To the editor;
Kudos to all those people who can financially afford to install clean, renewable energy systems for themselves; but that cannot be the answer for all people.
The answer is for governments, industries, and utilities to make practical and timely changes to the modes of energy requirements that can carry all of us safely into the future.
We cannot continue on a path like China where the air becomes unbreathable, but we also cannot suddenly stop the juggernaut of our 20th century industry either.
I think that most people can comprehend that what we have done thus far to the environment is minuscule compared to the devastation of a nuclear winter caused by the eruption of a super volcano, so nature is the mega driving force.
We still have to act responsibly to our Mother Earth. We can be a trigger to change.
I read in one of the recent letters that water levels will fall and the lights will go out. B.C., Manitoba and Quebec are blessed with an abundance of hydro-electric potential. Each has developed thousands of Megawatts of hydro generation. These are grand schemes that are not about to fail (any time soon); because of water management (shut down turbines at night and import energy and manage water levels of various dams to maximize efficiency).
If water levels ever did become critical, then there would be advertising to conserve, like with water use in the Okanagan. When was the last time you heard this for electricity?
No single person can produce electrical energy as economically as on the grand scheme that a utility can. A utility can also have the diversification of various modes of generation to provide the grid with solar when it is abundant or wind when it is abundant, and in this province the majority from hydro. Individually solar and wind are weak, but together they each contribute.
The problem is a government that controls the cost of electrical energy and is the shareholder of the largest utility that contributes to its balanced budget.
The answer is to have electrical utility rates that promote the use of clean, renewably-generated electrical energy to provide all of our energy needs; be it lighting, heating, automobiles, etc.
Why are the electrical rates so very high in this hydro-rich province; compared to the other two?
It is good to voice our opinions in public media to raise awareness, but what is necessary is for large numbers to get involved by writing to the government to complain of unusually high electrical rates in this province (not just a two-tiered rate structure).
Jerrilynn DeCock
Senior Electrical Engineer (retired)
Apex