Those of you who are familiar with the editorial comments from Mike Marullo will notice that a different face is now staring out at you from the page. I have taken over the position as editor of Electric Energy T&D magazine. Filling Mike’s shoes will be no easy task but I will do my best to account for myself as I continue the tradition of providing you with news, opinions, observations, thoughts, ideas, and maybe a little humour as applied to the electrical energy industry around the world.
I am impressed and fascinated by electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. Jay Leno hit the nail on the head when he said “men love big dumb things” – steam engines, earthmovers, drilling rigs, turbines, locomotives, generators, hydro towers, and the like. That attraction notwithstanding, I am still very passionate about the environment and am a big fan of renewable energy. To work for a print and electronic publishing company that has such an eclectic readership and is so dedicated to providing a window on electricity T&D is a dream. I look forward to exploiting this vehicle to share, educate, and enlighten readers from all over.
Over the last decade and a half of working with Muni, IOU, Co-op, and renewable energy providers in the software, publicity, and editorial areas I have learned that there is probably the same number of questions and opinions on the subject of energy as there are consumers. I have also discovered there is a wide gap between consumer perception and actual knowledge of energy efficiency. I will work hard to narrow this gap.
I believe that climate change is not the result of deliberate or malicious human acts, or even due to something we could have easily predicted or avoided. It is, rather, an accident of chemistry, specifically that carbon dioxide has greenhouse climate effects. This accident is so novel and has come upon us so recently that global society has been caught largely unawares as to how it should respond. This scenario, to a great many people, is absolutely true. In the eyes of many others, however, climate problems affecting us today are simply the result of planet earth going through natural, cyclical phases of warming and cooling. No matter what you believe to be the contributing factors, climate change is on our doorstep and we, as responsible caretakers of our planet, must do something to mitigate related problems. Research shows that, even though consumers are aware of climate change, a large portion of them do not tie electricity usage to environmental impact. Eighty-five per cent cite individual usage of petroleum products as having a negative impact on their environment and over forty per cent feel electricity use is the culprit not understanding that traditional fossil fuel-based power generation is a major producer of carbon emissions.
Because I live quite close to the north shore of Lake Ontario I have a front-row seat to the soap opera that’s unfolding around offshore wind. To take advantage of the incredible potential to harvest energy from this natural wind tunnel, Ontario plans to install 60 turbines that will span eastward 25 kilometres or so. However, even the best laid plans come at a price. It seems one of nature’s most important laws: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, is alive and well. It must be! NIMBY (Not in My Backyard), NOPE (Not on Planet Earth), and BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere) crowds are springing up everywhere ready to do battle with any group they feel presents a threat of any kind to their way of life or their beliefs. In this case the problem for the people who live right on the shore is that wind turbines will ruin their view of the lake. I’ve looked out across that stretch of water many times and fail to see how 60-metre high towers sitting two to four kilometres offshore with 500 metres of separation on either side could screw up anyone’s view. But that’s just me.
It is my hope that one day soon we will see a world where governments deal with the fossil fuel dilemma in energy time rather than political time. According to John Hofmeister we need to be working with a fifty-year road map to even come close to a reliable, affordable, sustainable fossil-free energy future. I figure he knows of what he speaks – as president of Shell Oil from 2005 to 2008, he was on the front-lines of the oil production business. I consider myself to be an optimist, but even the most hardened of optimists need reinforcing at times and I’m not ashamed to admit Hofmeister has more than once been a cauldron of wisdom and sanity in a world still mired in a sea of black gold.
A while ago I mentioned in an article something that absolutely floored me and often think about it when I need a reality check. I overheard a group, of thirty something’s, talking about renewable energy. I was impressed. “Finally,” I thought. “This important subject is getting some traction.” As members of the group were expressing different opinions, a young lady piped up saying wind energy was a good thing but we had to be careful because there could come a point at which too many turbines spinning at the same time around the globe would slow the earth’s rotation. Another person then offered their take on renewable power stating that if we insist on harnessing tidal energy it could disrupt the moon’s gravitational pull on the world’s oceans putting the entire planet in jeopardy by forcing the moon out of its orbit. And there went my balloon. On the up-side, it reinforced the need for more attention to our plight and that education is not just important, it could well be the vital underpinning to making sure the future of renewable energy sticks.
Like they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
