So, we decided the future is solar

 It's solar or bust for the human race.

It's true, when the infrastructure falls into place, and you're at a latitude advantageous for production of solar electricity.

Equally, the invention of batteries, and the evolution of solar energy gathering technology, it may only take minutes a day in cloudy conditions to create the kind of power we use daily in our industrial and domestic lives.

You could probably expect a paint on an automobile to turn both sun and warmth into electrical energy to power the car and store in batteries. Batteries will evolve into something beyond recognition. The whole world could be done over, and will be. Because you're right. The power of the sun makes oil look like a fart in the wind.

It's important to recognize limits on petroleum energy, because it may indeed be a supply that could go on forever, who knows? 

The problem is basic. It takes a large concentration of energy simply to distribute petroleum, and if the demand for this form of energy is increasing, the infrastructure also needs to expand, which means the tankers need to be bigger, and sail more frequently, and the storage facilities need to be larger, and the pipelines need to expand, and the gas lines to the houses, and the gas stations for the increasing number of cars, and trucks, and trains.  

In short, it becomes ungainly to deliver this form of energy, to be honest, plus, you build it, then, run out of oil. What a mess that's going to be. And you haven't replaced it. Which was supposed to happen in about 1975.

The actual projections for running out of oil stands at 50 years from now. That's also a blink and you're there.

Check out our latest pod with @JessePeltan, which is just 3 hrs straight of him dropping bangers like the one below pic.twitter.com/y6BbDykKXe

— DER Task Force (@DER_Task_Force) May 6, 2025

Quebecois live on Alberta Petroleum

Notice the flow of oil from Alberta to Quebec. Used to be Quebec obtained a vast amount of its oil by shipments from tankers. They bought Saudi and Nigerian and Venezuelan. Not any more. Quebec now buys exclusively from Alberta shipped to Montreal from Michigan.  This is important to weigh in discussions because it means Quebec is now married to Alberta for energy security but no one acknowledges this.

In a united Canada this would be standard operating procedure for Alberta to conduct commercial enterprise with Quebec. If the nation was governed by national interests instead of regional interests Alberta wouldn't feel separated from the proceedings of running the country and prospering in it.

https://t.co/E492GRRPIK The Oil In Quebec Comes From Alberta.

— Citizen X (@MackMcColl222) May 4, 2025

Canadian wood fuel is powering European cities

The time is now for things to change in forestry in B.C. and across Canada, said John Swaan, Wood Pellet Association of Canada's executive director. The industry faces many challenges, and among them an excess of deteriorating wood fibre that is growing in value, depending on the outcome of research and development in the use of bio-mass for energy.

"Access to sawmill residue is hard to find," said John. "The sawmill residue is being totally utilized. Meanwhile non-commercial grade fibre is abundant in the B.C. forests and elsewhere," due to existing forestry practices. The problem for wood pellet manufacture is that to harvest debris would cause a five-fold increase in the cost of fibre used in wood pellet manufacture because sawmill residue has been the cost-efficient commodity to make wood pellets to this date.

Nevertheless, "The forest floor holds the future of economic development," said John. In terms of bio-energy, untold mega-watts of electricity are being slashed and piled and burnt in North America's forests, a situation that becomes practically macabre when the deterioration of mountain pine beetle factors into the equation. In that disaster lies an opportunity, and the members of the association are poised to develop a new economic sector.

 People like John Swaan are impacted by the current state of B.C. forests because they are close witnesses to the situation. "I have made many trips through the B.C. Interior looking at forests that I was involved doing the replanting of lodgepole pine, and those trees of 30 years ago are dead." John doesn't mind saying the Ministry of Forests in B.C. remains bent on placating licensees and that is a perpetual reality in North American forestry, companies rule the forests. Things may be changing, however, and Swaan said First Nations are major partners in accessing volume of fibre required to the bio-mass/energy production equation, whatever form it ends up taking.

"We need to reclaim and remediate forests and First Nations are front-line advocates of the process. We have to deal with big changes in forests because of 50 years of fire suppression in forestry management." Fire is an ecological player that has played a reduced role, and it is a major part of the way forests have evolved. Meanwhile, the market for wood-generated energy is expanding, "Wood is displacing coal in Europe," said John. "In one Belgian city one of our members started shipping 120,000 tonnes of wood pellet annually to replace 80,000 tonnes of coal." Cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK are switching from coal fuel to wood. Canada is the source of their wood-energy.

The wood pellet industry runs on a shoe string, according to Len Fox, General Manager, Premium Pellet, in Vanderhoof, B.C., "It's difficult to make money. Our fibre costs are high and our profit margins are tight." Even so, Premium Pellet is filling orders as usual in Europe, and increasingly more often in North America. The area of operation for Premium Pellet is northern B.C., which puts Premium Pellet in close liaison with First Nations throughout the territory and they work exceptionally closely with Saikuz First Nation.

"Six of our 15 employees are First Nation and one of them is about to become certified as a millwright," said Len who grew up in Telkwa, B.C., a historical village of 1,400 located on the Bulkley and Telkwa Rivers. This is a completely integrated community of Babine First Nation people living with those of non-Native descent.

The business is export-driven and viability depends on watching costs, "We're the tail wagging the dog at this end of the industry. We are affected whenever CN Rail puts up their rates or truckers put up their rates. On the other hand we're pretty comfortable in our operations right now. We have an affordable supply of fibre and good relations all around."

 The Premium Pellet is a subsidiary of L&M Lumber Ltd. and Nechako Lumber Co Ltd. "L&M has agreements to employ Saik'uz First Nation (Stoney Creek) people in their harvest and other operations," said Len. Saik'uz is located 9km south-east of Vanderhoof on Kenney Dam road.