Canadian energy issues can be hard to navigate in the political world without being equipped with a technical background in how energy is generated and used. Hence, this is the first article of a new blog series on Energy Literacy, to bring some engineering knowledge, as well as perspective, to these Canadian energy issues.

From my own personal expenses, to large, costly infrastructure investments, the one question I often ask before evaluating a financial decision is, “But is it worth the costs?” I usually am talking about money when I ask this, but when it comes to energy, I also mean the environmental and social costs.

It’s no surprise that Ontarians generally don’t really like our electricity bills very much, especially when it’s both the Progressive Conservative and New Democratic parties calling for an end to high hydro bills. Given the fairly recent cancellation of the Energy East pipeline, energy policies are a hot topic across the whole country as well. With carbon taxes being implemented, once again, Canadians are asking, “is this worth it?” So now, I ask the question everyone has been asking: “Was it worth it?” – however, this time, from an environmental standpoint.

As an engineering graduate, one thing that disappoints me about environmental discourse is a missing concept from many discussions: well-to-wheel analysis, also known as life cycle assessment. In most people’s eyes, energy sources such as solar and wind have zero emissions in total, and even how replacing every single gasoline car with electric vehicles would save the planet. Just imagine sunny ways literally powering your life! However, it’s just not that simple.

So buckle up, as I take you through a crash course on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and what it means to environmental impact in Canada!

Quite simply, a LCA is an assessment of the environmental impact a product or process will have, from its creation to its eventual disposal. Let’s take solar panels for example. First, raw materials would need to be extracted from the earth, in order for processing of those materials to occur. Then manufacturing processes would need to take place before you can actually use the panels. Even during use, when the panels are sitting pretty and converting light energy into electricity, there will be energy use and emissions from the maintenance involved. All good things must come to an end, hence, the impact from disposing of the panel must also be taken into account. In order to truly benefit from green energy, the dark side of solar energy should be studied first so we can improve the technology and reduce the environmental impact.

LCA Diagram: Credit to SolidWorks

Another one of my favourite examples of how everything is not as it seems with emissions is the environmental impact from electric vehicles. In the transition to electric cars and, well, everything, people seem to get lost in the grandiose idea that electrification is the solution to all our fossil-fueled problems. However, first, we need to consider the energy and materials used to make an electric vehicle in the first place. Then, we also have to think about the toxicity of the batteries and what the waste management process of that would be. Also, can’t forget the need to question how electricity is generated in the first place! For provinces such as Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan, where most electricity is not generated from a clean source such as nuclear or hydro, electric vehicles could actually be contributing more emissions to the environment than just using conventional gasoline to begin with.

Looks like we can’t escape from our demand of fossil fuels, or any energy source that doesn’t leave its mark on the environment, so easily after all.

There are many great resources available on LCA, especially in terms of energy systems. For those interested in a more detailed look, check out these reports from the World Energy Council, as well as Hatch’s LCA on Nuclear, Wind, and Natural Gas Generation and Transport and Environment’s LCA of Electric Vehicles.

To conclude, I’m not saying that we should abandon the pursuit for cleaner energy since it’ll have some form of emissions anyways. There are great technological advancements being made in cleantech and we should absolutely continue along that road! Instead, I’m calling for more attention to be paid to the full environmental impact, so we can choose to invest where we need to. No matter where we decide to get our energy from, there will be consequences for whatever choice we make. Not that we have to return to the same standard of life before the Industrial Revolution, it is critical that decision makers are conscious of decisions related to energy, looking at them from a more pragmatic view rather than knee-jerk reactions.

Disclaimer: Story of a Tory is in no way affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada or any other political party, be it federal or provincial. The views of each author are independent of all other authors.