How do we prepare for an all-electric future here?

By Lethbridge Herald on March 18, 2023.

Editor:

All my years in the recycling industry and plastic product manufacturing was energy and resources directed in sync with the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. In my mind it was a way of life to sustain a way off life.

I believe we now need to refocus – the three Rs should now be Reallocate, Rethink and Recycle. Reallocate our carbon-based energy – oil must be processed for uses other than gasoline and diesel fuel because transportation is going electric and Big Auto is investing in anything but gas guzzling engines.

Governments are directing incentives and loans towards anything to do with the future of electricity, carbon capture and finding ways to recycle plastic waste that we have suffered upon our land and waters and make sure future production is recycled.

The plastic production by our petrochemical companies will grow every year by as much as 10 per cent because the products are needed in many, many areas of our lives and our economy. Billions of dollars will be needed to make sure the waste plastic is collected, sorted and pelletized for reuse – it can be recycled as much as seven times before being used as a fuel to turn electric turbines.

The petrochemical companies will thrive, the oil companies will continue to produce, natural gas will be vibrant as we need it for plastic production and heating and a clean, reliable resource for producing electricity.

Oil extraction will be the loser – we will maintain current extraction but more oil will be redirected to creating hydrogen and lubricants. Gasoline and diesel are on the way out little by little every year in the near future. The world will still need oil and Alberta will still sell four million barrels or more a day over the next 30 years as industry and people slowly adjust. You can see the change all around you as the big guys in the oil industry invest in solar and wind power to satisfy their shareholders with respect to maintaining future profits.

And, after all it is all about our children and grandchildren – we all must rethink what matters in our lives and support the changes that are coming down the road. Changes that are hard to imagine, hard to initiate and had to accept – but c’est La vie, said the old folks. It goes to show you never can tell.

Grant R Harrington

Lethbridge