Fear monger stifling green energy movement

By Lethbridge Herald on October 15, 2024.

KEVIN TIMONEY

As our society struggles against time and disinformation to transition to a sustainable economy, we turn increasingly to solar and wind energy.

Policies such as the moratorium on renewables and the prohibition of green energy projects on Alberta’s agricultural lands are little more than cynical ploys that have hampered the green transition and driven away investments and jobs.

 Certainly few people want prime agricultural land to be lost to development, but the specter of renewables threatening agriculture is a false issue raised to confuse the public and stop the green energy transition.  

Let’s assume a worst-case scenario where all renewables development takes place on agricultural land. In March 2024, the Alberta Utilities Commission concluded that renewables pose little threat to agriculture or the environment

. They concluded that “Assuming all renewable development locates on [some of Alberta’s best] land, the percentage of [such] agricultural land loss is estimated to be less than one per cent by 2041.”

That’s right, less than one per cent and yet the fear mongering continues to stifle the green energy transition.

In truth, currently most agricultural land lost in Alberta is due to urban sprawl, transportation and industrial projects, and the activities of the fossil fuel industry. Additionally,  thousands of hectares of agricultural land in Alberta have been degraded due to poor cropping and plowing practices, salinization, and overgrazing. Scapegoating renewables for losses of agricultural land has no basis in reality.

If we use policy to ensure that degraded lands get first priority for renewables, we can solve both our energy needs and protect prime agricultural lands. Furthermore, intelligent solutions that incorporate solar production into farming are being found worldwide. 

Agrivoltaics can enable farmers to grow shade-tolerant crops while they also extend growing seasons and reduce water needs. In many areas, solar panels protect crop plants from heat stress and water loss and allow farmers to grow a greater diversity of crops. With informed farming practices, the net effect on agriculture of incorporating green energy production can be positive. 

But even this progressive approach to land use is dwarfed in its potential if we turn to the fossil fuel industrial footprint.

As of 2021, in Alberta, the total landscape footprint of the fossil fuel industry (wells, facilities, installations, pipelines, roads, and seismic lines) had exceeded 3 million hectares. 

This vast area is composed of degraded ecosystems that cannot be ecologically restored due to the permanent damage suffered by the soils and the natural biota. Even if we invest the estimated $260 billion dollars required to reclaim those damaged landscapes, we will still be left with ecosystems dominated by non-native plant assemblages on impaired soils inhabited by only those generalist species capable of exploiting disturbed habitats. Within the vast fossil fuel industry footprint, presently a colossal public liability, renewables can transform Alberta to become a green energy leader.

Just how much land do we need to meet all of our electrical needs via solar?

 As of 2015, the total Alberta electrical need was 80.3 GWh/year. Now let’s double that to 160 GWh/year to allow for future major increases in electrical consumption. 

Skipping over the calculations, in Alberta, a total of 230,740 hectares would be needed to meet 100  per cent of our future electrical needs with solar panels. Now compare that to the present Alberta fossil fuel industrial footprint: 3 million hectares.

We could build all the solar panels we’ll ever need on those damaged lands.

So that’s the big picture. It’s not bleak and we should embrace it. We can participate in the global green energy transition while helping to reclaim damaged lands to productive uses.

 Disinformation and bad government are the only things standing in our way.

Kevin Timoney is a senior landscape ecologist with over 40 years of research experience in Alberta’s ecosystems.