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Harder choices on global warming

Mark Jaccard advocates stricter policies, penalties to address greenhouse gas emissions

By Andrew Mitchell

One of Canada’s leading experts on the economy and resource management had a few tough messages for the Whistler Forum for Dialogue on Tuesday night on the topic of climate change — namely that Canada will not meet its Kyoto obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, that fossil fuels will continue to play a role meeting our energy needs for a long time to come, and that any solution to the issue will require taxing and storing carbon emissions.

It was a packed room at the Telus Conference Centre as almost 200 members of the community turned out to hear a presentation by Dr. Mark Jaccard, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management, and one of Canada’s leading consultants on the climate change policies and environmental economics. Some of the attendees included Sea to Sky MP Blair Wilson, Mayor Ken Melamed, and Councillors Gord McKeever, Bob Lorriman and Tim Wake.

Although Dr. Jaccard lauded all of Whistler’s ongoing efforts to become more sustainable and to wean the community off of fossil fuels, he says those efforts will be essentially meaningless unless the Canadian government, and other world governments, takes a series of difficult, and politically unpopular steps to regulate and tax our carbon emissions.

“I’m part of a group that has studied this from every angle, and our conclusion is that we can’t get there (to Kyoto) without government taking steps to penalize us for making greenhouse gases,” he said. “When Canada was first looking at this in 1989 we submitted a model which included a tax of $150 a tonne of carbon dioxide. That would double the price of gas, but it’s what we would need to meet our Kyoto obligations, just barely. Without this it doesn’t matter what else we do, emissions will keep climbing.

“It’s good these days to hear politicians like Stephen Harper and Gordon Campbell talk about emissions targets… but without hard-nosed policies to show people how to get there it will fail.”

Since most subsidy and incentive programs do not work — Dr. Jaccard used the example of a new tax benefit for taking public transit that fewer than one per cent of car owners said they would use — he suggests implementing a $15 per tonne tax on greenhouse gases immediately, with a schedule for increasing that tax to the $150 mark in the next 10 years.

“It can’t be subsidies,” he said, citing the general failure of voluntary greenhouse gas reduction programs. “If there is an incentive for people to switch to natural gas, they put in patio heaters. If you offer an incentive for energy efficient fridges, they’ll buy a bigger fridge for their kitchen and put the old fridge downstairs.”

In one study, Dr. Jaccard discovered that over $20 billion in subsidies and incentives offered by the U.S. energy industry have had no impact on reducing emissions.

Adding a tax will put pressure on fossil fuel companies to sequester carbon, on industry to become more efficient, on companies to offer more efficient and zero emission vehicles and products, and on individuals to reduce their own consumption. The money collected could be used to advance renewable energy, foster innovation, and, if it’s required to pass the tax into law, to compensate Alberta.

Dr. Jaccard’s presentation looked at the climate change debate from several viewpoints. One is the concept of peak oil, which suggests that our rate of oil consumption will continue to increase while supplies of oil will diminish over time, creating a shortage and ensuing financial crisis. It would also force us to find and develop alternative forms of energy, such as nuclear power and renewable resources like solar and wind power. However, Dr. Jaccard believes that day is a long way off, given the fact that oil reserves that were once too remote or expensive to develop are now economically feasible at current prices, and the potential for processes that can increase oil production from existing well sites and turn coal into gasoline. When all these sources that were once too expensive to develop become economically viable are taken into consideration, we have fossil fuel supplies to last us for hundreds of years.

Although other energy sources will also become more viable over the next 100 years, Dr. Jaccard’s research suggests that fossil fuels will continue to supply over half of energy demands in the year 2100.

Fossil fuels do not have to be part of the problem, says Dr. Jaccard. Most fuels can be directly converted to energy or to hydrogen, and all carbon dioxide greenhouse gases produced can be sequestered underground. Carbon dioxide can even be pumped back into oil wells to push greater quantities of oil out.

“The evidence is strong that we can use fossil fuels without emitting greenhouse gas the same say we have been able to take out lead, sulfur, different levels of particulate,” said Dr. Jaccard. “We can do the same thing we did in the past with acid rain and pollution. The CO2 can be stored somewhere, either at the point of oil recovery or into cheap saline aquifers underground that can absorb it.

“In my book (Sustainable Fossil Fuels)… the tentative conclusion is that this is a very interesting prospect for humanity. Carbon capture and storage is being seen much more favourably recently, even with environmental groups.”

In the tax and credit scenario, companies that exceed goals for reducing greenhouse gas by 50 per cent will be able to sell carbon credits to other companies who are behind in their own programs, providing another incentive for companies to eliminate emissions. Heavily regulated credit systems, already in place in Europe, are proven to reduce emissions.

With the other half of Canada’s greenhouse gases coming from individuals, Dr. Jaccard is adamant that people should also be taxed until their emissions can be reduced or eliminated.

Despite 20 years of offering subsidies and incentives, and five different federal plans for solving the problem that date back to 1990, Canada’s Greenhouse Gas emissions have increased by close to 30 per cent since 1994, while simultaneously missing all targets for reductions. As a result Canada will miss its Kyoto obligations, whatever else we might do.

Aside from a tax, Dr. Jaccard also believes fuel and energy efficiency is the easiest way to immediately reduce our ecological footprint. He cautions that increased efficiency is long-term planning that poses the greatest financial risks, but says the technology will get significantly cheaper over time. For example, power produced by windmills was priced at 20 cents a kilowatt-hour 20 years ago, down to five or six cents today.

Adding to that, Dr. Jaccard believes that a hard tax on emissions will drive innovation and efficiency better than subsidies ever could.

As for Whistler’s efforts to become more sustainable, Dr. Jaccard says there are gains to embracing sustainable principles and setting an example, as individuals and as a community, but the biggest contribution the resort could make is for the mayor to stand up at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and demand the federal government implement a nationwide fuel tax.

“There’s no other way,” he said.

Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed said something similar earlier in the evening, in welcoming Dr. Jaccard.

“Whistler 2020 looks at things like carbon emissions and our own Kyoto commitment, and we have to admit we’re not doing well,” he said. “But we’re not the community to run back and say just because nobody else is doing it we’re not going to try to either. I believe this is something we can do grass roots, and then take to the rest of Canada. With all respect to Mr. Wilson, we also need to let the federal government know we need more than just plans, but policies.”

Brian Barnett, the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s general manager of engineering and public works, was also on hand to give an update on Whistler’s greenhouse gas reduction strategy, as was Arthur DeJong, manager of mountain planning and environmental resources for Whistler-Blackcomb. Squamish Councillor Patricia Heinzman and green energy consultant Nigel Protter also gave brief presentations.

 

Current RMOW Status

• Roughly half of greenhouse gas produced in Whistler comes from cars, and 30 per cent from the commercial sector (including hotels and accommodation).

• 90 per cent of air pollution is vehicle related.

• The plan for reducing emissions is the 2004 Integrated Energy, Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Management Plan by the Sheltair Group.

• By 2020 greenhouse gases are expected to increase by 92 per cent, when meeting Kyoto standards means reducing emissions six per cent below 1990 levels.

• Enacting all of the policies in the Sheltair plan, which is part of Whistler 2020, will still result in a 22 per cent increase in emissions by 2020.

 

Current Whistler-Blackcomb Status

• Annual energy consumption is 32 gigawatts, which has been reduced by 10 per cent by energy efficiency measures.

• Whistler-Blackcomb supports a run-of-river hydro project on Fitzsimmons Creek that would produce the same amount of energy as needed to operate the mountains on an annual basis. That project could get underway this summer.

• Whistler-Blackcomb is currently studying the potential for a wind farm on Whistler Mountain that could produce double the energy used by Whistler-Blackcomb, or enough power for 6,000 homes. The initial results from the MET (wind test) tower are not encouraging, although DeJong says there’s better potential further up the mountain from the test towers’ current location.

• Two-thirds of fuel consumption is diesel, for groomers. Whistler-Blackcomb plans to switch to biodiesel over the summer.