'Energy-rich' B.C. could be self-sufficient in 20 years
Develop solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and tidal energy, report urges
Published: Tuesday, February 20, 2007
British Columbia has the potential to become energy self-sufficient within 20 years, according to the Vancouver-based Globe Foundation, and could do so using entirely renewable sources.
The non-profit Globe Foundation, in a study titled The Endless Energy Project unveiled Monday, acknowledged that forecasts call for B.C.'s population to increase by 30 per cent by 2025, which would raise demand for energy by 20 per cent under current patterns of use.
However, aggressive energy conservation measures in building construction, a shift in auto fleets toward hybrids and more fuel-efficient cars could help reduce provincial energy demands to near 2000 levels by 2025, the foundation argues.
And the development of solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and tidal energy resources could displace the rest of B.C.'s non-renewable energy, including providing the power needed to create biofuels for domestic automobile travel.
The forecast relies on some assumptions, report author Keith McPherson said, one being that energy prices will rise and the cost of technology for solar, wind and geothermal energy will drop enough to make them economically attractive.
And some of the foundation's other assumptions, such as building the Peace River system's Site C dam and the gasification of coal into liquid fuel as a "cleaner" energy source, are likely to prove controversial.
However, John MacDonald, chairman of the solar energy firm Day 4 Energy, a contributor to the report, said its objective was to look at the possibilities.
"Within this century, the way we source energy will change fundamentally," MacDonald said.
"The point of this project here is that British Columbia is one of the places in the world that actually has the luxury of being energy rich," and if there is any place in the world where it is possible to prove renewable energy "it's a place like this."
On the conservation end of the equation, McPherson said consumption of gasoline in British Columbia is declining, despite the rise of SUV sales.
He added that if 10 per cent of B.C.'s autos were hybrids, combined with a 45-per-cent decrease in gasoline consumption among all other light vehicles, energy demands in the transportation could be greatly reduced.
In buildings, McPherson sees energy-saving measures, such as better heating control systems and recovery of grey-water heat, being adopted in all new construction and a significant number of existing buildings due to higher energy prices.
On the supply side McPherson added that "micro-utilities" that provide heat to business parks or residential developments through geothermal-exchange and solar-hot-water systems, or even electricity through solar-photo-voltaic systems, also become possible as the cost of technology comes down.
McPherson also sees significant potential for large-scale supplies being drawn from alternate sources, such as geothermal sources. In geothermal, heat is drawn from deep underground to create steam that drives electric turbines. A project at Meager Creek near Pemberton, for example, has the potential to generate between 100 megawatts and 250 megawatts of electricity.
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