Albertans appear ready for more investment in alternative and renewable energy.
A Leger poll conducted for Postmedia showed 47 per cent of respondents from across the province approved of investment to help grow and diversify the economy, far surpassing any of the dozen other options.
“It’s more of an evolution than a shift,” Ian Large, executive vice-president for Western Canada for Leger, said in an interview with Postmedia on Tuesday. “More and more we’re hearing about renewable energy and alternative energy as options, and we’re learning in Alberta that we’re actually quite good at this.”
People were asked to list three sectors they wanted to see investment in — the next closest on the list for investment was agriculture and health sciences, both at 22 per cent.
The poll received 1,294 responses.
Trevor Tombe, a professor of economics at the University of Calgary, said the idea of diversifying from oil and gas tends to gain in popularity when the price of oil is down.
He said the province has taken big steps in recent years to diversify its energy source, pointing to wind farms, which are on pace to produce more energy in Alberta next year than coal.
The province also continues to push forward on other initiatives, such as solar and geothermal projects.
“We have much more of a diversified electricity mix . . . and we will probably see that continue,” said Tombe. “Not because of government policy as much as just technological change in solar and wind, and us having a comparative advantage in both of those — that’s a natural evolution in that sector.”
He said the biggest challenge in diversification will be market access and who we send our energy to, and the regulatory challenges involved.
The bigger split in public perception came on whether the oil and gas industry is doing enough to combat climate change, with 41 per cent saying it is and 39 per cent saying it is not.
This comes despite advancements in production efficiencies for oil and gas, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen fuels.
“The perception among other Canadians is you drive up the highway and it’s just those pumpjacks doing their thing, and it’s oil and gas and gas flares,” said Large. “The imagery that Canadians are exposed to about energy in Alberta is not big wind farms and solar farms, it’s the tailings ponds and oilsands. There’s an opportunity for Alberta and the Alberta government to speak more forcefully about where Alberta is investing in these things.”
One of the big issues, the poll indicated, is when Albertans feel they are being dictated to rather than being included in the discussion about practical ways to improve their carbon footprint.
Forty per cent of those polled said agreements made at the recent COP26 climate change conference in Scotland would have a negative effect on Alberta, while only 15 per cent said it would have a positive effect. Premier Jason Kenney charges that the agreements, brokered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were made without proper consultation with the provinces or industry.
The Business Council of Alberta (BCA) this summer began working on an across-the-board study called Define the Decade that could help chart the direction of energy and the operation of the province for the next 10 years. Central to this study is the energy sector, which includes oil and gas and its future role.
In recent years, oil and gas companies have made themselves more resilient by streamlining operations, which will allow them to hit higher or similar revenue levels without as much production. Meanwhile, recent reports show the industry could introduce up to 30 per cent more automation to improve the environmental and cost end of production.
Alicia Planincic, an economist with the BCA, pointed to projects such as the Oil Sands Pathway to Net Zero as being on the front lines of this effort.
“I think it’s just about how do we more systematically and through a policy perspective . . . build on the momentum that is already happening in a way that really moves the dial, and in a way that’s going to have the biggest impact for Albertans and ultimately the world,” she said, “so that we can not just do well in this space but truly lead in this space.”
CEOs from all sectors of industry, including oil and gas, as well as a panel of advisers from across Alberta are combining on the project. The first of four reports were released in the past week and looks at Alberta’s current position.
Key to this transition will be the educational component to focus on developing new and emerging technologies.
Twitter: @JoshAldrich03
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