I sit here at my kitchen table, attempting to construct my president’s message while directly violating the explicit request of my editor to not include this same line again. I acknowledge her concern and duly ignore it, unlike the rest of the topics in this month’s Professional Edge.
We have just come out of a provincial election and a historic election south of the border. The appropriate response to climate change is a key policy topic. One item folks agree on is that greener technology can help lessen the impacts of climate change.
This issue of The Professional Edge highlights several types of energy development in the province (wind, solar and small modular reactors) and the professional engineers and geoscientists that bring these ideas to fruition.
Energy is one blessing Saskatchewan has and the geoscientists at the Saskatchewan Geological Survey are investigating another. Lithium required to power our energy-hungry devices and vehicles may be found in a unique location in our province. One article will be informing our readers on this development.
The aforementioned topics are important, but pale in comparison to another geological resource we have profiled – helium. Why is this so important? Two words: Party balloons!
It may also be used in research centres like the Canadian Light Source for cooling their magnets and as a potential ultra-clean fusion fuel source. But we all know high-pitched kids’ voices are the real draw.
The election energy leads to my final request. Our Governance Change project, currently underway, includes improvements to our nominating process. We hope to provide further updates on this in future Edge editions.
No matter the process, APEGS is only as good as its councillors. I encourage people wanting to give back to the engineering and geoscience community to consider running for council, the nominating process begins soon.
Warm regards – said in a squeaky helium voice.
