Don’t gripe too much should the frosty north wind blow hard this winter – it could be juicing up your computer.

If the Alberta-based Pembina Institute has its way, some 20,000 PCs and laptops in Canadian businesses and homes will – indirectly, at least – draw their power from the wind by the end of 2005.

The non-profit environmental organization last week unveiled a Wind Powered PCs program that it says will help Canada move toward a more sustainable energy future by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting the growth of renewable energy.

Institute executive director Marlo Raynolds says focusing on computers is important because the devices are among the fastest-growing electricity users in Canada, and therefore account for large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

Dave Olecko, Business Edge
Vision Quest’s Jason Edworthy, left, and Marlo Raynolds of the Pembina Institute model one of their wind-powered laptop computers.

“There are over 14 million personal computers used in Canada today,” he says. “If each one of those were to use wind power, we would eliminate about three million tonnes of emissions.”

The organization has partnered with Vision Quest Windelectric, a wholly owned subsidiary of TransAlta Corp. that provides wind-generated electricity to the Alberta grid.

Under the program, PC users purchase certificates that help grow wind energy.

The cost for desktop units is $32 for three years, while laptops – which on average use less energy – go for $16 for the same period. Consumers continue to receive bills from their power provider.

The Pembina Institute purchases the certificates from Vision Quest and in turn sells them directly to the public on its website. While initially most wind-power development realized from the program’s revenues will occur in Alberta, Raynolds says the benefits are felt everywhere.

“You’re not purchasing electrons, you’re purchasing the environmental benefits of wind power because greenhouse gas emissions affect us anywhere and everywhere, no matter where it’s produced,” he says.

Raynolds notes that because 70 per cent of Alberta’s power comes from coal-fired plants – coal being one of the dirtiest ways to generate electricity – the effect of reducing reliance on that source is significant.

Profits from the sale of certificates will be used to help offset the higher costs of producing wind power, which in turn will enable Vision Quest eventually to invest in new wind-power projects across Canada. Raynolds says a purchase of the environmental benefits of wind power through the certificates supports the development of more clean-energy initiatives.

Currently, wind power accounts for a mere 0.5 per cent of electricity fed into the Alberta grid.

Electricity generated at Vision Quest’s wind-power facilities has been certified under Environment Canada’s environmental choice program, a designation granted to green-power sources that demonstrate environmental performance and meet or exceed all government, industrial safety and performance standards.

Jason Edworthy, managing director external relations for Vision Quest, says he believes wind turbines could one day account for up to 20 per cent of the province’s power production.

“Wind isn’t necessarily the magic bullet, but it’s one of the appropriate sources of electricity and we’ve got a lot of opportunities in this province with excellent wind resources to increase this by a whole lot,” Edworthy says.

He notes the Alberta government has announced as part of its climate-change plan a target of 3.5-per-cent renewable energy for the province, although to date no concrete action has been taken.

For industries that produce traditional sources of energy such as coal, natural gas and oil, renewables such as wind and solar are often dismissed as unrealistic pipedreams.

In a September interview with Newsweek magazine, Lee Raymond, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., stated that hydrocarbons will continue to fuel the world’s economy.

“I’m not against wind. I’m not against solar,” he said. “But they are uneconomic. They don’t compete on a standup basis with fossil fuels. They require huge subsidies.”

The Pembina Institute disagrees. The organization notes that conventional energy producers benefit from greater subsidies than do renewable energy generators, citing Conference Board of Canada statistics that show in 2001, 93.5 per cent of energy subsidies went to fossil and nuclear while only 7.2 per cent went toward renewables.

Nonetheless, Raynolds expects that even Canadian oil and gas producers will certify their computers through the program.

“We’re seeing companies like Suncor and Enbridge investing in wind power and renewable energy. They’re beginning to think of what does life beyond oil look like,” he says.

Raynolds says the Pembina Institute is already in discussions with a couple of large companies to purchase the certificates, and hopes to make an announcement soon.

The program has already attracted some customers. DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd., a Calgary-based environmental firm, signed on because it believes in reducing its “environmental footprint,” and because “at the end of the day we get bragging rights because we can say we use wind power,” says company spokesman Tom Brown.

Ann Duffy, vice-president of sustainable development with the engineering consulting firm CH2M Hill Canada, says her company signed on with the program to support renewable energy alternatives by certifying all 500 of the company’s computers Canadawide.

But there are more practical reasons for backing such initiatives, she adds.

“Eventually, every employer has to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and if we can have choices and alternatives I think it makes playing the game a lot easier.”

(John Ludwick can be reached at ludwick@businessedge.ca)