This “Concerned Citizens Coalition” (as it calls itself) collects all kinds of articles focusing on energy issues in BC. Their archives go back to 2000. Some of their information is somewhat surprising.

I spent most of the afternoon looking at it. Just for fun, I went through 2002 to find out what was the major concern of BC citizens regarding power issues in B.C. at that time.

In 2002, Minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources Richard Neufeld was considering breaking up BC Hydro. In an interview with Scott Simpson, from the Vancouver Sun, Neufeld described BC Hydro as a “gorilla” monopoly. He also already predicted that electrical demand would exceed supply in BC by 2007. The fate of the crown corporation was to be announced later that year. But there was a huge movement against the decision.

To be fair, he had to go through the process, which was a requirement of the newly created Western Electricity Coordinating Council, a new regional organization monitoring energy issues in the Westcoast, from Mexico to BC.

Five years later, BC Hydro still exists, even though smaller industries are allowed to bid for power projects. And, as Neufeld predicted, the demand is indeed exceeding the supply of electricity.

I wish I could figure out what will be going on in five years at the power level in BC. The more I read about the topic, the more it seems that there’s no simple answer to that question.

As a result, I couldn’t care less about the price of gas. Except when I’m renting a car.

It’s exactly what I and two colleagues did last week, when we went to Kimberley, a small town in south eastern BC, for a radio project.

Some rough thoughts about the experience:

1. All along Washington State and BC, you can find fuelling stations with notices that your gas might be mixed with approximately 10 per cent ethanol. I emphasize the word “might” here, as we are not completely sure that there is indeed ethanol in the gas purchased. It sounds like an advisory against traces of nuts in chocolate bars. The only difference is that I’ve never heard about allergies to ethanol. The other one is that people like me feel better about driving a car when the read that advisory. Be it true or not.

2. I had never driven a Ford Focus before. But I was impressed by the efficiency of the car. I should perhaps mention that the cars I drove prior to that were a Tempest and an Impala.

3. And yes, the price of gas is cheaper in the US. It’s also cheaper in the countryside than in Vancouver.

I’d like to stress that BC is a strange province indeed. Most of the population lives in Vancouver and in Victoria, and is concerned about the environment. The rest of the province is all about wilderness, but making a living by exploiting natural resources.

It leads to many interesting meetings and interviews. But it also leads to many questions. Such as this one: “Why is there 200 companies working on alternative sources of energy in Vancouver?”

After all, BC is not that interested in these high tech sources of energy. The province has access to cheap power, and most of the solutions these companies provide are (much) more expensive.

The only concrete reason I can see at this point is UBC’s power of attraction.

A lot of these companies are spin-offs from UBC, one of the leading universities in the world in terms of research.

Many engineers and scientists came to the West Coast to pursue their studies and decided to stay here. They built an informal community of crazy scientists working on fuel cells, solar power or gasification systems…

One of them, Geoffrey Ballard, was even named “Hero of the Planet” in 1999 by Time Magazine.

As I wrote earlier, the companies they built are now gaining momentum. They now have to establish it as successful companies rather than promising ones. If they succeed, they will show to the world the importance of investing in post-secondary education.

But I’m also impressed by the irony of the situation.

Day4 Energy, one of the most promising companies working on solar systems, is based in Vancouver.

Between me and you, what’s the interest of developing a solar system in one of the most rainy cities in Canada? I wonder.

Thanks to the Tyee, I can always count on juicy stories to fill this blog. And guess what? They also like showing how BC’s green reputation is exaggerated.

The Tyee released today a story about concerns related to the new energy plan.

As it appears, some environmentalists are worried that the government is going to boost the oil and gas sector.

And it’s true. The plan aims to make BC among the most competitive oil and gas jurisdictions in North America. The environmentalists associate it with increasing overall emissions. To give you a figure, the oil and gas sector is already contributing to 18 per cent of the total emissions.

I agree that this decision doesn’t seem to fit well with the Premier’s green goals. I understand their concerns about subsidies being given to the oil and gas industry while the green plan still doesn’t get funding.

At the same time, the province’s economy is largely based on its natural resources. A transition period has to be taken into account. I’m wondering if at this point, the environmentalists are really helping their cause.

Moreover, some environmentalists also complain about the Site C dam proposal. (I wrote about the Site C dam proposal earlier this month.) Opponents argue it would cause serious social and environmental harm.

At many levels, they have really good proposals, but their solutions are perhaps a little bit too utopist. They don’t seem to take into account that there’s no perfect solution. Every decision taken at an energy level will have a negative consequence on the environment.

Alternative sources of energy are necessary. But they can’t provide all the energy we need at this point. Can someone remind them that?

According to Wikipedia, “a hydrogen highway is a chain of hydrogen-equipped filling stations and other infrastructure along a road or highway which allow hydrogen powered cars to travel.”

In Nov. 2006, the provincial government committed $10 million to the first phase of developing the world’s first fleet of hydrogen buses, supporting the Hydrogen Highway project. Stephen Harper’s $200-million announcement on Tuesday also aimed at funding this clean highway.

The project is supposed to be a “metaphor for our route to the future”. In other words, a future powered by reliable, clean and high-tech energy. The project is supposed to advance the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for vehicles.

In the long run, the hydrogen highway is supposed to go all over the west coast. Even if there’s no hydrogen highway there yet, California has already built hydrogen fueling stations. But Californian citizens should have access to hydrogen fuel along the state highways by 2010.

Yes, all these initiatives are related to global warming. But apart from being clean, hydrogen is safe. It can be produced at point-of-use, making it suitable for refueling stations on the way.

But hydrogen is more expensive. Moreover, the product needs to be more reliable. And there’s no market demand at this point for hydrogen-fueled vehicles.

We might not see hydrogen-fueled vehicles on the market until 2012, 2015. But by that time, consumers might be ready to pay more for a fuel that is carbon-neutral.

One can only wonder if the hydrogen highway will join the Skytrain at the pantheon of these transport ideas that are good, but not as good as it seems. (The Skytrain was built for the Expo 86, held in Vancouver. But many consider it a weaker transit system than light trains)

I certainly hope not.

Interestingly, I had an appointment today with someone from the technology sector. My source - I hate outing my sources without their permission, so let’s call him Green Throat – was meeting me right after the announcement, for a feature story I’m working on.

Green Throat was telling me that the announcement he had attended to was mainly political. But he was happy that BC’s entrepreneurs were rewarded for their efforts. For years, many fuel cells companies have been struggling to get funding for their projects. Even if their solutions are working at a business and at a technological level.

With 200 companies providing clean sources of energy, BC has a longer history of research, development and commercialization of clean energy technologies than most of the other provinces.

Companies like Questair or Nexterra might benefit from this announcement. Both have been here for years and are seeking an international market with their solutions, including gasification processes and fuel cells (two clean technologies).

But the most interesting news is not the $200-million awarded by the government. It’s that the provincial and federal governments are finally recognizing these companies’ potential.

According to Green Throat, they are finally understanding that BC might host the next Bombardier – a Quebec-based company that is one of the only Canadian businesses with a worldwide market. If it's true, it could mean that BC will benefit more than any other province from climate change.

Most of the time, their articles are too long – I still remember one about housing that was more than 10 pages long - and could have been tightened up and a little bit too utopist for me.

Nevertheless, I like the publication. I like their critical approach and their tendency to write more in-depth stories.

[In other words, I like the fact that there’s a publication like The Georgia Straight in Vancouver. But most of the time, reading it is a pain in the ass.]

In their last edition, they asked some Vancouverites what they thought about the new Green plan. Their articles about the issue are just long enough and their main question was rightly asked:

Are British Columbians being “greenwashed” by the B.C. Energy Plan?

Except for Tracy Mann, a former Green candidate in Vancouver Kindsway, who said that it was “greenwashing” and an “industry-led policy based on volunteering”, most of the other interviewees were offering interesting and constructive points of view.

To read comments from the chief economist of the Vancouver Board of Trade, the director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation or a only a researcher from UBC, you can click here.

In its March 8-15, 2007, edition, the weekly also presents the point of view of a group called Voters Taking Action against Climate Change (VTACC). The group or concerned citizens even has a (very) minimal website.

The leader of the group, Donald Gordon, reminds that Campbell promised $25 million for a clean energy fund, but also promised a $263-million subsidy to oil and gas.

The article is available here.

In trying to achieve this other goal, the government decided to reopen the discussions related to Site C with First Nations and Province of Alberta.

But what is Site C?

Site C is a multibillion-dollar dam planned to be built on Peace River. It was never built. Since the 1970s, Site C is brought to the table or postponed again and again.

I can only applaud the intention; hydro is a renewable and reliable source of energy. It’s also cheap. Over the last decades, Quebec developed many hydro projects in its northern territory. It has been a successful decision that is still paying off.

But I’m also concerned about the achievability of the announcement. Quebec’s most important hydropower projects have been done in the 70s. (Most importantly the James Bay project - sorry, but the link is in French). At a time people were not very concerned about environment. And at a time when there were less regulations, specially to protect First Nation's rights.

Nevertheless, it took 12 000 people and around 15 years to achieve it. At an important cost. Most of the recent discussions to pursue in that direction for new projects were failure.

Are British Columbians ready to go with Site C? Until recently, it doesn’t seem they were. But time may have changed.

After the throne speech, the orientations of the plan were quite clear. No more greenhouse gases, more conservation of energy and important power projects on their way (Gordon Campbell had already announced he wanted the province to be self-sufficient by 2020).

In that matter, the new plan didn’t surprise. And it satisfied many environmental groups. (some of them even said it was the best energy plan in the world – I wonder how they came to that conclusion, but never mind)

If you are as interested in this plan as I am, endless information about it is available here. Enjoy the reading.

There are also comments here. I’ll leave you with that for now. I’ll bring my own perspective on the plan next Tuesday.

At first it seemed like a good idea.

It still is.

But this beat is a much broader one than what I expected. It includes mining, hydro-electricity, power regulations, alternative sources, experiments, etc. It’s about business, environmental and scientific issues.

Since last week, my mind is all about energy crops. Yep, I didn’t expect agriculture to become a topic on this blog.

More specifically, I’m working onhemp as a source of fuel.

UBC Farm is experimenting an initiative about energy crops. They are trying many kinds of species. With one exception; corn. With its temperate climate, BC is not very good at producing corn.

And besides, as David Pimentel, a professor from Cornell University, states, corn is not a sustainable solution for producing energy in the long run.

Is hemp a better solution? Perhaps. It’s what the UBC farm and the Vancouver-based Post Carbon Institute are trying to find out.

The idea of driving a car fueled by a related cousin of marijuana seems so West coast. I’m looking forward to reading their results. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to wait for years. At this point, it doesn’t seem you can accelerate agriculture that easily. Especially when, using a sustainable development philosophy, you try to avoid chemicals and radioactive products.