I was pleased to discover, and quite recently, that B.C. now gets some of its electricity from BC wind farms. BC was the last province in the country to get wind farms despite having some of the best locations for wind energy in the country. However, I was not nearly as pleased to find out how much electricity is flowing into our homes from coal-fired generators in the United States and Alberta.
I do understand that buying cheap coal power from outside B.C. at night, when demand is low and the supply is high, helps to keep our B.C. electricity rates low (coal-burning plants are apparently difficult to shut down once they are at operating temperature, so they keep them running all the time). But if we’re purchasing coal power just because it’s cheap and available, aren’t we just as guilty of polluting the air as those who burned the coal?
Energy from the wind is clean and free, and it’s not going to leave a big environmental problem for our kids and grandkids to sort out. The same cannot be said for the energy from burning coal. That should make it obvious which energy path we should be pursuing. Wind energy seems like an ideal energy source for B.C. and we’re fortunate to have it as one of our clean-energy options.
Marney Hogan