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Manitoba labelled an energy winner

Hydro will cushion shift from oil: author

By: Lindsey Wiebe

19/04/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

SOME regions will lose out in the energy shift sparked by diminishing oil reserves and the threat of climate change, but hydro-rich Manitoba likely isn't one of them.That's the verdict from Toronto environmental author Thomas Homer-Dixon, scheduled to speak in Winnipeg tonight in support of his latest book, Carbon Shift.

"There are going to be winners and losers in this changing world, and Manitoba is probably going to be well-situated," he said.

The Governor General's Award-winning author of The Ingenuity Gap and The Upside of Down will give a free public lecture tonight at the University of Winnipeg, a visit hosted by the U of W's Global College and the Sierra Club of Canada's Winnipeg Group.

It marks the first stop on a tour promoting Carbon Shift, a new book edited by Homer-Dixon that includes essays by top economists, environmental experts and journalists. Homer-Dixon said the book focuses on the intersecting problems of climate change and what's often referred to as "peak oil", the point at which oil production maxes out.

"These two issues are actually very intimately entangled," he said. "You can't separate them very effectively. Efforts to solve one often make the other one worse."

Homer-Dixon says the double whammy demands a "carbon shift" towards cleaner energy sources, a change that could be a boon for regions that are ahead in the alternative-energy game.

"This kind of trend that I'm talking about is probably going to benefit Manitoba in a lot of ways as a marketer in relatively clean power," he said.

Homer-Dixon said there are no simple solutions for the world's climate and energy woes, although carbon capture and new energy technologies might play a role. Beyond conventional ideas like boosting energy efficiency, he said there are more radical options, like underground coal gasification, in which underground coal is converted into a gas to be used as a source of energy.

Homer-Dixon holds the Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ont., and is a professor at the University of Waterloo's Centre for Environment and Business.

He's set to speak at 7:30 p.m. at the U of W's Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, 515 Portage Ave.

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 19, 2009 A4

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