Tag Archives: Renewable Energy

When is the Right Time for Renewables?

If like me, you are a product of the fifties then you are also a Boomer and may have witnessed some notable events like the introduction of the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Avro Arrow briefly taking to the skies and Terry Fox bravely hitting the pavement, Expo 67 and our centenary.

It was a period when we all felt empowered by the effectiveness of civil disobedience.  We carried the fervour of anti-Vietnam War protests to our own backyard against the Amchitka Nuclear Tests.

Defining moments in our recent history.

Back then the overreaching concerns, two global issues that touched us all were the very real and terrifying concept of the Population Explosion and the sense of urgency to do something proactive about the evident decline of the stewardship towards our shared environment.

Green Peace Arctic Sunrise

Green Peace Arctic Sunrise

Why should any of this matter?

It matters because these issues haven’t gone away and their persistence is a kind of a report card on the Boomer’s success as resource managers of this planet.

If for example, we were as successful at understanding the fundamentals of exponential growth as we are at manipulating compound interest we would not be faced with the current dilemma of how seven billion humans can effectively share and manage the resources of the planet.

If we were as successful at managing our planet’s flora, fauna, and natural resources as we are at exploiting them then Green Peace frankly, would no longer exist.

So why did it take until now, when we can better estimate the finite inventory of precious fossil fuels remaining underground, to consider renewable energy as an affordable and viable alternative?

Compared to solar, wind, and tidal energy production, the oil & gas companies don’t put the effort into intensive mining, drilling, extracting, processing, transporting, and distributing fossil fuels because it is the path of least resistance. They do so because of profit. Greed at the expense of doing what is right. Besides, if labour is cheap enough does it really matter the amount of effort? Take the Great Pyramid or the Great Wall for example.

Curious that solar, wind and tidal exploration does not require exploratory leases to identify profitable patches of sunlight, strong breeze or coastline. Curious too that solar photovoltaic energy panels can harvest sunlight with no moving parts that require lubricating.

Solar Array at Farmersdotter Organics

Solar Array at Farmersdotter Organics

Question is, do we leave the remaining inventory of fossil fuel in the ground to be managed and admired like the  Giant Panda in the wild or like the Northern White Rhino, do we hunt it to the brink of extinction? Because let’s face it, fossil fuel supply is finite so it is not a question of if we adopt renewable energy but simply a matter of when.

Well, the time is ripe. Renewable energies are inevitable, affordable and simply the right thing to do. I just turned sixty and know there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Failing Grade

Failing Grade

Unfortunately, the best any Boomer can take home from all this is a grade of C- for resource management and an F for effort.  But my grade school teacher would note there is always room for improvement.

%d bloggers like this: