After 2-year hiatus, Calgary's Global Energy Show kicks off with a focus on 'transition'

One of North America's largest energy conferences began Tuesday in Calgary at the BMO Centre at Stampede Park, marking an end to a two-year hiatus brought on by the pandemic. 

More than 30,000 people from around the world are expected to attend the three-day Global Energy Show this week, which previously was dubbed the Global Petroleum Show.

That name change reflects a common theme at this year's event — a focus on a "transition." Sixty per cent of the floor space for this year's show is clean tech, organizers said, compared with about 10 per cent in the past.

This year, the show features more than 600 exhibitors in five exhibition halls, plus an outdoor area. 

Speakers at the event also focused on the message of transition, including the chief executive of Cenovus Energy Inc., Alex Pourbaix.

Pourbaix said the future of energy will hinge on diversification, adding the clash between global energy demand and the need to reduce emissions to mitigate climate change is the biggest single issue facing the oil and gas industry in 2022.

While he expects to see further expansion of renewable and nuclear energy, as well as improvements in battery technology, Pourbaix doesn't expect oil and gas to disappear any time soon. 

"What we're seeing across the world right now, these crazy high energy prices, are largely an impact of supply and demand," he said.

"We are beyond the demand for oil we had pre-pandemic, and the reason there is demand is not because people are bad or immoral but because oil and gas are incredibly important to human [prosperity]."

Peter Warren with the IT company CGI said he believes data will be key to helping companies transition because it can prove sustainability and profitability.

"We have one [customer] that is trying to prove their electron is greener than anybody else's electron so that the steel they make with that electron is greener than anybody else's steel," Warren said.

"Therefore, the car is greener, therefore when you ship it to Europe, it's taxed differently than it would be if it was made by coal, for example."

He added that he believes the transition to green energy has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

"The fact that everybody could look at the bottom of the canals in Venice and see how clean [they were], see how blue the sky got with everybody staying home, that made sustainability very tangible to a lot of people, and therefore they're moving their money towards it rapidly."

Brandon Wood is with Parkland Corporation, an oil and gas company that has been investing in renewable innovations since 2017. One of these products is a more carbon-friendly fuel for vehicles made through a method called co-processing, which blends crude oil with renewable crops like canola. 

There are huge opportunities in the [energy] transition, and we truly believe as an organization that it is our future.- Brandon Wood, Parkland Corporation

Wood said a key part of moving toward renewable energy is approaching different geographic regions on a case-by-case basis, instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach.

"What works in B.C. might not be what works in Alberta, so we are really trying to be strategic about it," said Wood.

"There are huge opportunities in the [energy] transition, and we truly believe as an organization that it is our future."

The Calgary Energy show runs until Thursday.