Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is getting a bad reputation, not because of its cleanliness nor that it is environmentally safe, but rather by the government schemes that have had a detrimental effect on ratepayers electricity bills, the unfortunate environmental mistakes caused by the building of solar and wind farms, and perhaps bad press instigated by those benefiting from traditional energy generation. However, with all things aside I am still a staunch believer in the added benefits of certain types of renewable energy: geothermal and solar to be exact.

I currently reside in Southeastern Alberta, a semi-arid, almost desert like atmosphere with cacti, rattlesnakes, sparsely located bodies of water, minimal precipitation, pleasant temperatures, and near endless sunshine. Along with this there are vast reserves of oil and natural gas, much of which powers the local economy. The City of Medicine Hat itself operates its own utilities provider, not only supplying the residents within its boundaries with natural gas for heating, but to outlying communities as well (recall Rudyard Kipling's stating that the city had 'all hell for a basement' referring to the natural gas in early cellars that would cause houses to explode when candle light was introduced). This municipally owned utilities company has allowed Medicine Hat to sit comfortably on sizable coffers, reaping the rewards of having a steady flow of revenue in which to keep the city and it's infrastructure up to date, and allowing new challenges to be confronted and fixed, rather than feared and leading politicians to go elsewhere when seeking funds.

Not to forget, the city also owns oil fields which in an oil hungry world provide yet another source of municipal income. Medicine Hat operates safely in a world where fossil fuels are extracted and exploited, leading some to argue that when that runs out, this city of 60,000 plus will hypothetically go bust, and dwindle away. While that very well could happen with poor planning, the city could begin investing in solar energy.

First, a few statistics. Manyberries, 75 km south of Medicine Hat, is regarded as the sunniest place in Canada with 2567 hours of sunshine a year, seeing sunshine on 332 days of the year. Medicine Hat itself receives 2544 hours of sunshine a year and 330 days of the year see sunshine. The area that experiences this level of sunshine stretches all across Southern Alberta including Calgary and Lethbridge, while spreading east into Southwestern Saskatchewan as well. This area is ripe for harvesting solar energy, yet so little infrastructure has been devoted to this.

At present, there is a solar farm being erected in Medicine Hat, hopefully the beginning of what will become the norm. Given the number of hours in a year that the sun shines in Medicine Hat, it is only logical to think that this area could supply a greater area of not only Alberta, but perhaps neighbouring provinces as well, with clean and renewable energy. As the city grows (as it has been in leaps and bounds as fueled by the oil and gas sector), more infrastructure will be needed to accommodate new residents, new services, and new infrastructure like hospitals and schools. The oil and gas sector is somewhat like a double-edged sword: it needs its own product to fuel its growth, using up what it could otherwise sell.

In some aspects solar energy has been implemented to power remote pump stations that are located far from the electrical grid, but it seems almost hypocritical to be using the competition to power oneself (albeit ingenious). Aside from the negligible current uses for solar power, I propose its implementation on a much grander scale. While solar energy does have it's drawbacks (storage banks and batteries not being adequate enough to store enough electricity, limited space for erecting panels), the industry and science is continuously growing, products are improving, and getting better and more efficient all the time. So as for the grander plan, I would allocate whatever power onto the solar grid that is conceivably possible, freeing up the natural gas for sale to customers at further distances, to customers that do not enjoy the level of sunshine that Medicine Hat does.

The plan would include such measures as converting all municipally owned buildings to run the lights from solar, while utilizing back up generators when the batteries supply have been depleted and are recharging (however, given the amount of sunshine, this shouldn't be a problem). Next would be the installation of commercial buildings over a certain size (say for example, 2500 square metres) requiring 50-75% of the rooftop being allocated for panels. Any excess energy could be put back into the municipal grid and supplied to properties without their own source. The same could be done to brown field areas, where the ground is unsuitable for most building applications or recreational uses.

As solar energy becomes less cost prohibitive, like all things do, more and more individuals will be able to hook their own houses up with independent sources of electricity generation and thus cut themselves free from the municipal or provincial grid. This could spell disaster for the cities power utility, however the iconic symbol of the city is a gas lamp, and just recently the city has converted nearly all street lights to LED, just an example of the ever changing world we live in.

This model could be replicated across Southern Alberta and Southern Saskatchewan, providing reliable and cheaply derived electricity to remote communities and infrastructure. Government installations, be they federal or provincial, could utilize this technology and not rely on traditional sources or commercial entities that charge a premium when providing a service and supplying a commodity to governments. Not only would infrastructure costs be lowered by the erection of poles and wires, but one community would not be affected by a downing of lines elsewhere. Remote communities would no longer drown in utility bills and delivery charges, yet thrive as independent, sustainable, and stand-alone operations. Small communities could set up cooperatives that supply their own energy, owned by the consumers themselves, and creating and providing much needed local jobs for the initial construction, and the subsequent maintenance and operation of the solar facilities.

All of this could be replicated with the additional source of geothermal energy. Given the soil composition of the Prairie region, not only Southern Alberta, but the whole province and those too of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and possibly even Northeastern British Columbia could utilize with ease geothermal energy. Digging a trench and dropping in a line in prairies soil is incredibly easy, it is only the high cost of geothermal technology that prohibits its further implementation as a readily available source of energy.

I imagine a place, more so a region, where farms are heated by geothermal lines running out from their houses and barns, and lit by solar panels installed on their roofs. Southern Alberta is incredibly resource rich, not only in the traditional sectors of oil and gas, but in the future of solar and geothermal. These very simplistic models that I've suggested can be duplicated in the the sun rich mountain valleys of British Columbia, and in Southwestern Ontario where it is both sunny and the soil provides for non-intrusive geothermal to thrive.

We need to move to renewable models where we can, solar and geothermal are not practical in ever region of Canada, however they are perfect for some, just as biomass is perfect for areas that have dominant forestry sectors (British Columbia, Northern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick) and areas that produce agricultural waste (the Prairies, Southern Ontario). We can lessen the load of fossil fuels that we use, and save it for those processes that we have yet to develop an alternative for.