Canadian and global energy sustainability focus of lecture Jan. 25

David Hughes, a respected geoscientist and authority on North American and world fossil-fuel reserves, will be speaking on Canadian and global energy sustainability at Vancouver Island University on Wednesday, Jan 25 at 7 pm.

Hughes says we face an energy sustainability dilemma, which will profoundly impact future generations unless our non-renewable resources are managed for long term sustainability.

In all likelihood, says Hughes, we have passed the peak of global conventional crude oil production and are nearing the peak of all liquid fuels (including non-conventional oil, biofuels and natural gas liquids).

Given that oil is the largest source of energy underpinning industrial society, peak production, followed by decline, will be tremendously significant. There is no magic solution to this problem because unconventional sources of oil cannot be ramped up quickly enough to offset declines from the existing large conventional fields.

“Given the magnitude of the contribution of hydrocarbons to our energy consumption, the peaking of production of fossil fuels has tremendous implications for our modern way of life, unless we move toward more sustainable levels of consumption,” says Hughes.

The concept that renewable forms of energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal and tidal can replace fossil fuels at the current levels of energy use is highly unlikely, given the low energy density and intermittent nature of these sources. A sustainable energy future will require a rethink of the way we use energy and the paradigm of continuous growth that has served us over the past couple of centuries.

Notwithstanding these issues, the current mindset of governments in Ottawa, Alberta and British Columbia is to ramp up production of oil and gas for export as quickly as possible. Recent proposals, including the Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines and the Kitimat LNG export facilities exemplify this policy, which may come back to haunt us in the coming decades as fossil fuel resources grow increasingly scarce.

This presentation entitled The Energy Sustainability Dilemma: Implications for the World and the Paradigm of Continuous Growth focuses on the ‘big picture’ and how the industrialized and developing countries fit into it, as well as what must be considered to assure a more sustainable energy future. The presentation will also touch on both Northern Gateway and the LNG export proposals, and why these don't make sense for long term Canadian energy security.

Hughes’ lecture will be held on Wed. January 25th at 7 pm in Room 109, Building 356 at VIU’s Nanaimo campus, 900 Fifth Street. Everyone is welcome.

For more information contact Steven Earle at the Earth Science Department at VIU (250 -753-3245, ext. 2756), or view a recent article about David Hughes and the Northern Gateway Project in The Tyee: http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/01/12/HughesReport/?utm_source=daily&utm_...

This lecture is part of the VIU Science and Technology Spring Lecture Series. For more information about this and other lectures see: http://web.viu.ca/simmsw/

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Background: Hughes is a geoscientist who has studied energy resources for nearly four decades, including 32 years with the Geological Survey of Canada. He developed the National Coal Inventory to determine the availability and environmental constraints of Canada's coal resources. As Team Leader for Unconventional Gas on the Canadian Gas Potential Committee, he coordinated the publication of a comprehensive assessment of Canada's unconventional natural gas potential. He has studied, published and lectured on global energy and sustainability issues across Canada and internationally. He is a Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and his work has been featured in newspapers, and on radio and television. He is president of Global Sustainability Research Inc, which is dedicated to research on energy and sustainability issues.