Keyword Energy

Agriculture is responsible for 8% of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. “It’s part of the problem, but it’s also part of the solution,” says Kunbi Adetona, an energy systems researcher at the University of Calgary. In this video, Adetona talks about the potential of converting manure and other agricultural waste products into biogas, which can offset fossil fuel usage. But what’s really exciting is that researchers have now started converting manure into biochar — or more simply charcoal — which can be used to store carbon in the soil for hundreds of years while improving soil health. “It’s a win-win strategy,” concluded Adetona. “Agriculture could be part of the solutions to the greenhouse gas emissions."

Darrin Qualman is a writer and researcher – with extensive farming experience – and who has been doing some long-term thinking about agriculture, climate change and energy systems. Given the large-scale and costly use of nitrogen fertilizer, fossil fuels and other inputs in agriculture, he has determined that it takes about 13.3 calories to make every calorie we eat. For Qualman, the solutions to climate change and the farm income crisis is to shift away from high-input, high-energy agriculture.

The Reep House for Sustainable Living is a 100-year old house in Waterloo, Ontario that has been retrofitted to be maximally energy efficient. This demonstration project shows how older housing stock can be an effective part of the climate change solution through a combination of cutting edge technology and simple upgrades.

An energy revolution is hitting the town of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. New 800 kW wind turbines are popping up everywhere, transforming the ever-present wind into electricity that’s used to power electric cars and offset the community’s reliance on fossil fuels. The move to renewable energy isn’t just reducing the community’s impact on the climate, it’s also sparking a whole new green economy.

Energy transitions are often considered a scientific or technical issue. However, University of Waterloo’s Imre Szeman argues that climate change is fundamentally a cultural issue. He argues that responding to climate change requires a shift in the way we think about cars, energy, chemicals, over-consumption, and other aspects of the fossil-fuel dependent “petrocultures” that permeate our everyday lives.

On Gabriola Island, community members are beginning to notice the impacts of climate change. To reduce their ecological footprint, some residents started a non-profit organization called GabEnergy, which helps people order and install affordable solar energy systems on their homes. GabEnergy member Michael Mehta discusses the solar panels on his house and the potential for distributed, renewable energy systems across Canada.

As their oil wells began to dry up, the small community of Montana First Nation was faced an unemployment crisis. That’s when the idea of solar energy came up. The Nation founded Green Arrow Corp. Akamihk, western Canada’s first Indigenous-owned and operated community solar energy company. Green Arrow’s own team of trained community members is now installing solar panels across all of Alberta. “You hire your own people, by your people, for your people. We can do this for ourselves, we understand these types of businesses,” explains Vickie Wetchie, Montana First Nation member and general manager of Green Arrow. Wetchie describes the benefits that the community has experienced since they launched their solar company in 2012. The economic benefits–local employment, community revenue, and power savings—have been the primary motivators for pursing this energy development. There are now dozens of community members trained as skilled labourers in solar installation and maintenance.

In 2009, Vancouver announced that it wanted to become the “Greenest City in the World by 2020”. Their action plan hopes to wean the city off fossil fuels and prioritizes pedestrians, bikes and transit when planning neighborhoods. As a result, Vancouver now has the lowest carbon emissions of any city in North America.

Today, over 80% of Canada’s population lives in cities. We know that cities will soon face increased climate change impacts, such as more frequent and intense extreme weather events.  The research series Building a Climate-Resilient City by the Prairie Climate Centre outlines policy steps that cities can take to engage in climate risk management in a range of areas, including transportation, agriculture, electricity infrastructure, disaster preparedness and emergency management.

The climate determines almost everything about how we design, build, and live in our cities. The streets and sidewalks, businesses and homes, parking lots and public transit that we use every day have been created to suit our climate. Now, with our climate changing, we need to re-think important aspects of how we live our urban lives.