Rainfall is posing a dangerous threat to high-precipitation cities such as Vancouver. In natural, forested conditions, 10-20 mm of the rainfall that occurs is intercepted by the lush, vegetative canopy of trees and plants, as it is eventually soaked into the ground before stormwater runoff is generated. This contrasts heavily with unnatural, urbanized areas, where runoff can be generated from as little as 2 mm of precipitation! In an average month in Vancouver, 240 mm of precipitation may fall in 30 days. This equates to an average of 8 mm of precipitation a day. As our climate continues to warm, the frequency and the intensity of our rainfall will only increase. By the year 2050, Vancouver is expected to experience a 5% increase in the volume of rain that occurs over the winter months, alternatively experiencing a 19% decrease in the amount of rainfall throughout the summer months. On Vancouver’s wettest days, extreme rainfall events are expected to intensify by 63%. Our snowpack  is expected to decrease by 53%, as our city’s snow will melt due to the increased temperatures. This will result in surface water flooding, sewer backups, and sewage overflow. Currently, Vancouver’s only approach to solving this issue is spending money to fix and replace the damages that are generated from this unmitigated stormwater runoff. The city of Vancouver has allocated $29.5 million towards Sewer Main replacement. The amount of runoff that is generated from our urbanized city is not only harming the environment, but the economy as well. What could possibly be a better solution than spending money to fix all of these damages runoff is creating? Green Infrastructure! By implementing green infrastructure, this issue is combated in a holistic manner. Through thoughtfully designed living roofs, swales, rain gardens, permeable paving, and rain barrels, we are able to mitigate this stormwater runoff in an effective way that supports our environment, economy, and our society.

There is a general belief that wind and solar will enable us to get fossil-fuels-use to net-zero. This is, unfortunately, impossible as an examination of only some limitations and constraints associated with solar and wind energy will show. Solar panels and wind turbines have now been used for many years, but until now they represent only a tiny fraction of total energy use (not just electricity but all forms of energy).  In 2020, wind accounted for 3% of the world’s total energy consumption and solar amounted to 1% of total energy. Thus, the combination of wind and solar produced only 4% of world energy in 2020. How long will we have to wait before they can generate enough energy to power the world? The climate emergency will not wait.  Solar panels and wind turbines have average lifespans of around 15 to 30 years, then they need to be replaced. However, the manufacture of the replacements will require fossil fuels since one cannot use wind or solar to build wind and solar. Further, solar panels do not supply enough energy. The net-energy gained from solar panels is only about 3.9:1. This net-energy ratio is known as ‘energy return on energy invested’ (EROI) and is critically important.  Unfortunately, the EROI of solar is far too low to power a modern industrial society, which requires an EROI of about 12:1. There is also the question of space. Renewable energy sources can take up 1000 times more space than fossil fuel – that is bad news for agriculture and food production in a world that is already experiencing food shortages because of global warming. If you take these limitations into consideration, then it becomes clear that solar and wind cannot solve our energy problem – they are a fix that will inevitably fail. 

Derived from a model at the Meadows institute. http://bit.ly/zI4axo.

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