TRUDEAU WANTS TO “HEAT PUMP” ALBERTA
On the long list of increasingly bizarre behavior being exhibited by Canada’s current Prime Minister is his fixation on so called “heat pumps”. It may be Trudeau’s, newly single, idea of a fun thing to do in a sauna, but it is certainly neither a sane or environmentally sound replacement for clean burning natural gas furnaces.
On the subject of the insanity of touting heat pumps as a solution for Alberta winters, Trudeau’s so-called “brain-trust” obviously never spoke to an HVAC specialist on the application of heat pumps to winter weather in Alberta. The first thing he should have been advised is that heat pumps function very poorly in dry sub-zero temperatures. In fact, to function at all in a manner that would not result in people having their plumbing freeze and people literally freezing to death in their homes requires the installation of high BTU forced air electric furnaces to kick in at temperatures below which the heat pumps could reliably function.
The problem that Trudeau and his advisors always seem to suffer from is a world view that Premier Smith correctly identifies as “magical thinking”. Trudeau has surrounded himself with people who view the solution to every major problem as waving some form of magical fairy wand in the air and wishing the problem away. 1.8 trillion dollar debt; … no problem wave the fairy wand. Net Zero; …, wave the fairy wand. Lack of affordable housing… no problem, let in 1,000,000 immigrants a year and wave the magical fairy wand and hope that 18-30 year old Canadians can still find affordable apartments given that Trudeau’s policies have made it impossible for any of them to ever own their own home; and on it goes.
In the case of heat pumps and forced air electric furnaces where do Trudeau and his advisers think the electricity is going to come from to run them?
First of all, I am prepared to wager that adding even 1,000,000 heat pumps and forced air electric furnaces to the Alberta power grid would collapse the grid. Secondly, where do these geniuses think that the electricity to power these electrical devices is going to come from? News flash… in Alberta the only reliable sources of electricity available to feed the grid are coal, oil and natural gas. Just like the disposable electric cars that they are trying to sell, magic power outlets aren’t available to provide cheap, sustainable electricity. We have all of these wannabe virtue-signaling Tesla drivers, who give little or no thought to the fact that their cars are in many cases powered by coal.
Jeffrey R.W. Rath B.A. (Hons.), LL.B. (Hons.)
Foothills, Alberta
November 10, 2023