canada's energy superpower status threatened as world shifts off fossil fuel, federal think-tank warns - electrical energy storage systems

It was originally published in May 30.
According to a draft report from the federal government, Canada's status as an "energy superpower" is threatened because the global dominance of fossil fuels may decline faster than previously thought.
CBC News got tanks
"It is increasingly possible to foresee a future in which cheap renewable power becomes the main energy source in the world and fossil fuels are downgraded to a minority," 32-
Page file produced by Canadian policy horizon.
Read the full report here: PDF linkThe little-
Well-known government agencies
Provide long-term policy advice to federal bureaucracy to specifically predict the next ten or twenty years.
With fossil fuel prices falling, Alberta's resource income has fallen sharply, and why green energy is thriving: don PittisHow Middle East geopolitics and religion influence Alberta's future. This document was obtained by CBC news on request for access to information and shared with the two experts --
One in Alberta and one in BC.
People who study the energy industry
Both experts say their forecasts for the global energy market are more or less in line with what more analysts believe.
"It's definitely not a pie in the sky," said Michal Moore of the University of Calgary School of Public Policy . ".
"These people are real --
They may not be welcome, but they are realistic.
Marty Reid, CEO of Evok innovationa Vancouver-
Clean technology fund created through $100
Millions of partnerships with Cenovus and Suncor
After reading the draft report, there are similar views. "You could nit-
"Choose a few projects," he said . ".
"But at a very high level, I would say that the vast majority of what they write is not even controversial, which is very accepted.
"In long-
Given the ten-year or more time frame predicted by the report, its language is heavily expressed in "ifs" and "coshould.
"However, its overall conclusion urges caution over a long period of time
Long-term investment in pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructure.
The company has warned that the investments "have the potential to become economically infeasible as prices for renewable energy fall further ".
"At the very least, this seemingly reasonable future will show that the risk of the government ensuring further investment in oil and gas infrastructure is borne by private interests rather than taxpayers," the report wrote . ".
At the heart of the report's forecast is an increasing number of indicators showing the growth of world electricity demand --
Especially renewable.
Based on Power
It will exceed other types of energy, and its production and storage costs will decline faster than previously thought.
This demand is expected to be largely driven by the emerging and rapidly urbanizing middle class in developing countries.
The report notes that the advantages of wind and solar systems are "highly scalable and distributable", which makes them attractive to communities of almost any size, whether or not there is an existing grid.
So emerging economies in Latin America and Africa may take a different path from the West.
"In a relatively short period of time, renewable energy is directly used as the main energy source.
"Although any country may lack the best conditions for each renewable power, the report said:" All countries may have at least one or more options to generate electricity from renewable sources, the cost is relative or lower than that of fossil fuels. ".
In some parts of the world, this trend has begun, Reid said.
"We have just seen Saudi Arabia award an important solar contract for 3 cents per kilowatt hour.
"We just saw Mexico do the same thing for 5 cents per kilowatt hour," he said . ".
"You can't bring in new coal plants or gas plants at this price.
You must not be able to build a new website at this price.
The report said, "Electric vehicles have become 'completely competitive 'batteries and other forms of energy storage technology have also become cheaper and more capable, making electricity a more versatile option for residential and commercial use --
And transportation.
Reports say Tesla has been producing lithium
The price of ion batteries for cars and homes is about $300 per kilowatt hour, the price point previously predicted by the International Energy Agency, which was not possible until 2020.
"Battery manufacturers in Asia are building battery plants on a scale similar to Tesla's gigabit plant, which will double its battery production by 2020," the report continued . ".
"It is expected that by 2020 these economies of scale will further reduce the cost of batteries to $150 per kWh.
At this price point, electric vehicles will compete completely with internal combustion engines.
According to Reid, from his advantage, the changes in the car market have become obvious, and the pace of change will only accelerate.
"You will see automakers investing hundreds of millions of dollars in electric vehicles," he said . ".
"Chevrolet Bolt came out this year and it has 200-mile [320 km]
The price is below $40,000.
Tesla is number one.
Luxury cars are now being sold all over the world.
This is happening. "Challenges —
And innovation
Moore's criticism of the report is a "huge story," which he calls a tendency to "mask" the challenges that still exist in large-scale renewable energy.
"They just think that the more renewable energy you build, the more people you use, the more fossil fuels we have offline, and we'll all be better off --
"It doesn't work," said Professor C's U . ".
"Renewable technology is not a substitute for fossil technology --to-one.
"Due to the intermittent output of solar panels and wind turbines, a major shift to renewable energy requires" huge storage technology ", which increases the cost and feasibility of such a change," Moore said.
However, Reid said there are many ways to solve this problem, and the solution is not just to make better batteries.
Drake Landin: a ray of sun's thermal energy "of course you need an energy --
If you want to have a car but you don't actually need energy for the power grid to be electrified
"The battery is very dense," he said.
"What you need is low
Cost energy storage systems that meet the needs of any system you are trying to build.
He pointed out that as a recent example, advanced railway energy storage (ARES)
Projects are currently under way in Nevada.
When the battery uses chemicals to store energy, Ares uses gravity.
The idea includes a rail network built on a level.
There was a train on the track full of rocks and gravel.
These cars have electric motors and are connected to a power grid powered by wind turbines and solar panels.
When the power grid is over, the train compartment will travel along the track.
When solar and wind energy output is reduced, cars roll down from the mountains, and their motors act as generators and replenish the power output.
"It's very simple, it's cheap and meets the demand," Reid said of the technology . ".
According to this report, oil may lose its "commodity status", all of which will not lead to the end of fossil fuels, but it does recommend that Canada reconsider the value and applicability of its natural resources, because "demand for oil may peak and fall faster than expected.
"The report argues that a more extreme situation is that the supply of fossil fuels has exceeded demand for a long time," the author said, this could lead to the loss of "commodity status" for oil, coal and gas ".
"Not the price --
Consumer countries can get prices from suppliers
"As suppliers adjust prices to maintain a shrinking and more discriminatory market share, manufacturers of different sources of oil," the report notes . ".
"The carbon reflected in fuel production may be the first widely used discrimination device.
"In other words, fossil fuels that generate more greenhouse gases during mining may get lower prices as buyers are willing to pay a premium for lower pricesEmission grade.
This is not credible in Moore's and Reid's reports.
"I think it's a bit far-fetched," Reid said . ".
"I don't see any evidence to support the view that environmental standards can make a difference.
This is not the case with consumer behavior itself.
Moore said he did not see "it will happen soon" because there is no market mechanism to link these attributes to fossil fuels.
New minerals with strategic value agree to the report's forecast that oil will begin to be replaced by higher-value natural resources.
Includes rare earth, rare earth metals and other key minerals needed to produce batteries, photovoltaic cells and motors.
Canada lacks such minerals, while Bolivia, Argentina and Chile have some of the largest lithium reserves, with China and Brazil accounting for nearly 60 of known reserves, the document noted.
The report even warned of the possibility of new cartels that could manipulate the market prices of these valuable minerals.
"You might see some pretty big battles about rare earths," Moore said . " He pointed out that Canada may not have found its own rare earth reserves yet.
While the relative value of oil as an energy source may be reduced, the report acknowledges that oil "remains an important part of the global energy mix, at least in the near future.
It says "some oil may stay underground", but there are still opportunities for Canada to source and sell oil from the oil sands, even in extreme cases where the market divides oil into grades based on its relative carbon footprint.
Actual greenhouse
The report notes that the production of natural gas from some Canadian oil resources is "below international reputation", which makes its viability as important as technology.
Whatever happens to the energy sector, Reid expects oil demand to remain for other purposes. "Non-
"The use of oil for transportation is growing rapidly," he said . " He noted that Alberta may be particularly capable of expanding the production of oil-derived specialty agricultural chemicals.
Everything from asphalt to plastic to paraffin will guarantee a certain market for oil in the coming decades, Moore said.
"For a long time to come, we need hydrocarbons --
Not necessarily the main source of fuel.