The following article was written by Josh Wingrove for the Globe and Mail. The highlighted part illustrates a failed government policy on energy and environment.
As Canada shuts some of its coal plants and moves to limit emissions on others, one thing is clear ? the world is marching in the other direction.
Global coal use is projected to go nowhere but up ? nearly 50 per cent by 2035. The demand is driven as world energy needs explode, particularly in Asia, a continent that already accounts for two thirds of coal consumption.
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China alone eats up more than a third of the world?s annual coal consumption and relies on coal for 80 per cent of its power. It has, however, made progress on emissions reduction.
?People beat up China, but China is way ahead. They have cleaner coal plants than [America], for sure,? said Frank Clemente, a professor of social science and energy policy at Pennsylvania State University. ?Asia is coal. That?s their only major resource.?
Nonetheless, coal has its problems ? producing high emissions, it is linked by academics to health effects that make its true cost much higher than the simple price of burning it.
As such, the expanding world demand for energy isn?t unique to coal ? other energy sources will be in demand, too. One is natural gas, seen as a reliable power alternative (so long as it remains cheap) with lower emissions. Ontario is leading Canada in its attempts to get off coal power and is relying on natural gas as part of its cleaner power sources.
Many countries are also expanding their renewable power, and the leader isn?t who you might think: China installed as much wind capacity as the rest of the world combined last year. China now has more total installed wind-power capacity than any other country, though wind makes up a higher percentage of total capacity in other countries.
?We?ve seen a huge increase in China in the last five years,? said Yves Gagnon, the K.C. Irving Chair in Sustainable Development at the University of Moncton and vice-chair of the Wind Energy Institute of Canada. ?China is now number one.?
As all these energy markets expand, it provides Canada with three opportunities.
As a coal burner, Canada is just one of many countries developing better technology that may be shared. For instance, the technology behind coal-reliant Alberta?s Swan Hills Synfuels coal plant, which will use coal gasification to lower emissions, is non-proprietary.
As the world?s seventh-biggest coal exporter, Canada will continue to have a market for its product, though the royalties generated by coal sales are low. Even if it weans itself at home, Canada could still be contributing to global emissions levels by selling coal internationally while demand soars.
?You don?t need to be a genius to figure out what India?s going to do.? Dr. Clemente said. ?They don?t care what the Sierra Club says. I think coal is going to be the fuel that fuels Asia?s economic rise, and that?s where the action?s going to be in the future.?
And it?s not just Asia ? the United States is the second-biggest user of coal, while three-quarters of Australia?s power comes from coal.
Finally, as a nation in need of jobs, emerging energy markets are an opportunity for Canada ? either in production of natural gas or manufacturing of infrastructure, such as wind turbines.
The opportunity is not unique to Canada, however, and is illustrated perhaps most tangibly by Ohio. The state sits in the coal-dependent U.S. Midwest, and gets 85 per cent of its power from coal. Meanwhile, its stumbling manufacturing-based economy is looking for a new future.
Next week, Ohio?s Governor is playing host to an energy summit, bringing in experts, industry advocates and climate activists from around the United States to discuss the future of Ohio?s energy industry. And the motivating factor isn?t the environment.
It?s jobs.
A change in the energy sector, whether it affects shale gas deposits, manufacturing or simply makes the state business-friendly by ensuring reliable and affordable power, is considered fruitful ground for job creation in Ohio.
?Everything?s on the table. ? In so far as we are a state in need of jobs,? said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Ohio?s Republican Governor John Kasich. ?The summit will help create and form an energy policy that?s all centred around job creation.?
The summit?s coal panel will be moderated by Dr. Clemente, who believes the United States can limit its emissions but not ditch coal entirely, but will also include groups who believe switching to renewables will create jobs.
?The closure of inefficient, old 19th-century [coal] technology actually opens the world for a new economy,? said Henry Henderson, Midwest program director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He calls the summit ?an important engagement of public discussion, and a pivotal point in a state we think is pivotal in the future American economy.?
Some say jobs, as such, should be Canada?s focus in a world with growing and evolving energy needs. That could mean getting out of the business of subsidizing new power, such as wind, and instead subsidizing the manufacturing of wind turbines ? the jobs are in building them not running them, Dr. Gagnon said.
?It?s a sector we need to capitalize on.?
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