The Energy Challenge

Take The Energy Challenge

The Speakup for Change Energy Challenge is a joint effort by Ascentum and Apathy is Boring to help you think through your position on energy issues, using an "interactive choicebook" built on the Facebook platform. (If you haven't taken the challenge yet, it's here).

The Globe and Mail's Policy Wiki is a similar attempt to broaden the discourse around public-policy decisions, so we have partnered with Asentum and Apathy is Boring to set up this part of the wiki as a place where you can start an essay topic about the energy issue or continue the discussion around the issues raised in The Energy Challenge.

How do we solve our increasingly urgent energy problems? Should we focus on finding new sources of energy, and if so which ones? Or should we focus on reducing our consumption instead, and if so then what are the best ways of doing this? We need your help to answer these questions.

As with all of our previous wiki policy issues, we've got some expert analysis and resources around the energy crisis and potential solutions, and we also have forums set up for each of the two choices involved: The More Approach and The Less Approach. Feel free to post your thoughts in the forums, in nature essays or use the wiki tools to create a policy proposal you think will help solve some of these issues.

At the end of this process, Ascentum and Apathy is Boring will collect your contributions and present them to government, public-policy groups and media outlets looking at issues around energy conservation.

The Issue

Sooner or later, countries like ours need to make choices when it comes to our use of energy. Environmental impacts, high prices, and sustainable energy sources are all parts of this challenging issue. There are some tough decisions to be made. Yes, there are choices we can make as individuals. But, beyond that, there are decisions that must be made that affect us all.

This is our chance

What if you could decide? What would you choose? An issue as important as this can’t be left to politicians or “experts”. People like you need to have your views represented. This is your chance.

Where we are today

We have an addiction to energy. When you think about it, it is not that much of a stretch. We depend upon energy to fuel our cars and buses to get to work and school, to heat our homes, to run our computers, to turn the lights on at night, and so on.

There are a lot of ways that we create energy – some through fossil fuels, others through renewable sources. Our use of energy for transportation and business has increased dramatically. Our needs for power just keep on growing.

Where do we get this energy? Well, much of it comes from oil (31%), hydroelectric power (25%), natural gas (24%), coal (12%), nuclear (7%), and other renewable sources (1%).

Electricity

One of our biggest challenges is our use of electricity. We have gotten better with some things, like more efficient fridges and stoves, hybrid cars, and other new technologies are also encouraging.

Much energy is used to make enough electricity for our homes, schools, and businesses.

In Canada, hydro generates over half of our electricity. Coal and nuclear are the other two major sources of electricity, followed by natural gas and fuel oil. A small percentage of our electricity is generated by other sources, such as biomass, solar energy and wind generators.

All of these sources of energy have benefits and challenges in how they are used.

Facts on emissions

Climate change is considered by many scientists to be the most serious threat facing the world today. We know that burning fossil fuels produces greenhouse gas emissions which fuels climate change.

So where are all these greenhouse gas emissions coming from? They are emitted by transportation (26%), oil, gas and coal industries (21%), electricity and heat production (16%), agriculture (9%), industrial processes (8%), residential (6%), commercial and institutional (5%), waste (3%), and other sources (7%).





Our energy demands are:

• Not sustainable
• Cannot be met with current supply
• Using limited or “non-renewable” sources
• Having a negative impact on our climate

Our innovation and technological advances have:

• Made improvements in efficiency
• Created new energy sources
• Cannot meet our current or projected energy needs based on today’s technologies

Which do you think is the best solution — The More Approach or The Less Approach?

Have your say in the forums, or create your own policy proposal using the wiki tools.