In need of a government that will look to the future of energy

By Letter to the Editor on January 22, 2020.

Re: “What are the true costs of renewable energy?” Jan. 10

In her editorial Gillian Slade does a good job of pointing out the cost of renewable energy, but this argument does not paint the whole picture.

Slade implies, intentionally or not, that here is some sort of energy production that is far cheaper than renewables, even that energy might even be “free.” This concept is very far from the truth. I could go on forever about how expensive, using Slade’s criteria, oil is to extract, to build oil infrastructure, considering how much steel it takes to build pipelines, rail cars, rigs, monster trucks, and refineries, and subsidize oil companies. We also need to take into consideration the tremendous costs to the environment in the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, along with taxpayers recovery of abandoned wells. Energy is not cheap no matter how it is produced.

Accepting that energy costs money still misses the mark. Renewable energy produced in Western Canada, or anywhere for that matter, can’t be sold to foreign markets. It can only replace oil and gas to make us self sufficient in our energy needs.

Widespread use of renewables would deliver a serious blow to Alberta’s economy. This is why we need a government to look to the future, and not be stuck in the past of oil as the economic driver.

Jim Schmid

Medicine Hat