1676624782 No need for new dams in Quebec

No need for new dams in Quebec

Talking about building hydroelectric dams to meet our needs shows the Legault government’s lack of vision on the energy transition, one expert believes.

Pierre-Olivier Pineau, director of the Chair in Energy Sector Management at HEC Montreal, hopes his book Energy Balance, out today, will help politicians come up with a better plan.

“Our leaders are not experts on climate change or energy,” explains Mr. Pineau, one of Quebec’s most sought-after professionals in the field.

“These are people who are elected with specific ideas and who don’t have the technical knowledge and don’t necessarily listen to what their officials say. »

For example, regarding the hydroelectric dams proposed by Prime Minister François Legault during the election campaign, Mr Pineau tells us: “It was really ignorance that had a platform and didn’t understand that there was no real opportunity for dams in Quebec in the short term. »

According to him, the cost of these dams will be too high and they should be built in contested locations.

Without energy sobriety, we cannot justify plundering rivers, he says.

“It is unfortunate that the lack of a plan […] made him put that in the public square,” Mr Pineau continues of Mr Legault.

confusion

The expert is also critical of Energy Secretary Pierre Fitzgibbon, who mentioned adjusting hydroelectric tariffs in residential areas during peak periods and suggested that Quebec residents wash the dishes at midnight, which he linked to sobriety. However, Mr Legault was quick to close that door, at least in the short term.

Mr. Pineau attributes this to a lack of vision at the CAQ. “There aren’t any [de vision], he said. Sobriety isn’t about starting the dishwasher at midnight, it doesn’t reduce consumption in any way, it moves it,” he says, before specifying that he favors a more flexible consumption system.

Change your habits

But energy sobriety must lead to a reduction in our consumption, he stresses.

According to him, various solutions to achieve our energy transition include making polluters pay more, adjusting hydroelectric tariffs by cutting subsidies and rebates for industry and Quebecers, better insulating our homes and stopping building bigger and bigger houses, and Buy SUVs.

Electric vehicles are not a solution

The Legault government is on the wrong track by focusing mainly on transport electrification as the main answer to our greenhouse gas (GHG) problems, believes Professor Pierre-Olivier Pineau.

No need for new dams in Quebec

Photo Stevens LeBlanc

Francois Legault
prime minister

“Not adding electric vehicles should be the priority of our societies, but reducing the number of vehicles,” he writes in his book Energy Balance.

electric cars [VÉ] will facilitate urban sprawl, contributing to the destruction of ecosystems and creating additional energy needs for infrastructure, Mr Pineau said.

The expert points out that all taxpayers pay for the expansion of the road network. “It’s a big scam because we collectivize all these costs [des routes] without being aware of the effects […] when we should rather limit our transport and limit our occupation of the territory, ”he believes.

tolls and taxes

In particular, the government should expand rail transport and impose restrictions on motorists, he believes. He mentions tolls or a kilometer tax where the driver pays according to the kilometers driven.

“Users use far too much of what is free, and this explains the problems of proliferation and proliferation of polluting vehicles very well,” he writes.

The electrification of heavy trucks will also be very difficult to achieve on a large scale. In addition, electric vehicle materials will increase our demand for steel, aluminum, cobalt, nickel and lithium, and their production and extraction will be a significant source of greenhouse gases.

political bravery

But to impose restrictions and make the energy transition a success requires political courage.

“And in an election campaign, it doesn’t pay off,” said Mr. Pineau. So people like me who write books have to try to explain that these restrictions are not there to bully people and that if we don’t address them now, we will pay a much higher price in the future. »

Among the largest consumers

Quebec “is the top region of the world with the largest share of renewable energy” (46%). However, our per capita energy consumption is four times higher than the world average and even China’s per capita consumption. Winter doesn’t explain everything as Norway uses 27% less energy per person than we do.

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