sust-mar: FW: PERSPECTIVE - Okalik on Nunavut Energy (fwd)

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003 22:01:41 -0300 (ADT)
From: Paul A Falvo <pfalvo@chebucto.ns.ca>
To: Sustainable Maritimes <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
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____________________________________________________________________________
This from Ecology North:
--------


1. Breaking Nunavut's oil addiction

Environmental damage of fossil fuel use has a direct impact on Arctic
ecosystem

By Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik

IQALUIT, NUNVUT--The wise use of resources has long been a trademark of
Inuit. Inuit hunters have always harvested animals in order to sustain
their families. The meat is used for food, while by-products of the
animals are used for clothing, tools, shelter, heat and light. The oil
from marine mammals provided the precious fuel to power the qulliq, the
soapstone lamp used for cooking and illumination. 

Unfortunately, the use of oil of another kind today stands in stark
contrast to the careful practices of Nunavut's past. Fossil fuels are
being imported to power almost all of Nunavut's electrical, heating and
transportation needs. Up to one-fifth of Nunavut's budget is used each
year for fossil-fuel use. These energy costs drive up our living expenses
and constrain economic development in Nunavut. 

Environmental damage created by the greenhouse gas emissions of fossil
fuel use has a direct impact on the Arctic ecosystem. Nunavut must reduce
its consumption through conservation and efficiency, just as it must turn
to cleaner energy sources. We have created the Qulliq Energy Corporation
to pursue these goals. 

Currently, diesel generators produce nearly all of Nunavut's electricity. 
The wastage in converting diesel fuel to electricity is significant.  Even
with the best-maintained equipment, close to two-thirds of the energy is
lost as heat escapes in the exhaust and engine cooling systems. An
inefficient system and Nunavut's extreme climate and vast distances has
resulted in the territory producing one of the highest per capita rates of
greenhouse gas emissions in Canada; more than 27 tonnes per person
annually. 

However, we can break our oil addiction. Nunavut has the natural energy
sources that can be harnessed -- like wind, solar and tidal power -- or
developed over the long-term, like hydro-electricity and hydrogen.  Even
our wastes, if incinerated would produce heat that could be utilized in
residential and commercial buildings. 

Where we have the capacity, Nunavut will move ahead with these alternate
energy sources. We are also trying to work cooperatively with the federal
government. Nunavut was an early and strong supporter of the Kyoto Accord
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are now looking to the federal
government for assistance so that we can contribute our share to this
national and international effort. 

One of the quickest and most effective ways to address energy consumption
issues is through conservation. This means public dollars to retrofit
public buildings. In Nunavut, we are already assisting private homeowners
with energy efficiency upgrades and we are now looking to the federal
government for national leadership on this issue. A strong federal
presence in the field of conservation, efficiency and alternate energy
development would allow Nunavut to pursue territorial opportunities. 

A number of Nunavut communities have winds that can be harnessed to
replace much of the diesel-generated electricity. Nunavut communities have
been experimenting with wind power generation systems since the 1980s. 
Small-scale single turbine installations attempted to develop wind power
in the communities of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Igloolik and Rankin Inlet. 
However, these systems used older, European technology that did not stand
up to Arctic conditions. There is new technology on the market and
opportunities to create made-in-Canada technology that could meet our
needs and open foreign markets. 

A pre-feasibility study has been completed that explores the possibility
of a hydroelectric transmission line that would connect Churchill,
Manitoba with central Nunavut. There is also the potential for a reverse
flow of as yet untapped hydroelectric potential from within Nunavut. 

Solar power is another nascent energy source that we are only just
beginning to exploit in Nunavut. There are industrial solar collectors
being employed in some of our schools but more work remains to be done to
determine how well this system functions in Arctic conditions. 

Along with other untapped potential in bio-mass and heat recovery systems
there is a world of opportunity in the North. Rather than being a
contributor of greenhouse gases Nunavut wants to partner with our federal
colleagues to use our internationally unique setting to pioneer leading
edge energy solutions in cold weather climates. 

For Inuit, the need to get on with developing more environmentally
friendly energy systems is more than just an academic pursuit or a
business opportunity. Failure to do so threatens our existence. Our polar
bears, the very symbol of Nunavut may be extinct by the middle of this
century, not because of hunting pressures, but because of climate change.
The sea ice that is their winter home is disappearing, unable to reach
their seal prey polar bears risk starving to death. Who amongst us will
admit to our grandchildren that the polar bear became extinct on our
watch? And the polar bear is but the largest example of our "canary in a
coal mine." There are other indicators of serious environmental changes
occurring around us.  Southern insects and birds, unknown by Inuit just a
generation ago, are now being spotted regularly in the Arctic. By
referencing our traditional knowledge, passed on through thousands of
years of life in the arctic, and as recorded by modern climatologists with
their soil and snow samples, the change and the threat to our environment
and all its inhabitants are irrefutable. 

Today, as in the past, we have an abiding obligation to use the land's
resources wisely.

Paul Okalik is premier of Nunavut.
The Hill Times
© May 26, 2003 The Hill Times


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