The combination of wildfires along the U.S. Pacific Coast, two simultaneous hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, melting glaciers and peat bog fires in sa国际传媒 and an unusually hot summer in Europe has raised global-warming fears to frenzied proportions.
Environmentalists are urging political leaders to legislate the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels. Curiously, the most extreme call for action came from the future King of England. Prince Charles urged a 鈥渨arlike footing鈥� that would require the implementation of a centralized global authority to save the planet from catastrophic climate change.
Just how such an unelected regime would exert power over the Earth鈥檚 7.8 billion inhabitants wasn鈥檛 clear.
The California and Oregon wildfires turned into a U.S. election issue, with Joe Biden pointing to Donald Trump鈥檚 pro-oil industry policies as a cause 鈥� even though American greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by more than 14 per cent since 2005.
Meanwhile, led by China and India, Asian emissions have doubled over the past 颅decade and continue to grow. Overall, less than a third of global emissions now come from Western developed countries.
China, India, Vietnam, South Africa, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan, all signatories to the Paris Climate Accord, are in various stages of constructing a total of 1,800 coal-fired power plants. If sa国际传媒 were to disappear from the face of the Earth, those new plants would replace our 1.6 per cent of global emissions in just a few months.
Despite that reality, the Trudeau government continues its ideologically driven crusade to replace fossil fuels with so-called green energy, mainly wind and solar. The government鈥檚 throne speech virtually ignored the economic destitution its anti-oil policies have wrought in Alberta. Even the potential market access of Trans Mountain Pipeline was couched in terms of providing a bridge to a fossil-fuel-free paradise.
That green-energy fixation was the focus of the Sept. 26 鈥淐limate Issue鈥� of the Globe and Mail. Columnist David Berman asserted that the cost of wind and solar power have 鈥渂ecome attractive next to fossil fuels generating assets, particularly coal.鈥�
As evidence, he cited Tucson Electric Power鈥檚 phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation. U.S. Energy Administration data show that coal-fired plants are indeed being phased out, but they鈥檙e being replaced by natural gas.
In fact, wind and solar provide less than one per cent of Arizona鈥檚 electricity requirements.
Fellow columnist Eric Reguly stated that sa国际传媒鈥檚 share of renewables 鈥� i.e., hydro, wind, biomass, solar and ethanol 鈥� is above the OECD average. But as is often the case with selective-fact statements from green-power advocates, he fails to mention that Natural Resources sa国际传媒 data show wind and solar accounting for just 2.3 per cent per cent of sa国际传媒鈥檚 electricity supply in 2019.
The widely respected BP World Energy Outlook 2019 shows that, despite hundreds of billions of dollars invested, wind and solar contributed the same two per cent of world energy supplies, while the contribution of fossil fuels has actually increased to 84 per cent.
Germans know the hazards of pursuing a green-power utopia all too well. Their country鈥檚 decade-long attempt to replace coal and nuclear with wind and solar sent electricity costs soaring to the second-highest in the EU.
Despite hundreds of billions of euros invested, the unreliability of wind and solar necessitated rehabilitating coal-fired power plants. In an ironic twist, the coal is sourced from the U.S. and is available only because of the conversion of American power plants to natural gas.
Ontario鈥檚 McGuinty government also implemented a German-style green power and with equally disastrous results.
Coal-fired power plants were shuttered and the planned expansion of nuclear plants cancelled. The government signed 25-year locked-in windmill and solar contracts at several times existing rates.
Electricity prices more than doubled, taking Ontario from one of North America鈥檚 lowest-cost power jurisdictions to among the highest, with prices more than twice those in other provinces. As beleaguered homeowners struggled to pay their electricity bills, manufacturers decamped to low-cost states like Georgia and the Carolinas.
Caterpillar, United Steel, Heinz, General Motors, Navistar, Kellogg鈥檚, John Deere, Kraft Foods, Unilever and Bacardi closed some or all of their Ontario plants.
Then there鈥檚 the impact on the land. More than 8,000 wind turbines were built, 颅requiring three acres each on average. Many are near bird habitats, causing locals to label them 鈥渂ird blenders.鈥�
And that鈥檚 only part of the story. Because (surprise!) the wind blows irregularly and solar panels are useless during Ontario鈥檚 long, dark winter nights, several new natural gas-fired power plants were needed to back up those unreliable wind and solar facilities, pushing power prices even higher.
The only winners from this made-in-Ontario fiasco were the so-called 鈥済reen-preneurs,鈥� who became very wealthy as a result of those locked-in power contracts.
The moral of this sad story is that the Liberals鈥� plan to replace fossil fuel with wind and solar is technically impossible and economically disastrous.
Moreover, phasing out the oilsands would simply hand the market to such sterling global citizens as Russia and Iran, even as it threw more than a million Canadians out of work and destroyed the country鈥檚 largest source of wealth generation and export 颅revenues 鈥� all at a time when that wealth generation is needed more than ever.
Trying to solve any problem with a fix that defies the laws of physics is bound to fail. What can sa国际传媒 actually do to reduce global emissions and help the economy?
That, dear readers, will be the subject of next month鈥檚 column.
Gwyn Morgan is a retired business leader who has been a director of five global 颅corporations.
