My name is Aaron and I am not an eco terrorist. However, I didn’t shut off my lights at 8:30pm on Saturday for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the campaign didn’t catch my attention. I don’t watch a lot of TV (a big energy drain) and I don’t read the paper (wasteful from an environmental perspective). I caught dribs and drabs on the radio about Earth Hour but to be frank, the coverage of this three year-old event has been pretty sparse. Second, I wasn’t home during Earth Hour – I was at a restaurant for my friends’ birthday party. I can assure you that they didn’t turn off the hockey game and turn out all the lights for an hour. Third, in my opinion, this campaign is weak sauce when compared to other initiatives out there. Earth Day is a much better, more focused and well messaged event. People actually leave their cars at home on Earth Day and they try to keep the lights off and they use public transit.

There are some real areas to focus on the Climate Change but they’re harder for us as consumers and voters to digest:

1. Agricultural emissions
   

    

   A big source of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) is cow farts. Cow farts are methane (a.k.a. Natural Gas – the same kind that your furnace or cooking range uses). If we stopped maintaining massive herds of grazing cattle, we could cut a large percentage of our GHG emissions globally. Are we ready to do that? It doesn’t seem like it. Giving up meat and dairy products is a non-starter for many people. Instead of turning off the lights for an hour, how about a whole day where we don’t eat meat?
   

2. Power Stations
   

   Power stations in many jurisdictions (not mine, thankfully) are thermal electric systems where natural gas or coal is burned to generate electricity. This is a big area where we could cut our emissions. Many utilities have begun the long road to completely renewable and clean power but there’s a cost – a premium over traditional energy. In many jurisdictions, this translates to between 2 and 5 cents per kWh. There’s a great resource out there where you can see how much the premium for “green” or alternative power is in some US jurisdictions. [READ] Again, I think the general population’s unwillingness to pay a premium for clean power is part of the problem. Sure, there are the few among us who spend the extra money on hybrid cars and buy carbon offset credits but most people just want the most bang for their buck and don’t see the hidden environmental costs.

3. Industrial Processes
   

   This is a really tricky one because most companies could save money long-term by going green but don’t do so because it involves an initial capital outlay with the return on investment coming 5-15 years down the road. Sure, dirty energy and processes aren’t cheap but at the end of the day, they can write off those costs. Capital investments, however, have to be amortized over a number of tax years so it’s a harder decision to go this route.

   I did some work for our local gas company (Terasen) recently where I was reviewing some of their commercial energy assessment programs. A lot of companies like Terasen are trying really hard to incentivize industrial customers to use their gas more efficiently to cut down on emissions. I applaud them for this but these programs still run into resistance because no matter how big a subsidy a company like Terasen offers, if it’s not free, there are some companies that will still balk at it. BC Hydro (our local electric utility and a former employer of mine) has a program where they’ll replace the low-efficiency tube lighting for industrial customers with high-efficiency lighting – many times, for free. Who’s going to say “no” to that?

4. Transportation
   

   Commercial transportation is an area where we could also do a lot more but, again, in a lot of cases the cost of upgrading equipment to maximize efficiency is a capital expenditure for transportation companies and something that isn’t easily absorbed unless than company has large cash reserves. In some cases, like sea shipping, the big efficiency loss is that fact that there is no efficient way to push a million-tonne cargo ship through water. Powered boats are notoriously inefficient. It’s hard to see a way around that. However, if we could decrease wait times and traffic congestion as we move goods and people through our waterways, roads and rail – we might be able to reduce the environmental impact of these activities.