LETTER

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Really? 

International energy reviews, such as recently published by BP, show that Canada has a truly appalling record in its feeble attempts to reduce its GHG emissions (Barry Saxifrage of the National Observer published an excellent summary of the BP data for Canada a few days ago). Our governments, our NGO’s and our news media are happy to talk at length about token measures without ever showing how trivial initiatives like imposing carbon taxes have any realistic potential to actually eliminate the problem.

There is at least one solution, but it is rarely used or even mentioned. We have an effectively unlimited source of energy in Canada in the form of the summer heat that is so abundant at this time of year. That heat can readily be stored for use in the winter, and the storage procedure also provides the cooling that we need for our buildings. The dual heating/cooling capacity eliminates the need to use electricity for those thermal purposes (or it can shift the power load to the middle of the night) so we could also eliminate the GHG from power production, and there are other benefits (making electric vehicles more useful and providing storage for irregular power from wind turbines, etc.). It’s time for Canada to wake up!

Ron Tolmie, 

Kanata