stanford study’s lead author, engineering professor Mark Z. Jacobson, told the New York Times, “You could power America with renewables from a technical and economic standpoint. The biggest obstacles are social and political — what you need is the will to do it.”
It would be even less of a challenge in Canada. Thanks in part to our abundant hydro resources, we produced more than 63 percent of our electricity with renewable sources in 2011. The US produced 12.3 percent.
The biggest obstacles in shifting to clean energy may be social and political, but one of the greatest challenges is creating a “smart” electricity grid. As Trottier Project managing director Ralph Torrie says, we’ll have to replace our antiquated grid with one that “will use information technologies to balance a wider range of supply sources, energy storage, interprovincial transfers of electricity and a wide variety of energy management and efficiency tools.” Because the current system is due for an overhaul, now is an ideal time to invest in reconfiguring it.
Other challenges include the costs and the impacts of renewable energy installations on ecosystems and wildlife. And with biofuels, the sustainability of source materials and effects on land and food supplies must also be considered. But these are far from insurmountable. Fossil fuel and nuclear power sources are also extremely costly and have far greater environmental impacts. And many studies show that moving to renewables creates jobs and contributes to economic health.
The recent Trottier study looked at Canada’s potential in the context of reducing energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by 8o percent by 2050 – a necessary target if we are to do our part to combat climate change. Reaching that target will also require becoming more efficient in the ways we produce and consume fuels and electricity. This means looking at our individual behaviours as well as considering our habits and practices for everything from public transportation to building design to manufacturing.
Sure, it will be a challenge. But the alternative – to carry on polluting air, water and soil and putting our future at risk with global warming – isn’t pretty. We’ve faced and overcome many challenges before. When people have mobilized resources in the past, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot in relatively little time – from defeating the fascist threat in the Second World War to putting people on the moon.
Finding smarter ways to power our societies is something we can and must do.
Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Communications Manager Ian Hanington.
Reference
An Inventory of Low-Carbon Energy for Canada
Findings are confirmed
New York Times article
Stanford NY study
Ralph Torrie quote
About David Suzuki
David T Suzuki, PhD, Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster.
David has received consistently high acclaim for his 30 years of award-winning work in broadcasting, explaining the complexities of science in a compelling, easily understood way. He is well known to millions as the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science television series, The Nature of Things. An internationally respected geneticist, David was a full Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He is professor emeritus with UBC's Sustainable Development Research Institute. From 1969 to 1972 he was the recipient of the prestigious EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowship Award for the "Outstanding Canadian
Research Scientist Under the Age of 35".
For more insights from David Suzuki, please read Everything Under the Sun (Greystone Books/David Suzuki Foundation), by David Suzuki and Ian Hanington, now available in bookstores and online.
This article is reprinted with permission.
Website
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.