The power is out! Now what do we do?.I jest; I knew what to do. I could read a book, chat to my husband, take the dog for walk, go sit in the sun, bask in the fact that I am not connected to anything electronic or just spend time with my thoughts..It is only 23°C outside, in the shade it's cooler but it's a reminder as I sit and wondered what if it were -23°? How do we stay warm? Our back up in Montana is a wood burning fireplace but if it were a sealed natural gas fireplace there is no way of turning it on because the igniter wouldn't light..It was a stark reminder of the importance of having a reliable energy source.. Scrap turbinesCold Northcott wind farm junk. Like all machinery wind turbines need regular maintenance and eventually replacement. In this field are the old tops from the windmills. .No, I am not talking about solar or wind power..Even if we had the infrastructure installed on our little cabin, we would need a way to store the power for essentials that would be keeping our food cold..The power outage lasted three and a half hours, affecting more than 4,000 homes in the valley leaving people stranded at gas stations, businesses closed, the lights off and more. Fortunately, communications still worked..I think you know where I'm going with this..We need cheap, reliable energy no matter what. And shutting down fossil fuel production by 2050, if not sooner, for more ‘so-called’ renewable energy along with a trillion dollar-plus electrical grid is not the answer..Queue the Extremists!.For the larger part of ten years the public has been subjected to the daily rantings of environmental extremists who believe the world is ending if we don’t cut off oil and gas production immediately..This is a time when I reflect on the past, growing up at the tail end of the 20th century..Even then, we were held hostage under a climate catastrophe which was sure to end human civilization. I’ve already lived through global warming, the next ice age, acid rain, sea levels rising and more. In fact, oil reserves were supposed to run out over 20 years ago..A little-known fact is that when my father started our company 43 years ago, he wanted the unique selling proposition for our homes to be solar panels on the roof. He had believed in this technology since his early career in mobile homes..Alas, he could never justify the expense because the return to the consumer could never be recognized over the life of the panels. But undaunted, he kept up his research in hopes that the technology would improve..To date, he still can’t rationalize the costs, much less recommend it to others. If he could, they would be installed on my parents' house at once..Regardless, the panels still only last 15 to 20 years, they cannot be recycled and require copolymers, a petrochemical derived from oil and natural gas. Is that "renewable” in advocates terms? That would be hypocritical!.And what about wind power?.Most turbines only last 15 years and some of the same rationale applies. They are costly to build, they require oil and gas products in their production and maintenance and there is no way to recycle them. All they can think of is bury them. No one knows the outcome of that, other than out of sight out of mind..We lack an abundance of wind in Canada to run these for maximum gain, and how many dead animal bodies around the turbines are needed? While these deaths are not knowingly reported, how many does the public have to learn about before we rationalize that this also is not a solution? Not to mention the whole fields of turbines observed in other countries standing still..What about more nuclear power?.We always seem averse to it in Canada with only six power stations. Is it because of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986? (That was avoidable.).But currently, there are about 440 nuclear power reactors operating in 32 countries and about 60 power reactors are currently being constructed in 15 countries, most notably China, India, and Russia..Typically, a nuclear power plant takes five to seven years to construct while natural gas-fired plants can be built in about two years..We are resource-rich in Canada and could expand our uranium mining to aid our energy independence. Yet, mining and the construction of nuclear power plants are still largely protested here..So, what are we to do? Wait for rolling blackouts to begin? What if those hours became days and, worse yet, on a regular basis? Why are we paying in excess for the privilege of powering our homes, businesses and lives?.Can’t we just come up with a proper energy strategy in Canada that incorporates cleaner oil and gas extraction, carbon capture technology and nuclear power in a reasonable time frame without the constant fear mongering and another heavy-handed deadline from the Liberal Government..Could the problem be the current federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault cut his teeth in activism against the use of nuclear for anything?.The future can be green, but by who’s definition is the real question is!
