Launching Alberta’s energy future

It’s a drum that Flow’s been beating since our very first post: energy is important to Canadians (376KB PDF) (even if they feel like their role in policy-making is limited. The hitch, of course, is that it’s not always easy to make it clear to Canadians just how important that energy is, and the result can lead to confusion and, often, downright hostility.

In Alberta, where the energy industry employs one in six people, energy education is especially important. That’s why a group of seven Alberta associations that includes the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Alberta Enterprise Group recently launched their “Alberta is Energy” campaign, an initiative designed to raise “awareness about the important role the oil and gas industry plays in the lives of Albertans.” Announced at a luncheon in Calgary’s Hyatt Regency Hotel that drew hundreds of industry and governmental representatives, the “Alberta is Energy” campaign is largely in response to the Government of Alberta’s recent competitiveness review (2.7 MB PDF), which saw royalty rates for energy reduced in order to encourage investment.

At the centre of the initiative’s launch was an address by David Collyer, president of CAPP. Addressing the current state and likely future of the energy industry, Collyer’s speech included references to the changing (and increasing) patterns of energy consumption, the importance of responsible production, collaborative solutions and the importance of public communication, as underlined by the “Alberta is Energy” campaign itself.

Recognizing the growing demand for energy, both nationally and particularly globally, Collyer first argued for the oil and natural gas industry as a basis for long-term growth in the province.

“Contrary to the gambler archetype,” he said, “global capital does not want radical change.”

In terms of resources, Collyer’s speech separately addressed oil and natural gas in Western Canada, the natural gas industry and the oil sands. These energy sources, he said, would ultimately be part of an “ecclesiastical” mix of resources where “there is room for all fuels in the energy mix.” He went on to note that tax revenues declined in the aftermath of the provincial government’s previous royalty rate increase, and suggested that future growth would depend on encouraging investment, collaboration and awareness.

Two themes underlined Collyer’s speech: communication and improved production.  At the moment, examples of efforts to promote the energy industry’s record on responsibility include CAPP’s Stewardship of Excellence Awards and its Responsible Canadian Energy Program.

“Alberta is Energy” adds another layer to the campaign to communicate this responsibility, and relates most directly to the industry’s overall communication efforts. This includes both energy consumers and the regulators and industries most directly involved in planning the country’s energy future.

Collaboration was a related theme in the campaign’s launch, with Collyer citing the need for relationships between energy companies, the communities they operate in and the stakeholders who ultimately benefit (a major component of the campaign seen in its “Feature Stories”). Collyer’s speech made several references to the need to find middle ground, a position that is often elusive.

“On both sides,” he said, referring to the energy industry and environmental advocacy groups, “there is room for less talking and more listening.”

But if the launch event was intended to provoke a sense of energy, both literally and figuratively “energizing,” Collyer made it clear that the industry recognizes that its long-term survival and adaptation will not be instantaneous. While improved performance will ultimately provide a solid basis for the kind of public engagement that lets Canadians know how important their energy is, these two strategies will ultimately take time.

“This is a marathon,” said Collyer. “Not a sprint.”

Making the grade on energy

It’s easy to lose sight of our energy. After all, it’s invisible. Whether we’re silently fuelling our cars or turning on a light switch that allows current to flow, we use energy every day without actually seeing its source. But in a world that calls for increased energy efficiency and alternative approaches to the sources we’re used to using, losing sight of our energy just doesn’t work anymore.

In 2009, The Canadian Centre for Energy Information conducted a poll (376KB PDF) that found a full 59 per cent of respondents felt disconnected from energy policy-making decisions and only about half felt informed about energy issues in their country. This, despite the fact that a slate of (sometimes bizarre) technologies, alternate sources of transportation, and fundamental changes in the ways we use energy are changing our lives every day. Energy is changing, which means that our education has to keep pace.

Provincial and territorial energy strategy documents have consistently identified energy awareness as an important factor in any future energy plans. Alberta, for example, identifies awareness as one of its “Desired Outcomes” in its 2008 energy strategy document, while the Government of the Northwest Territories calls for “provid[ing] information and research on emerging technologies, their potential application in the NWT, and develop Alternative Energy Demonstration Projects” as one of its main energy strategy objectives.

To raise this awareness, governments have tried to educate energy consumers both on the way they already use energy — though energy efficiency campaigns, such as those produced by Quebec’s Agence de l’efficacité énergétique — and the ways in which energy is changing — such as demonstration projects like Nova Scotia’s Fundy Tidal Energy Demonstration Project. Government programs run the gamut from awareness campaigns to simple changes in existing programs, like Quebec’s resolution to provide efficient driving techniques as part of driver training, but they aren’t the only ones set to educate consumers. The energy sector, with its literal investment in the energy you use, regularly provides educational opportunities for consumers.

Among energy providers, energy conservation campaigns, like Enmax’s “GreenMax”, provide material benefits to consumers. Use less, they suggest, and pay less. Other outreach efforts, however, provide more direct educational programs. Here are three upcoming events produced by the private sector to educate Canadian consumers.

While new, more compact generating technologies provide an ever-increasing number of options for decentralizing our power, the electricity grid continues to play an essential role in our day-to-day lives. Presented by Inside Education, an upcoming Electricity Education Tour (April 22 – 24) will help participants take a look at the seemingly invisible net of electricity that powers Canadian homes.

Energy in Action (May 3 – May 28), produced by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, has been providing community programs on energy since 2004. Its activities, designed to showcase the organization’s environmental stewardship — a common goal of industry outreach — will take place in schools across eight Western provinces this year.

GeoCanada 2010 (May 10 – 14), a conference that invites a raft of energy professionals will also include an educational component for the public. Five of them, in fact. From a poster competition designed to encourage students to consider geology in their communities to a full two-day program with hands-on exhibits, these GeoCanada Community initiatives are designed to share professionals’ knowledge with the general public.

Energy in Canada #2

With increased pressure to reduce greenhouse gases while continuing to meet increased demand for energy, more Canadians are looking to nuclear as a possible solution to energy security. Read More

EMISSION-FREE ENERGY
North America’s largest source of emission-free energy is nuclear. But Canadians still know relatively little about it, the environmental issues surrounding it and the role it plays in supplying our energy demands. Read More

SECURING OUR ENERGY FUTURE
As Canada looks to nuclear energy to meet future demands for more efficient energy, some are questioning the source’s reliability. But Canada’s nuclear industry continues to be a proven performer. Read More

AN AFFORDABLE ALTERNATIVE
When we think of the benefits and impacts of nuclear energy production and use, environmental concerns are often top-of-mind along with issues of safety. But the economics are also important to consider. Read More

BUILDING ON OUR EXPERIENCE
More than 60 years of experience in the nuclear industry has helped showcase Canada’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing reliable and safe energy. Read More

EXPLORING POSSIBILITIES The Canadian Nuclear Association recently launched a new nuclear science technology website for Grade 9-12 students. The learning modules have been developed respecting the Pan Canadian Framework guidelines and provincial curriculum requirements for teachers in general science, environmental science, biology, physics, chemistry, geography, history, social studies and world issues.

The modules focus on eight key areas including: Canada’s Nuclear History, Atomic Theory, What is Radiation?, Biological Effects of Radiation, World Energy Sources, Nuclear Technology at Work, Safety in the Nuclear Industry and Career information.

The new materials help students and teachers examine the science and issues related to nuclear technology. Included are more than 50 lesson plans, classroom activities, project descriptions and questions and answer sheets to support teaching and learning.

Energetic studies

Today, there is a lot of benchmarks to gauge an issue’s relevance. Google counts. Protests. News clippings. Speeches from politicians. College courses. 

Wait, what was that last one? 

Post-secondary curriculum has come a long way from Introduction to Elizabethan Poetry. Nothing against Mr. Shakespeare, but today’s students need to be prepared for tomorrow’s challenges. Increasingly, that means energy. Recent years have seen the proliferation of courses focused on energy on campuses across North America.

Take the new class at MIT as an example. The Physics of Energy is no freshman credit-filler, but crafted for the next generation of scientists. Instead of the traditional mechanical or electrical engineering focus, the course focuses on the thermodynamics of energy. 

The purpose is to prepare MIT graduates for careers in science – “giving them the ability to intelligently evaluate the science behind difficult political, economic and social issues surrounding energy.” In other words, acknowledging the old curriculum was just that – old. 

“New” energy courses are springing up at colleges across North America. Washington State University is launching a course in renewable energy. “Students will examine cutting-edge technologies for harnessing the power of the wind, sun, biomass, fuel cells and more.”

The course is geared for senior-level Engineering students. The focus will be on design and construction of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic arrays, biomass generation and hydrogen fuel cells, public policy and ecological impact of conventional and alternative energy. 

Indeed, colleges and universities are acknowledging that in order to change the energy industry to a more sustainable model, they first must change the curriculum. Across North America, the next generation of scientists are benefitting from a lot more educational resources – and new thinking -  on energy.

Inside Education brings Albertan energy into the classroom

Alberta is a province fuelled by energy revenue, with a projected surplus of $1.6 billion for 2008 that could rise as high as $12 billion. So it’s hardly surprising that, with billions of dollars and millions of barrels of oil pouring into the provincial economy, Albertans are keenly interested in learning more about their natural resources.

And where better to start learning than the classroom?

One of the organizations trying to provide information on the boggling numbers of Alberta’s energy network is Inside Education, a nonprofit society offering educational materials to Alberta students from kindergarten through high school. Since 1985, Inside Education has collaborated with partners in the energy industry, government and other non-profit organizations, like Ducks Unlimited, to provide information and teaching materials on the province’s most essential resources.

“We provide a balanced approach to issues,” says Inside Education’s executive director, Steve McIsaac. “We bring in use, production, conservation, and climate change, but there’s also really been a willingness on the part of industry to share both the challenges and the opportunities they’re facing, to be responsible citizens who maintain the social license to operate.

“There’s an openness to multiple perspectives, and that’s what we’ve really been about: a strong buy-in to encourage multiple points of view.”

To encourage that openness, Inside Education provides classroom resources that fall under three categories: classroom resources, including kits, videos and worksheets; guest speakers who speak in schools across Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan; and background information for teachers themselves. This educator information often includes tours of essential locations related to Alberta’s energy network, such as the Athabasca oilsands, coalbed methane facilities and Pincher Creek’s iconic wind farms.

For McIssac, who’s been working with Inside Education since he was a summer intern in 1992, Albertans’ interest in their energy has changed as drastically as the technology and processes themselves, which have seen the mainstream introduction of alternative energy sources like wind power. He recalls his own experiences in Alberta’s school system, and believes that the current information available to students places an emphasis on environmental stewardship that’s contrasts with his own memories.

And it isn’t just the students who are learning.

“They [teachers] are Albertans too, members of society,” he notes. “And I think society is on a steep learning curve on the whole. Whether it’s the price at the pump, climate change, or what is green power and what’s not, it’s all about: ‘How can I conserve energy in my daily life, or at school, etc.?’”

The opportunity for Inside Education, then, is that while Albertans aren’t necessarily experts on their province’s most visible industry, the willingness to understand it continues to drive demand for his organization’s materials. It’s a willingness McIsaac has seen evolve through the years.

“I think we’ve seen an increase in the complexity of understanding and depth of questions. Whether it’s from teachers or from students, that complexity has really grown exponentially,” he says. “In the early ‘90s, there was some understanding there was some sort of energy industry in our province, and if I turn on the lights I can be pretty confident there will be light there. Carbon footprint, of course, was a word not even considered in the not too distant past.”

Maintaining contact with their partners on a day-to-day basis, Inside Education’s main task is to translate the information being passed to them into accessible material that maintains the complex answers teachers are looking for. With a staff of 16 full-time employees, making them the largest not-for-profit natural resources education group in the country, the organization tries to bridge the gap between their partners and teachers, adding regular teacher consultations to complement their partner contact.

“We take multiple opportunities to meet throughout the year, whether it’s teaching conventions or our own professional workshops, we’ve become a trusted source for teachers to seek out information,” says McIsaac. “While we don’t pretend to be the content experts, we do provide access to experts and we do encourage teachers to make their own connections in industry and government. We’ve come to understand that experts in these fields love to talk to teachers, which is a really beneficial relationship we’ve created over the last few years.”

By emphasizing classroom materials and personal workshops with teachers, McIssac concedes that Inside Education tends to emphasize more traditional media over an online presence. Primarily focusing on traditional pen-and-paper and multimedia classroom materials, the organization supplements its educational resource by pointing to sites like www.greenlearning.ca and the Canadian Centre for Energy Information. But 23 years of operating in a changing Alberta haven’t left the organization without the flexibility to adapt, and Inside Education’s website does include a blog and an online catalogue of resources providing further, expert information.

Along with a curriculum that already makes Albertan students more aware than ever about the challenges and responsibilities of energy use, Inside Education is helping to create a more informed generation of students and teachers. It’s a mission that’s essential for an energy-based economy like Alberta’s, and one that still provides its own welcome surprises along the way. Alberta students, it seems, are listening.

“They’re far more adept than we thought they would be,” says McIssac. “It’s one of the joys of this job: watching the growth and depth of understanding.”

One little word

For any jaded conservationists or eco-skeptics convinced that small changes won’t ultimately change the way we use our energy, consider the impact of one little word: sustainable.

For Shell, the second-largest energy company in the world, that single word was enough to have its advertising pulled from London’s Financial Times, by the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority. The body, which regulates all advertising in the UK, ruled that the word “sustainable” could not be used to describe Alberta’s oilsands. The ruling was instigated by a complaint from the UK branch of the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) claiming that the term was “ambiguous.”

As the widespread practice of “greenwashing” shows, the words we use to describe our fuel have tangible effects on their use. The term “dirty oil,” for example, became the rallying cry for a group of US mayors calling for a boycott on oil produced by the oilsands. And business from Wal-Mart to casinos benefit daily from news releases touting new, “green” features of their operations.

Even governments are actively trying to harness the power of environmental words, with the Alberta government notably committing $25 million to a three-year PR effort designed, among other things, to confront the term “dirty oil.”

The primary concern for companies, then, isn’t whether green statements can have tangible benefits for their business (they can), but whether their claims hold up to criticism. What’s certain is that companies like Shell, whose website’s front page features a green frog clinging to a tree branch below the headline “responsible energy,” will continue to harness the power of those tiny but potent symbols: words.

After all, if one tiny word can change the course of an entire marketing campaign, consider what small changes elsewhere are capable of doing.

Hey Ontario…this week is important!

Every year, Ontario uses about 152,000,000 megawatt hours (464KB PDF) of electricity, enough to watch your favourite 42” plasma television at 358 kilowatt hours for the next 291,563 years.

That’s a lot of Battlestar Galactica.

Ontario leads the country in its use of energy, consuming more petroleum and coal than any other Canadian province.

It’s a dubious honour, but beginning May 25, the province will be trying to curb its energy use during its first annual Energy Conservation Week, a week of province-wide events complete with simple energy-saving tips designed to make Ontarians think about the way they use energy.

Co-created by Ontario’s Power Authority (OPA), the province’s Ministry of Energy, the Electricity Distributors Association (EDA) and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), the week is designed to show businesses and individuals how they can contribute to Ontario’s conservation goals.

Of course, Ontario’s utilities and their acronym-endowed umbrella organizations don’t expect Ontarians to commit to energy savings without some kind of tangible reward, so the week also includes those two words that every frugal energy user loves to hear: free stuff!

Backyard makeovers! Free shower heads and low-flow kitchen swivel aerator! A promotional video featuring Peter Love, Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation Officer!

Well, all right, a video with a middle-aged executive touring Ontario with stock footage of washers and dryers may not exactly be riveting stuff. But if Ontarians really do have 291 millennia worth of power for their television-watching needs, it’s an event with plenty of time to improve.