Clean energy options are not limited to diesel

Diesel is dead. Electric is the way to go. At least that’s what many would have you think. In fact, by 2035, new-model internal combustion engine cars will no longer be sold in Canada.

This whole topic angers me. After all, emissions controls forced on the trucking industry hastened the end of my time as an owner-operator.

It’s not the change that bothers me. As a company driver I enjoy far less stress, so I am still in the industry. It’s the sheer stupidity of throwing away decades of improvements and fairly clean technology for something that we currently have no capacity to handle.

If you have an internal combustion engine (ICE), it takes five minutes to gas up and go for another 700 kilometers. You can fuel up your boat for hours of pleasure on the lake. You can drive for hours in the wilderness without worrying about getting stranded. You can pick up your phone, made with oil products, and call if you have any issues. You can hop on your electric scooter with all of its plastics, made from oil. You can drink from a plastic cup … with a paper straw.

Now they want to ban ICE. “Fueling” time for electric vehicles will take half an hour to travel half the distance. And after your three-hour charge runs out on your boat, you’ll need to charge it for another hour. That is if the boat can handle all the extra battery weight.

Now factor in the increased costs of oil production to supply much smaller markets. And don’t forget about the rising cost of transportation, thanks to vehicles that are more expensive to buy, and the reduced payloads.

I heard a lady from California on a recent podcast, spouting off that diesels were going to be banned shortly. That we shouldn’t worry about the Class 8 longhaul problems because everything will be addressed. All of this will only require a 30% increase in electric demand. If regulators are quoting 30%, I would bet the real number will be significantly higher than that.

Let that 30% sink in. Power consumption always increases as populations grow. And where does she propose to get 30% more power? She didn’t.

How about hydro-electric power? Cool. Let’s build a new dam. After we do environmental reviews, cut red tape, buy the land, and set up the new grid. (Just kidding. They’ll never allow that in most places.) We did that here in Manitoba and it only took 20 years.

How about nuclear? Nope. Not happening these days, either. It’s the ultimate clean power with a waste residue problem.

Coal? Been there done that. I thought we decided many years ago that it’s bad for the environment as well.

Solar? Great idea but doesn’t contribute much power in many places, and it isn’t practical in northern climates.

How about wind? I wish, but again, it’s not ready. It won’t be ready on time. The windmills have a 20-year lifespan. Then the towers and blades are not even recyclable. What are they made from? Oil products. Don’t tell anyone.

Let’s start here: Capture methane from landfills and sewage plants. Use it in tried and proven ICE vehicles. And ramp up the use of bio fuels. The “waste” byproduct can be (and is currently) fed to animals.

Stop taking garbage to landfills, too. Available technology recycles almost all garbage, provides fertilizer, and powers the grid using the methane that is produced while organics are composting. Yet its hardly used. But biomass fuel burns in ICE vehicles.

Continue on the path of using hydrogen in ICE vehicles, too.

Use electric where it makes sense, especially in pickup-and-delivery applications and warehouse areas.

I don’t hate the idea of electric vehicles. I recently got rid of my gas quad and replaced it with an electric dirt bike. But I hate that this is a bandwagon and we’re being told it’s all good for the environment.

Even if it were, we don’t have the grid to support it, the political will to strengthen the grid, or the capacity to do so without using ICE. The battery technology relies on toxins that make our diesel and oil look harmless.

Stop the insanity. We have scores of great ways to improve and help our environment.