Key potential environmental impacts (continued)

Air

Greenhouse gases

Greenhouse gases such as water vapor (the predominant one), carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide contribute to the greenhouse effect, a natural phenomenon that traps heat in the atmosphere. The gases result from natural processes (such as volcanoes, cloud cover, ocean currents and plant respiration) and human activities (such as the burning of fossil fuels and emissions from landfills and agricultural processes).

What is the issue?

Since industrialization, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels have increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. There is active debate in scientific, environmental and policy sectors over the potential of greenhouse gases to enhance the greenhouse effect, forcing the atmosphere to warm and the climate to change. The increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is one of several factors suspected of playing a role in heating and cooling the atmosphere (changes in the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth may be another).

Some environmentalists and scientists predict that rapid and continued warming of the Earth’s temperature could trigger serious consequences:

• increased temperatures of air and water around the world
• melting glaciers and increased sea levels
• impacts on water resources and availability
• extreme weather events (such as floods and droughts)
• health impacts (such as heat stress and the spread of infectious diseases)
• longer growing seasons in northern climates
• increased vegetation growth

At the same time, there are scientists who theorize that the expected warming is likely to follow a more gradual trend, as it has over the past several thousand years. They point to research showing changing levels of incoming solar radiation and the moderating effects of clouds, particulate matter and water vapor in the atmosphere.

Scientists agree that a great deal more research needs to be done into the enhanced greenhouse gas effect and the Earth’s carbon cycle, including the importance of clouds, the role of oceans in absorbing carbon dioxide and the impacts of natural climate events.

Meanwhile, there is increasing international pressure to slow the rate of man-made greenhouse gases and ultimately to reduce these emissions. In 1997, an international meeting of government representatives adopted the Kyoto Protocol to reduce/limit greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries and countries of the former Soviet Union. The Protocol proposes an overall reduction of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels for greenhouse gases and provides for a complex array of different approaches to be adopted by individual countries to meet their emission reduction targets.

What is industry’s impact?

The electricity industry accounts for about 18 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. Coal-fueled electricity accounts for most of the industry’s emissions (84 per cent), followed by natural gas-fueled generation (nine per cent) and oil-fueled generation (seven per cent). Most of these emissions result from fossil fuels burned to produce heat and steam to drive turbines that generate electricity.

In recent years, the electricity industry has slowed the rate of greenhouse gas emissions growth through new technologies and energy efficiency initiatives. In 2001, the greenhouse gas emission intensity of Canada’s major power companies was 0.92 kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalent per kilowatt-hour, compared with 0.98 kilograms per kilowatt-hour in 1997.

The electricity industry’s carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase in 2010 to about 130 megatonnes, or about 35 per cent above 1990 levels. Growing consumer demand for electricity is a major reason for increased greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA), this demand is expected to grow between one per cent and 1.5 per cent yearly over the next decade and beyond.

What is industry doing?

The industry is using a comprehensive set of strategies to address greenhouse gas emissions:

• efficiency improvements and energy conservation
  The efficient use of electricity contributes to operating savings and helps to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Power companies are improving their energy efficiency through changes in operating practices, by using high efficiency motors, pumps and other types of equipment, and by turning off equipment when it is not required.
  
  
• cleaner fuels
  Many new generation facilities use natural gas or gasified coal. Natural and synthetic gases burn relatively cleanly, producing about 50 per cent to 65 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions of older coal and oil burners.
  
  
• advanced combustion technologies
  Some power companies are retrofitting older generating plants with advanced generation technologies to improve operating and environmental efficiencies. One example is combined-cycle cogeneration. This technology can transform up to 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the energy in natural gas into electricity and useful heat, by capturing waste heat from exhaust gases to produce more electricity. This is compared to traditional simple cycle plants that vent much of their heat through flue gas and cooling water systems and operate at 30 per cent to 40 per cent efficiency.
  
  
• clean coal technologies
  Coal produces more carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy generated than other fossil fuels such as natural gas and oil. However, new coal conversion technologies — integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), fluidized bed combustion, advanced pulverized coal combustion and super-critical and ultra super-critical burners — are operating or being developed. IGCC, one of the most promising technologies, involves using the coal to make hydrogen from water, then burning the hydrogen and capturing the carbon dioxide byproduct for disposal.
  
  These more efficient technologies can be combined with district heating and cogeneration to achieve thermal efficiencies similar to natural gas turbines. When currently available filtration equipment is installed, clean coal plants are expected to bring emissions to near zero. Together, these technological advances could significantly increase the operating efficiency and environmental acceptability of coal-fueled generation.
  
  The Canadian Clean Power Coalition (CCPC), an industry-government partnership, is working to commercially develop clean coal technologies that offer significantly reduced air and greenhouse gas emissions. The CCPC has completed feasibility studies for two clean coal technology demonstration projects, with the first targeted for operation in 2007.
  
  
• renewable and alternative energy
  Renewable and alternative energy provide energy with no or lower greenhouse gas emissions. Power companies have invested in wind energy projects in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Maritimes. Companies are also exploring new alternative energy sources, including the use of methane gas from landfills to generate electricity. In 2001, alternative energy production by major Canadian power companies was 706 gigawatt-hours, compared with 0.4 gigawatt-hours in the previous year.
  
  Currently alternative and renewable energy sources supply less than one per cent of total Canadian electricity demand and remain more expensive than fossil fuel alternatives. While they are growing rapidly and becoming increasingly affordable, they are not expected to provide a significant level of Canadian power for many years.
  
  
• demand-side management
  Demand-side management programs (also known as “energy conservation programs”) encourage customers to use energy more efficiently and invest in energy efficiency products that lower energy bills, delay the need for new electrical generation capacity and reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions. Electric utilities support consumer energy efficiency through various programs: public information campaigns, energy audits of industrial and commercial facilities, rebates for energy-saving technologies and partnerships with businesses and governments.
  
  While offering an useful starting point for encouraging efficient energy use, rising energy demand limits the effectiveness of demand-side management programs. Industry, therefore, is using these programs, with other efficiency and emission reduction initiatives, as part of an overall approach to environmentally benign energy use.
  
  
• greenhouse gas offsets
  Many power companies have adopted greenhouse gas offsets — actions they can take outside their operations to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere — as part of their climate change action plans. Examples of offsets are investments in energy efficiency improvements and projects to capture or dispose of emissions. In Western Canada, industry and researchers are exploring the possibility of capturing carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fueled plants and using it or storing it in geological formations.
  
  
• performance reporting
  Performance reporting helps industry to identify new opportunities to continually improve their environmental performance. Many Canadian power companies produce public environmental reports that document their environmental commitments and their progress to address environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  As members of the Canadian Electricity Association, electric utilities are required to report annually on their greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts as part of the association’s Environmental Commitment and Responsibility (ECR) Program.
  
  Many Canadian power companies also participate in Canada’s Voluntary Challenge and Registry (VCR) Program. The VCR is a private-public partnership that encourages public and private sector organizations to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and report yearly on their progress.