MEDICINE HAT, AB. – A surprising solution to climate change was brought up on Thursday night.
Medicine Hat College hosted a speaker series titled “Climate Change and the Future of Energy.”
The general public was able to ask questions of Dr. Richard Muller, a physicist with the University of California-Berkeley and acclaimed author of Energy for Future Presidents. He explained his research shows emissions need to be decreased across the globe and not just in North America.
“Unfortunately even if we (North America) went away, global warming would continue at a rapid rate due to the economic growth of China, India and the developing world,” he said.
Although North America is moving away from polluting energy sources like coal, Muller said the developing world is not.
“Anything we do has to be something that can afford to adopt,” he said. “If we subsidize electric cars it doesn’t help, electric cars remain so expensive.”
Muller said natural gas could be a possible solution for developing countries as a less polluting fuel source.
“China has 4,400 people dying every day from air pollution,” he said. “When you send natural gas to China, you are saving lives.”
Drew Barnes, MLA for Cypress- Medicine Hat said he viewed all this information as being very positive for Alberta.
“This could not only be profitable for us but it can also be great for helping them reduce their pollution,” he said.
Barnes explained getting the liquefied natural gas to the coast of British Columbia via a pipeline from Alberta is vital.
“Some of the things we do on a daily basis are no where near significant (compared) to if we can get our liquefied natural gas to Asia,” he said. “That would help tremendously with pollution and potentially global warming.”
Barnes said he wants to bring this new information to the legislature and hopes it can help push pipeline development forward.
