Earth Day and Site C Dam
There are only two primary sources of power available to man to run our civilization: the sun, and nuclear energy. Everything else is just one or the other (mostly power from the sun) stored somehow in a form that we can eventually release it from - coal, gasoline, natural gas - these all are energy stored at some point by plants and animals that got it originally from the sun.
Wave, water and wind power are also energy from the sun, since the sun causes and controls much of our weather and evaporates water from the oceans and deposits it as rain and snow on the mountains - where it falls via rivers back to the ocean.
About the only potential source of power that is not directly related to the sun is tidal power - since it is from the movement of the moon around our planet and the gravitational pull moving the water on our planet around.
Using up the old stored power - that of fossil fuels - is now known to be a "bad thing" in terms of keeping Earth the way we currently like it; sea levels about the same as now, weather not too harsh or foul and relatively consistent, etc.
Nuclear power has its problem, some of which we've figured out how to deal with and some we have not. It forms the backbone of many countries' power generation systems now and is again growing in popularity. Unless and until we can switch 100% to nuclear - something that I personally don't think will ever happen, or can somehow tap directly into solar power (solar cells and furnaces) in large enough amounts at reasonable cost I expect we'll have to continue to tap into its secondary effects in the form of wind and water turbines - and that's where "Site C" comes in.
There are two really good reasons to use water-powered electrical generation even if we have other means available:
- It is 100% renewable
- We can turn it off and on at a moment's notice
The first one is great - but it is the second reason I want to talk about here. We can turn on/off water-powered electrical generation quickly and easily.
You see, unlike nuclear, coal, natural gas and other "heat" based generation systems - water-power can be controlled minutely and quickly - and that allows us to use the heat-based generation facilities more efficiently and safely.
If a major storm brings down the power lines from a heat-based generation system to its customers, the generation system can have major problems. Where does it dump all that heat while it shuts down the burners or puts the control rods back into the pile?
Similarly, when you cook dinner at 6PM along with millions of others, how fast can such a heat-driven generator start generating the massive amounts of power you all need in the few minutes it takes to turn your stove on - and what happens at 6:30 when you turn it off? The computers at these stations start running up the heat as much as a couple of hours before dinner time - and waste a bunch of power doing it.
It's so much easier to just turn on the tap at the local hydro dam and pick up the load that way - and that's exactly how British Columbia's power people work things. They sell their power into the grid when it is needed and take it back out when there is too much - and we benefit both ways. Peak power and fast power are sold at a premium. Fast dumping of power is also a commodity that is sold. The heat-based generating stations will pay BC Hydro to stop making power so their heat-based generators can continue while they slowly shut down - and they'll pay Hydro to bring up power quickly and then taper off while the heat-based generators come online slowly.
This applies even if we get rid of all coal/gas/oil fired generation plants and only have nuclear. This applies if we have wind and solar powered plants too - since there are times when there is no wind and the sun does not shine all the time.
No matter what, we need hydro power - and we need a lot of it sometimes.
Yes, Site C will devastate a fairly large area of the Peace river valley - but we here in BC have already set aside far more wilderness in preserves and parks than will be affected and will put away far more.
Yes, Site C will allow us to sell power to other jurisdictions - but it will also help us by allowing us to sell power for more than most places might, and buy power cheaply at other times when others have "too much" due to having to shut down their heat-generators slowly. We are blessed with an exportable commodity that is renewable 100% - why shouldn't we take advantage of that while we're also helping the rest of the planet be more efficient with their heat-based sources of power - until we can all benefit by direct conversion of sun and nuclear at will, when/wherever we need it.
Obligatory disclaimer: I do not work for or consult for or deal with BC Hydro except as a customer of electric power.
richard
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