We went to the 2026 Global Energy Show in Calgary. Here are some observations and analysis which people may find interesting.

For those who are unfamiliar with the energy industry, the energy industry is basically:

• Power companies.

• Chemical companies that are involved in power generation.

  • This includes mining, oil and gas, fertilizer/agriculture, propane, and many more.

• Other organizations which support the above.

This conference happens every year in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The exact location is the BMO centre, right beside the Saddledome. For those who are familiar with the annual Calgary Stampede, this conference is just a few weeks before it in one of its venue locations.

Many of the biggest names in energy, be they people, governments, businesses or their supporting industries are present. These sorts of organizations include:

• Universities that are involved in energy research.

• The energy industry listed above.

• Software and tech companies whose target demographic are energy companies.

• Health and Safety companies.

• Consulting firms.

• Risk management and emergency management adjacent companies.

• Canadian government resources.

• Foreign (non-Canadian) government interests.

• Things that support the energy industry like:

  • A company that specializes in making custom control panels and joysticks for large machinery.

  • An advertising specialty company which makes custom-designed socks.

There is a pretty big variety and in walking around and talking with people, one can get a fairly good sense of what is going on in the energy industry.

Given how integrated energy is with all our critical infrastructure, and its significant relationship to risks in Disaster Risk Reduction (like climate change), this industry is particularly important for many people to understand.

Here are a few broad things which were observed, some will relate to each other, many could have their own article for analysis, but just the broad strokes first:

1. No one credible is seriously considering storing pure-hydrogen (H2) for long periods of time for energy storage. Virtually everyone has identified is at non-feasible and it looking for alternatives.

2. Main takeaway: we are going to have to use everything. Global demand for energy is increasing so rapidly that renewables cannot keep up. The % of global energy that comes from hydrocarbon fuels increased from 81% to 87% within this year. This is while renewable energy like wind and solar have doubled.

3. Canadian universities are underfunding low technological readiness level research. The effect is that Canadian inventors go to other countries, develop their technology, and then Canada buys it back at a greater price than developing it in the first place. This was nicknamed “brain drain”.

4. The Iran war and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have resulted in east Asian countries coming to Canada and being willing to pay for oil at virtually any price. This, combined with stressed relationships with the United States, means that Canada is heavily looking at moving significant business westward.

5. Canada is a natural resource juggernaut. For those familiar with Canada, this is not surprising. For context, Canada is the #1 global producer of potash (critical for agriculture) and the #2 global producer of Uranium (critical for nuclear).

6. Energy has a “carbon problem” but that is not stopping it. With hydrocarbon resources being considered necessary, the idea that production of them will slow or stop is considered to essentially be lunacy. The question is how to efficiently make them environmentally benign, not to slow production.

7. AI is everywhere. It is a forgone conclusion that anything that improves efficiency will be adopted. When asked about what would happen if AI replaces 95% of all jobs, every CEO asked concludes that (paraphrase) “the government will provide a universal basic income so that business still has a customer”. Essentially, there is no point in producing five-trillion tomatoes if they cannot be consumed. Job loss is considered effectively a non-issue and irrelevant, quality of life will improve regardless.

Those are some of the broad strokes that were present. While it is not necessarily guaranteed that everyone at that conference would publicly agree with the above, those were some of the things that were repeatedly observed. 

If readers are interested in us diving into any of these further, let us know and we can expand on the desired points.

Vezina is the CEO of Prepared Canada Corp. and is the author of Continuity 101. He can be reached at info@prepared.ca.