News From the Future Dept: Greenhouses Burning Coal
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04.10.07
Of course we will see more of this. In the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, which often suffers from air quality problems, greenhouse operators have switched from natural gas for heat to coal, giving new meaning to the phrase "greenhouse gases." The BC Environment Minister, who happens to be the Member of Parliament for the area, is not happy.
Mary-Margaret Gaye, executive director of the B.C. Greenhouse Growers’ Association, says natural gas was the ideal fuel environmentally when it was priced right, Gaye says, but new technology can make burning the cheaper wood or coal just as good. “With the new technology that’s available now ... you can get (emissions) down to the same as natural gas,” she says. But then they are just worried about local particulate pollution, not GHG.
No doubt the products from the greenhouses are being snapped up in Vancouver as local food. ::Hope Standard
It's funny how ecology loses out because of price! This however is one thing to consider while discussing sustainability, is the product, system, structure, or lifestyle economically sustainable. This point was brought up to me by a good friend who is a Landscape Architect. Sustainability relates to more than just the natural environment and is sometimes lost do to the lack of forsight and the overbearing capitolist economy.