Happy spring everyone! The fiscal year for governments of Canada, BC, and many First Nations is April 1 to March 31. So, the past two months have been full of wrapping up projects, presenting results and having thoughtful discussions with communities at my day job, as well as ramping up and finding funding for new projects.
The second cohort of Student Energy Guided Projects is underway with very cool student-led projects focusing on solar and battery. Solar remains to be a well-supported fixture of the electrification movement. But I am hearing from some industry experts, worries of that tune possibly changing with a federal election next year. On the other hand, wind power is making its comback to BC after over a decade’s long hiatus.
This last round of cleantech startup advisory reviews I participated in were quite varied; from innovating reinforced concrete and steel manufacturing, to power plan control operations. I loved hearing from the founder of a plant-based meat alternatives business, and was least interested in hearing about innovation in methane monitoring. I struggle to see the point of investing in lowering emissions in oil and gas development. I would rather us focus time, money, and brains on reducing our reliance on fossil fuels overall. Instead of exploiting oil and gas “more sustainably”, shouldn’t we be weaning ourselves off of those energy sources altogether?
On a different but related note, BCUC accepted FortisBC’s long term gas resource strategy towards a ‘low carbon future’, but rejected their proposed renewable natural gas connection service. Some of the flaws BCUC saw include: putting unfair costs on the consumers (i.e. consumers bearing the brunt of FortisBC’s decarbonization), and the not-necessarily-true assumption that FortisBC’s gas distribution system will be acceptable under the zero-carbon building step-code.I consider this a baby step forwards in the path to decoupling BC’s future with fossil fuel dependency.
If you have topics you’d like to discuss or elevate, reach out to me at blog@erinjquon.com or leave a comment!