So who's up for supporting the " #energydabate"?
What's that you say? Oh, that's the process whereby legacy oil and gas companies harness the support of environmentally-minded folks to accelerate their transition into a new global electricity oligopoly. Enjoy the sideshow! https://twitter.com/Shell/status/1323184318735360001

Does anyone else remember the 1980s, when EVERYTHING was going to be converted to electricity-power? That included the big grandaddy of energy usage in Canada, space heating. Enough "clean" electricity would be produced to service these massive loads, our largest energy need.

By the ads promoting this fabulously clean Electric World, it seemed the future would be like a return to the heady days of the 1950s and 60s, when, "soon", we would all be 'Living Better Electrically'
(a motto since altered and appropriated by...Walmart).

Houses were built without furnaces or ductwork and builders made bank creating-low cost homes that lacked chimneys or central heating. All heating was electric. Baseboard heaters cost $20 each, and the electricity to power them was the new owner's expense.

Incentive programs encouraged building owners to transition off gas and convert to electrically powered water heaters. The only problem was, where are we going to get massive amounts of electricity to support all this new demand for heating things up?

Giant projects were proposed. There would be new hydro-electric generation dams built in Canada's north (don't worry, not in your backyard) to supply us with endless clean electricity. Some even suggested, again, that electricity in such an age might be 'too cheap to meter'.

Environmental costs were added up and opposition from northland Native residents, whose lives would be upended, started to trickle in. Construction estimates started to bulge, and grew with new each iteration of the grand plan.

Then there was the issue of how to get the power to far-away markets. New transmission lines were also needed. One reality of moving electrons around is the fact that much of the power is lost during transit. The further away from market, the greater the loss, up to 40% or more.

With the now growing demand for huge new amounts of electricity, something had to be done. Facing nearly impossible financial challenges, and growing opposition to the remote environmental destruction that would be caused in order to serve distant markets, a new idea was sought.

Enter, the great Maurice Strong. (Does anybody remember him now?)
Strong would connect all the dots in a way that obviated all the major mega-projects, and made the numbers work. We would solve the issue with conservation, space heating loads and all.

Incentives were offered. We would even purchase rainforests in the Amazon basin to offset offset CO2 emissions from the gas-powered "peaking plants" we would use to backstop this rapid transition to clean power.
(it's not clear if the forests were ever really purchased)

With everything seemingly under control, the world was great but for one thing. Conservation efforts fell short, and we still had to heat our homes and water.

With rapidly expanding demand for electricity and no major new sources of supply, guess what happened?

(Spoiler alert)

Well, electricity prices rose dramatically and Ontarians felt the financial burden of heating their homes electrically. Baseboard heating was technically 100% efficient, but the houses were very uncomfortable in winter despite massive monthly electricity bills. People wanted out.

So those who had bought all-electric houses called around to find out what might be involved in installing furnaces in their homes. Only to find that the cost and complexity of retrofitting ductwork into an existing home is deeply prohibitive for most. Realtors did well.