Well, thank you Mother Nature for the brief dose of reality we received here in Western Canada recently. Unless you were one of the fortunate few who managed to get a flight to your favourite hot spot pre-cold snap, you were subject to temperatures in the minus 40 range with wind chills into the minus 50’s. Even Vancouver managed to get down to minus 13 with a huge dump of snow. Our grandson absolutely loved the giant snowman he and his dad built in their front yard. Of course if you saw the Vancouver Sun one of those mornings you would have seen a headline that read “Why can’t buses go uphill in the snow?” But I digress.As we were watching TV during one of the cold evenings, the alert went out for us to stop using so much electricity. After the fact, we find out that solar panels do not add power to the grid when it is night time (or cloudy for that matter). We also found out that when the wind stops, the wind turbines do not spin, thereby not adding any power to the provincial grid (also rumour has it that when it is -40ish they aren’t allowed to spin because the blades will break.)Enter the case for pipelines. If a pipeline is not carrying fresh water, it is probably carrying a fossil fuel of some sort. These fossil fuels, such as natural gas, kept my family and I warm during this past cold snap and yes I am very thankful. If I had to rely solely on electrical power for my heating requirements, I daresay that we would have frozen stiff like a popsicle in a freezer.I wonder if you noticed how many EV’s (electrical vehicles) were on the road at that time? Not many. And if they were they were sucking up valuable power from the grid (when plugged in) that WE needed for our survival. Let them wait until their precious wind turbines are turning or their solar panels are cleared of snow and the sun is shining. Am I in favor of replacing fossil fuels with an alternative? Absolutely, but do not pretend that it exists when in fact there is nothing on the horizon that even comes close to meeting our needs. That, folks, is the pipedream. We can wish and/or hope all we want but until someone comes up with something that will supply us with sufficient reliable energy to heat our homes, to run our appliances, to light up our lives all at the flick of a switch, then we will rely on fossil fuels.As for me and my house, we want heat when it is cold and not some warm fuzzy feeling because we are “saving the planet” just like our ill-informed prime minister (and his green minions) would have us believe. When I go into a room I want the light to turn on instantly. When I take a shower, I want the water to be warm enough to be able to stand there for at least a couple of minutes. And of course, I want my vehicle to start and provide heat without having “energy anxiety.” That said, of course filling my vehicle tank with fuel is my responsibility but again I digress.Also, did you notice how many frozen bicycle riders were on the precious seconded asphalt roadways….not very many….a few die-hards but I digress again. And there is a reason for my slipping into a tropical stupor. I am in San Jose del Cabo on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. It is 26 degrees and the sun is shining, the ocean is warm and the whales are spouting….aahhhhh. Oh and there are no EV’s down here but that’s another story.
Well, thank you Mother Nature for the brief dose of reality we received here in Western Canada recently. Unless you were one of the fortunate few who managed to get a flight to your favourite hot spot pre-cold snap, you were subject to temperatures in the minus 40 range with wind chills into the minus 50’s. Even Vancouver managed to get down to minus 13 with a huge dump of snow. Our grandson absolutely loved the giant snowman he and his dad built in their front yard. Of course if you saw the Vancouver Sun one of those mornings you would have seen a headline that read “Why can’t buses go uphill in the snow?” But I digress.As we were watching TV during one of the cold evenings, the alert went out for us to stop using so much electricity. After the fact, we find out that solar panels do not add power to the grid when it is night time (or cloudy for that matter). We also found out that when the wind stops, the wind turbines do not spin, thereby not adding any power to the provincial grid (also rumour has it that when it is -40ish they aren’t allowed to spin because the blades will break.)Enter the case for pipelines. If a pipeline is not carrying fresh water, it is probably carrying a fossil fuel of some sort. These fossil fuels, such as natural gas, kept my family and I warm during this past cold snap and yes I am very thankful. If I had to rely solely on electrical power for my heating requirements, I daresay that we would have frozen stiff like a popsicle in a freezer.I wonder if you noticed how many EV’s (electrical vehicles) were on the road at that time? Not many. And if they were they were sucking up valuable power from the grid (when plugged in) that WE needed for our survival. Let them wait until their precious wind turbines are turning or their solar panels are cleared of snow and the sun is shining. Am I in favor of replacing fossil fuels with an alternative? Absolutely, but do not pretend that it exists when in fact there is nothing on the horizon that even comes close to meeting our needs. That, folks, is the pipedream. We can wish and/or hope all we want but until someone comes up with something that will supply us with sufficient reliable energy to heat our homes, to run our appliances, to light up our lives all at the flick of a switch, then we will rely on fossil fuels.As for me and my house, we want heat when it is cold and not some warm fuzzy feeling because we are “saving the planet” just like our ill-informed prime minister (and his green minions) would have us believe. When I go into a room I want the light to turn on instantly. When I take a shower, I want the water to be warm enough to be able to stand there for at least a couple of minutes. And of course, I want my vehicle to start and provide heat without having “energy anxiety.” That said, of course filling my vehicle tank with fuel is my responsibility but again I digress.Also, did you notice how many frozen bicycle riders were on the precious seconded asphalt roadways….not very many….a few die-hards but I digress again. And there is a reason for my slipping into a tropical stupor. I am in San Jose del Cabo on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. It is 26 degrees and the sun is shining, the ocean is warm and the whales are spouting….aahhhhh. Oh and there are no EV’s down here but that’s another story.
