Contributed by Kent Zehr, P. Eng. © 2019

Various proponents are touting the perception that the greening of society, by which they mean replacing all processes producing carbon dioxide, with electrically driven processes, is both simple, easy, and cost effective. All we need, according to them, is the will.

This paper examines what such a transition means overall, and provides some conservative assessments of the ease of that transition.

All aspects considered in some detail will follow the same methods and explanations for each step are provided.

All starting numbers are taken from the NEB 2016 published reports.

LINK TO POWER POINT: IMPACTS OF GREENING EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE

 

 

To summarize:

A wise man once said; “Given time, money, and steel, nothing is impossible.”

The existing Canadian electrical system required about 100 years to construct.

To capture the greening opportunity in the next 20 years, or 30, or 40, requires us to construct more than twice as much capacity as we currently have. Base load capacity, not wind, not solar.

We have neither the time, the money, or the steel to meet this challenge. Therefore greening as proposed is impossible.