Canada:

Why Geothermal Deserves Its Moment in the Sun (Clean Energy Canada)

by Alison Thompson, Chair Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA)

(Courtesy CIA.gov)

Though wind and solar tend to get all the attention, Canada has a rock-steady renewable energy and heat resource that at the moment remains the realm of pure untapped potential.

Here’s what’s on offer if we decide to change that:

• Firm, or “base load,” renewable power—that doesn’t rise and fall with the wind and sun— sufficient to power roughly five million Canadian homes and heat 750,000 homes.
• Enough clean energy to prevent the release of about 25 million tonnes of carbon pollution each year—equivalent to the annual emissions of all of Alberta’s coal-powered power plants.
• Some 9,000 full-time jobs—three times the number of paychecks created by Canada’s offshore oil industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Relief for remote northern and First Nations communities that struggle with soaring power, heat and food costs.

Geothermal energy provides all of these benefits—plus the smallest environmental footprint of any electricity and heat source, period.

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