The Pulse: April 19, 2024

Delegates to the third annual Canadian Hydrogen Convention, which runs from April 23 to 25 at the Edmonton Convention Centre, include officials from Romania, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, and even Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland.

"It's the first time we've had a president of a nation speaking at this event," said Brent Lakeman, Edmonton Global's hydrogen initiative director and the chair of the convention. "(Poland is) dealing with some very similar challenges that we've dealt with, historically, about moving away from coal towards other forms of low-carbon power generation."

Last year's convention hosted news announcements about hydrogen projects (though one is now on pause), and Lakeman said this year will be no different. He is duty-bound not to spoil surprises but said Air Products (Edmonton Global's convention co-host) has news, as do Alberta Innovates and Emissions Reduction Alberta.

The convention includes two conference streams, an exhibition, and an awards ceremony on April 23 and 24, while site tours to Alberta Innovates subsidiaries InnoTech Alberta and C-FER Technologies take place April 25.

"We like to say this is the largest conference in North America to focus on the entire hydrogen value chain, so I think it's really important to see this is all about the value chain," Lakeman said.

The conference will be split between strategic and technical tracks, with discussions tackling numerous topics. These include attracting global investment, exporting, the future of industrial vehicles, hydrogen in aviation and rail, infrastructure capacity, hydrogen storage, safety, and hydrogen-diesel retrofits.

Some sessions target industry players, government, and technical experts, but others have implications for anyone interested in housing or transportation. For example, consultants from the United Kingdom's Arup will talk about a show home that's entirely heated by hydrogen in Sherwood Park. Meanwhile, researchers from the University of Alberta will present how the region's hydrogen buses, which are being run through a pilot, have performed in the winter.

• Service on Edmonton's Capital and Metro LRT lines will be impacted in the coming weeks to accommodate scheduled maintenance, with replacement bus service available. Before noon on April 20, both lines will run at a 20-minute frequency and the Metro Line will only run from NAIT/Blatchford Market to Government Centre. After 8pm, there will be no Metro Line Service between NAIT/Blatchford Market and MacEwan. On April 27-28 and May 4-5, the NAIT/Blatchford Market station will be closed as crews demolish the former NAIT station. Also on April 28, Metro Line trains will only run from Kingsway to Health Sciences/Jubilee station until 6pm, after which the line will only run from Kingsway to Churchill.
• The Edmonton Public School Board is facing difficult budget choices due to inflation, the provincial funding model, and a lack of grant funding rate increases or inflationary relief in the 2024 provincial budget, Postmedia reported. Trustees recently heard that a weighted moving average introduced in 2019 by then-education minister Adriana LaGrange, which calculates funding based on enrolment averages for the prior three years, leaves the division with a significant funding gap.
• Const. Paul Kelly of the Edmonton Police Service is appealing disciplinary convictions related to a 2017 homicide probe, with Kelly's lawyer arguing Chief Dale McFee engaged in an "off the books" process for charging Kelly in relation to a crime scene investigation. Kelly was originally charged with neglect of duty under the Police Act for failing to find a body, which was discovered by a landlord days after the investigation. Years later, Kelly was subject to 14 additional charges. Kelly's lawyer said McFee brought the latter complaints forward after the one-year period typically allowed in the Police Act. McFee is cross appealing the case and asking the Alberta Law Enforcement Review Board to fire Kelly.
• Susan Keating and Kalen Anderson of the Urban Development Institute – Edmonton Metro, published an op-ed in Postmedia with suggestions for building a better Edmonton in 2024 in the face of interlocking urban issues like zoning, migration, and housing. Keating and Anderson call for a collective mobilization around key strategic areas, accelerated commercial and industrial development, affordability measures to address the housing crisis, and red tape reductions.
• Hundreds of people attended an open meeting held by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board at The Westin Edmonton on April 17, which focused on the state of the Canada Pension Plan. Many questions from attendees addressed the UCP government's push to leave the CPP in favour of a potential Alberta pension plan. The investment board is required to hold a meeting in each province at least once every two years, but this year's event was moved to a larger venue due to increased interest.
• City of Edmonton data shows Edmonton drivers got more red light infractions in the first quarter of 2024 than the same period in 2023. Some intersections, including Calgary Trail southbound and Whitemud Drive, had nearly double the number of red light infractions. Officials suggest the increase is due to weather, with early 2024 seeing nearly twice as much snow as early 2023.
• The City of Edmonton is offering residents free horticultural compost through its annual compost giveaway. Each year, the City produces compost from yard waste collected from curbsides or dropped off at Eco Stations. Residents can pick up compost at the Ambleside Eco Station or the Kennedale Eco Station while quantities last. Pickup is self-serve, and residents must bring their own shovel, gloves, containers, or tarps.
• CTV News highlighted the Wedgewood neighbourhood's efforts to reduce dog waste on public walking paths and green spaces. For the past decade, the Wedgewood Community League has been stocking dog waste bags in eight dispensers along pathways, with two added this year. League president Saad Siddiqui said the program costs the league $2,000 per year and has been "really, really successful." The program is separate from the City of Edmonton's dog-waste program, which maintains about 110 dispensers that are refilled weekly.
• The Alberta government announced plans to help Albertans save on electricity costs by rebranding the default electricity rate option from Regulated Rate Option (RRO) to Rate of Last Resort and requiring utility providers to inform customers about their option to switch to a competitive contract. The province said RRO is misleading because the term "regulated" gives consumers a false sense that the rate is protected by the government, when it is actually subject to volatility. Over the past year, RRO spiked as high as 32 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to the 10 cents per kilowatt-hour enjoyed by some customers on competitive fixed-rate contracts.

Here are some events happening this weekend in the Edmonton area.

• April 19: SDX44: Serious Nonsense starting at 11:30am at the J5 Design Studio Edmonton
• April 19: Tchaikovsky & Folksong starting at 8pm at the Winspear Centre
• April 19-20: Corporate Cleanup Challenge at Alex Decoteau Park
• April 20: The Edmonton Volunteer Fair starting at 10am at West Edmonton Mall
• April 20: 2024 Edmonton Mountain Bike Film Fest starting at 6:30pm at Metro Cinema
• April 21: Naturecore Expo starting at 11am at the Rundle Family Centre
• April 21: West End Hot Club starting at 1pm at CH. Cafeteria

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• May 1: Little Warriors Be Brave Luncheon at the Edmonton Convention Centre
• May 4: Edmonton Regional Heritage Fair at the Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre
• May 10: State of the City Address at the Edmonton Convention Centre

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.