{"id":61936,"date":"2024-01-31T11:34:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energi.media\/?p=61936"},"modified":"2024-01-31T11:34:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T19:34:23","slug":"how-a-turn-it-off-approach-to-energy-conservation-could-benefit-canada-and-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energi.media\/news\/how-a-turn-it-off-approach-to-energy-conservation-could-benefit-canada-and-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"How a \u2018turn it off\u2019 approach to energy conservation could benefit Canada, and the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was published by The Conversation<\/a> on Jan. 30, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n

By Jennifer Ellen Good<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The challenge for climate change communicators a couple of decades ago was conveying what the research was showing: that the burning of fossil fuels was altering the planet\u2019s climate. That communication played a vital role in facilitating the current widespread understanding that the climate is changing and it is a crisis.<\/p>\n

There remains, however, a fundamental communication challenge in moving the focus from consuming different kinds of energy to facilitating a revolution of consuming less. Recent electrical grid events in Alberta offer a compelling case study.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 13, 2024, extreme cold hit Alberta \u2014 the coldest in half a century<\/a>. As people turned up their thermostats to stay warm, Alberta\u2019s power grid was put under immense strain. To avoid taking pressure off the electrical grid with rolling blackouts (rotating half an hour power outages throughout Alberta), the\u00a0Alberta Emergency Management Agency sent an alert to all Albertans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This unprecedented use of the emergency system, the first of what would be four alerts, asked Albertans\u00a0to turn off unnecessary electricity \u2014 lights, electrical appliances and devices \u2014 and use \u201cessentials only.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Albertans responded.\u00a0Within minutes of the initial emergency alert being issued, demand on Alberta\u2019s power grid decreased by 150 megawatts and continued to fall<\/a>.\u00a0Alberta has an estimated generative capacity of around 16,330 megawatts.<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Because many people and some businesses voluntarily switched off appliances and other electrical devices that were not needed, there was no need for the rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n

Switching off<\/h3>\n

The brief experience of turning off highlighted a couple of things. First, that people are willing to change behaviours when asked. Second, the behaviour change, for some, was positive. As one Albertan\u00a0posted on Reddit<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids made a game out of it. Showered with a candle in the bathroom, we had one small light to read books, ALL the lights off in and outside the house, no TV obviously.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another poster on the same Reddit thread offered that their 10-year-old excitedly asked that all the lights and TV be turned off and added: \u201cIt looks like the alert does work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath,\u00a0the news has focused on critiques of Alberta\u2019s current energy generation and how to facilitate growing energy output in the future as fossil-fuels continue to be phased out<\/a>. Politicians and experts wondered how the grid could be more robust and fail-safe so that there is no need to ask people to turn things off.<\/p>\n

Critiques of solar and wind were also quickly offered<\/a>\u00a0as were the benefits of new power generation such as\u00a0Alberta\u2019s Cascade Power Project \u2014 a 900 megawatt natural gas-fired plant<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and\u00a0increased energy generation flexibility<\/a>.<\/p>\n