Is FortisBC misrepresenting the promise of renewable natural gas to block all-electric buildings? (Op-ed)
Published on April 19, 2023Op-ed featured in Canada's National Observer written by Liz McDowell, SAFE Cities Canada Director
The core idea behind so-called “renewable natural gas” is a good one: capture methane pollution that occurs naturally from landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, and agricultural waste and turn it into a usable source of energy. We’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the need to source gas from fracking. It’s a win-win.
Or it would be, if FortisBC, British Columbia’s privately owned “natural” gas utility, wasn’t deceptively using renewable natural gas to lobby for an expansion of gas infrastructure. Climate scientists and health advocates couldn’t be clearer — to protect the climate and our health, we need to be investing in buildings powered by clean electricity, not methane gas.
All across the province, communities are recognizing the risks methane (a.k.a. natural) gas poses to their residents and the climate and taking action. That’s why over a dozen B.C. municipalities, from North Vancouver to Saanich, already have low-carbon construction policies in place, and many more are poised to follow in the next year.
It seems this is unacceptable to FortisBC. In what appears to be a desperate ploy to save its business model, FortisBC lobbyists have spent the last year on a roadshow trying to convince city councils across the province that we can keep using methane gas now and long into the future because, eventually, renewable natural gas will replace conventional “natural” gas.
But there are three holes in that logic…
Read the full op-ed on National Observer’s website here
To learn more about SAFE Cities work on building electrification, head here. Or, if you’re ready to join the SAFE Cities movement that is phasing out fossil fuels and fast tracking clean energy at the local level, you can get involved here.
