Latest news with #energy superpower
Forbes
15-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How To Become An Energy Superpower
Canada wants to become an energy superpower. But what does that mean and how do you achieve that ... More goal? (Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images) In his first remarks as Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney pledged to make the country a '…superpower in both conventional and clean energy.' But what does it really mean to be an 'energy superpower'? Let's define it: an energy superpower is a country that wields influence over global energy markets through its substantial resources, production capabilities, infrastructure, trading capabilities, strategic policies and innovation capabilities. It can influence global prices, supply security and geopolitical alignments while maximizing the value of its domestic resources. Energy hegemony matters because the world's future economy demands vastly more energy. If all 8 billion people on Earth consumed as much energy per capita as the average North American, we would need five times today's energy supply. That doesn't even account for the impact of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. In April, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt testified to the US Congress that energy demand from datacenters could triple by 2030, rising from 3% of demand now to 9%. By 2050, AI may account for more than half of total energy consumption in advanced economies. The rising global need for air conditioning amid record-breaking heat adds even more pressure, as does the mining of cryptocurrencies. If we supplied all that energy using fossil fuels, we would ensure that our climate crisis becomes a catastrophe. Today's energy superpowers are losing their grip. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries influence prices through OPEC and 'swing' capacity, but they lack clear energy transition strategies. The same is true for the United States, which leads in oil and gas production but has bungled its position in clean energy thanks to political dysfunction. The recently signed 'Big Beautiful Bill' ends various clean energy tax credits passed under President Biden, promising yet more uncertainty for energy innovators. In addition, the US and Canada have driven up the supply of LNG, dreaming that it will replace coal, but that may never happen. Cheap solar and wind have pushed LNG demand and prices downward, causing many projects to be cancelled. The outlook for the next five years is simply not good for LNG, as analysts continue to warn. And then there is Russia, which is rapidly losing influence over European energy markets. Meanwhile, China—with few fossil fuel resources—is emerging as the next dominant force in global energy, as I discussed in a previous post. Why? China controls critical minerals and their processing, dominates solar, wind, EVs and battery production, and is investing in advanced fission and fusion energy. As The New York Times put it, 'There's a race to power the future. China is pulling away.' If China becomes an energy superpower, it probably will use that position as a geopolitical cudgel. But it is not too late for the West. What our business and political leaders lack is a focused plan and the will and tenacity to achieve it. China has a strategic vision, crisply defined in five-year plans. The West has, well, elaborate permitting processes defined in legalese. We spend time determining who can't build what where, while China funds deliberate innovations and builds whatever, wherever it chooses. The next battlegrounds for energy superpowers are small modular reactors (SMRs), geothermal and, most importantly, fusion energy. Often called the 'holy grail' of clean energy, fusion promises reliable, abundant and safe baseload anywhere, anytime, with limited need for additional infrastructure. The country that cracks fusion first will almost certainly dominate global energy markets. Becoming an energy superpower requires long-term commitment, and China is investing accordingly. If countries in the West are serious about competing, they will need four things: Let's not forget that rising demand for energy is only part of this story. The growing frequency and cost of extreme floods, storms, wildfires and heatwaves, fueled by climate change, started this race to replace fossil fuels with cleaner and more scalable sources of energy. This is, indeed, a race. The first countries to become clean energy superpowers will be able to attract valuable industries, create high-paying jobs and wield geopolitical power for decades. The question isn't whether there will be a new energy superpower—it's whether the West has the will to outcompete China and the guts to challenge shortsighted business leaders and politicians at home who are committed to a status quo that is economically and ecologically untenable.
National Post
14-07-2025
- Business
- National Post
Patrick Lennox: A surefire way to increase oil production and lower emissions
If the Carney government is going to follow through on its plan to make Canada an 'energy superpower' and a world leader in 'responsible energy production,' it will need to take a more pragmatic approach to spurring private investment and innovation in cleaner energy production than its predecessor. Article content The Trudeau government's Bill C-59 received royal assent just before the Calgary Stampede kicked off last summer. It included the government's signature decarbonization policy initiative: a massive set of tax credits designed to reduce the upfront costs of investments in carbon-capture equipment. Over $12 billion has been earmarked to pay for these credits, making it one of the country's largest decarbonization outlays. Article content Article content Remarkably, one of the distinctive features of Bill C-59 was that it took pains to specifically exclude a tested and proven method of carbon sequestration that has the added benefit of extracting hard-to-reach oil and delivering it to the surface in a way that's significantly cleaner than oilsands development. Article content Article content The Trudeau government chose to exclude CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a process in which CO2 is pumped into oil reservoirs to increase production, from being eligible for its Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage Investment Tax Credit scheme because it did not want to support increased oil production with tax credits designed to incentivize emissions reductions. Article content In the oil and gas industry in western Canada, this approach is seen as the application of a 'purity test' against an industry that, while responsible for roughly a third of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, remains vital to the Canadian economy. Article content The Carney government could easily remove this small exclusionary clause, which could unleash billions in investments in EOR and contribute massively to its energy superpower ambitions. For now, though, this potential capital — both foreign and domestic — is sitting on the sidelines. Article content Article content As an example of how EOR could help Canada reach both its climate and economic goals, consider that Saskatchewan's Weyburn-Midale fields stores an estimated three-million tonnes of CO2 annually from upstream emitters. Article content Article content Canada not only has the know-how and wherewithal to use these complex carbon-sequestration methods to further exploit depleted reservoirs, it is also home to some of the world's most amenable geology for it. According to the Canada Energy Regulator, it's theoretically possible to store hundreds of years' worth of the country's annual emissions using geological storage techniques. Article content Incentivizing carbon capture and storage across a range of energy sectors — including oil, gas, lithium and geothermal — would accordingly make a lot of pragmatic sense. Especially considering that EOR leverages existing wells, roads and infrastructure connected to legacy oil reservoirs and delivers low-carbon oil. Yet the current legislation allows for none of this.
