Promoting a greener Sask.

On the heels of Saskatchewan’s environmental “laggard” label by the David Suzuki Foundation, an environmental expert will be in Regina on Saturday night to talk about a potential Green Energy Project for the province, and promoting renewable energy use.

Mark Bigland-pritchard, an academic and director of Low Energy Design in Saskatoon, says Saskatchewan is years behind other parts of the world when it comes to renewable energy.

“I think in North America, part of the problem is the fossil fuel industry is much more powerful than in Europe and their lobbyists are very effective, and so a lot of people here don’t get to see what’s possible with renewable energy,” he said.

“(Renewable energy) will never be a boom industry in the same way as oil or gas, because it’s steady and sustainable, but establishing these renewable energy sources would secure long-term jobs in the community.”

Bigland-pritchard argues establishing local, renewable energy sources means people would not have to commute to remote oil or gas fields to make a living.

“For a long time in Scotland, for example, the boom town was Aberdeen, because of the oilfields in the North Sea that are now past maximum production,” he said.

“In Scotland there’s a massive push to develop wind power ... it means a lot of people have secure stable jobs at home through wind farms in their own community.”

Denmark is aiming for 100 per cent renewable energy use by 2035. There farmers used a co-operative approach to establish wind farms.

“Denmark, in the 1980s, made a strategic decision not to go nuclear and, instead, decided to use their massive wind resource to lead the world in that technology, and they’ve achieved it,” he said.

In Saskatchewan, BiglandPritchard says wind power and, to a lesser extent, hydro projects in the north, would develop a greener, more sustainable approach to energy production.

“Once the price comes down on solar panels, that would also form a large part of it,” he said.

“At the moment it’s a matter of people (using solar power) because it’s a good idea, not because it’s price effective. But the price ... is coming down so quickly that it will be viable in the next few years.”

While promoting renewable energy is all very well, Bigland-pritchard emphasized the need to combine technologies with legislation and government incentives, such as a stable price for energy fed into the grid by renewable sources, utilizing public buildings for solar panels, charging residential and industrial customers the same price for power, and investing in research and development.

“We also need to change the charter of Saskpower so it has to look at renewable sources first,” he said.

“This is something people need to talk about and the seriousness of climate change is something people need to understand.”

Bigland-pritchard will address a public meeting at the Mackenzie Art Gallery at 7 p.m.