It’s very timely that work is progressing on a new Wind Turbine power system near Inuvik.
Promising to reduce diesel consumption in the area by at least 30 per cent, this coupled with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation’s Tuk M-18 natural gas project will go a long way to helping reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the area.
While developing green technology was paramount to the long-term survival of our civilization already, recent geopolitical events have increased the need for renewable energy tenfold.
First, I need to pour cold water on the recent sales pitch by Alberta premier Jason Kenney that we should be building more oil pipelines. The outrageous price of oil right now is fleeting — remember the price per barrel was in negative territory a just over a year ago and was effectively being cushioned by production limitations by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. If demand stays high, the Saudis, Norwegians and Americans will flood the market with crude and natural gas long before a new export pipeline could go online.
Instead, we should be looking to more projects to reduce our dependency on importing fossil fuels. Because the biggest threat to Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions isn’t NATO — it’s Ford.
The undisputed king of the domestic and commercial truck industry, Ford’s planners evidently watched Elon Musk’s “cybertruck” test along with the rest of us and have thrown their weight behind electric vehicles. It’s new fully-electric F150 is now on the market and undergoing testing around the world — including in northern Alaska, just down the coastline.
With the logic that an urban commercial vehicle can easily be plugged in like a forklift and doesn’t need to travel far from a city, these are vehicles that have minimal maintenance, and no fuel costs. Any business looking to update its urban fleet would be crazy to not switch to the electric option and never have to worry about the price of gas again. Market watchers are predicting a huge disruption, not unlike when the car first came onto the scene.
This will have a profound effect on the global market, but particularly on Russia’s economy, which is almost entirely dependant on oil and gas exports.
As a consequence, green energy projects are not just the healthier option any longer — they’re also a strategic resource.
It’s no secret the Arctic is warming far faster than other parts of the world. Permafrost slumps dot the Dempster Highway and limit where critical infrastructure can be constructed. Across the Arctic circle, they’re creating massive sinkholes and causing entire cities to sink into the ground. Not only is the fossil fuel industry losing economic ground fast, in northern Russia the ground is literally disappearing beneath it. Here, Tuktoyaktuk is in danger of washing into the ocean. It’s our responsibility to do anything we can to buy people time to adapt.
Where does this leave the NWT? Currently there’s several charging stations popping up around Yellowknife, but plans to put stations along the Dempster have yet to come into motion. In spite of this, as the Inuvik Drum previously reported, an individual was able to drive his Tesla electric car from California to Tuktoyaktuk and back, so it’s clear the technology is up to the task.
Canada needs to double-down on its green energy projects like the Inuvik wind turbine.