\chapter{Introduction}

\section{History and culture of Canada}

% [nao]
\subsection{Foundation}
Canada is one of the largest countries on the planet, in fact, it is the fourth
largest country by land area with approximately 9 million square kilometers
\cite{statscan:statarea}. Located in the northern hemisphere of the American
continent, was first discovered by Europeans in 1497 with the expedition of
John Cabot. The name ``Canada'' seems to have appeared first in the 16th century
when Jacques Cartier, during his 3 voyages to the new world, heard a groups of
natives speaking the Iroquoian language referring to a village as
``Kanada''\cite{history}. During the following centuries both French and British
colonies were established which led to numerous conflicts the two between 
empires and the natives. The government of Canada was created with the 
proclamation of the Constitution Act in 1867, but the present the nationals 
were enstablished only in 1999 because after since its first foundation the 
dominion had expanded multiple times.

\subsection{The Flag of Canada}
\begin{wrapfigure}{r}{.4\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=6cm]{res/images/flag_of_canada.pdf}
    \caption{Current flag of Canada}
\end{wrapfigure}
The current flag of Canada was created in 1964, when the government had an 
all-party parliamentary committee that prepare multiple designs. Before then 
Canada didn't have its own official flag but instead used either the English 
Union Jack or the Canadian Red Ensign, a red flag with a smaller Union Jack on 
the top left and an ensign on the right side.
\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=6cm]{res/images/canadian_red_ensign.pdf}
    \caption{Canadia Red Ensign used before the introduction of the modern 
    design}
\end{figure}

The simplest design was chosen by the parliament and the current flag was 
adopted the 15 December 1964, just in time for the centennial celebration of 
the confederation 3 years later.

\section{Canadian Natives}
Before the arrival of the Europens the northern American continent was 
populated by various groups of indigeouns peoples which today are referred as
First Nations or Premières Nations (in French). There were 6 major tribes and 
each one of them lived in a particular area of the continent, but they all 
shared a similar culture and environment. First Nations lived off mostly from 
hunting with an advanced social sistem around it that defined territories 
for each tribe. There was also a system of social orders 
% tribes:
% iroquian    south       fertile, for agricolture
% woodland    east        boreal forest
% plains      ???     grassland, prairies
% plateau     south/north semi-desert, mountains, forest(north)
% pacific coast   west        abundant salmon and shellfish, gigantic red cedar 
% for building huge houses
% Mackenzie and Yukon River Basins    ???     harsh environmnent, dark forests, 
% barren lands, swampy


\subsection{Modern Canada}
Today Canada is a powerful country with its own currency, the Canadian Dollar 
(CAD), As 2016 one Canadian Dollar equals 
\href{http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=CAD&To=CHF}{
0.76 Swiss Francs}. Canada's GDP (as Q2 2015) is more than twice ours 
(Switzerland)\cite{swisseconomy} with a market price at 1'996'804 millions of 
Canadian dollars \cite{statscan:ecoimpexps}. Its major economic trade partners 
are USA, UK and Germany.


\section{Natural resources}

% [nao]
Canada's huge land area makes it one of richest countries from a natural
resources standpoint. Indeed Canada has the third largest reserve of crude oil
in the world and it is the second production of Uranium
\cite{nrcan:energyfactsbook}. But Canada is also a leader in renewable energy
production with a 18.9\% of total energy supply coming just from renewables
\cite{nrcan:renewables}. Even if most of the energy produced can be considered
eco-friendly Canada still relies heavily on non-renewable energy source as we
will see in the next paragraphs.

\subsection{Non-renewable energy sources}

\subsubsection{Crude Oil}

% [nao]
Oil has become has been increasingly become a valuable resource, since the 
discovery of oil sands extraction technology. The desire for oil 
independence from the USA and many other NATO states has given a lot of funds
for the development of this technology.
But for the environment this is not a good, according to a study conducted in
2014 \cite{statscan:ghgemissions}, GHGs (Greenhouse Gases) emissions caused by
oil extraction industries have increased by 63.5 millions of tonnes in the last
20 years.

\subsubsection{Natural Gas}

% [nao]
Natural gas is the biggest energy source in Canada, mostly produced in Alta is
also a major cause of Nitrogen and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) pollution.
Even though its extractions and refinement technologies are getting better, the 
level of pollution has not gone down since 2010. In 2014 56.6 mega tonnes of GHGs
were released on the atmosphere. Combined with the oil extraction this economic
sector accounts for 26\% of total nation emissions \cite{statscan:ghgemissions}.

\subsubsection{Coal}

% [nao]
Despite it makes up half of the world's energy source (mostly in China) and
there's an abundance of it, coal represents a minor element in the national
energy production, and almost half of the final product gets exported to Japan,
China and South Korea. Currently scientists are discouraging its usage because
of its high level of pollution and $CO_2$ emissions. Nonetheless the research in
the field of coal refinement, to produce what is called ``Clean Coal'', is still
being supported by the government in order to use the enormous quantity lying
beneath the Canadian surface.

\subsection{Renewable energy sources}

% [nao]
Substantially the main energy source of Canada is from natural gas, followed
by crude oil, while hydroelectric and the other renewables represent only a
smaller percentage of the overall production. But recent political and economic
trends have encouraged the Canadian government to support the development of
these new technologies in order to increase and optimize the production per unit
to use more efficiently every resource nature offers.

\subsubsection{Wind Energy}

% [alan]
Canada's geography makes it a perfect place for ``wind farms'', or groups of
wind turbines, to generate a lot of electricity which can be used to reduce
reliance on energy generated from non renewable resources and, for communities
that are not connected to the electricity grid. This method can achieve lower
costs and greater independence. The advantage of increasing the deployment of
wind energy include reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and air contaminants.
However, incorporating a large amount of wind energy requires continued
innovation to improve efficiencies, extend turbine lifetimes, and mitigate
interconnection problems. 

\subsubsection{Solar Photovoltaic}

% [alan]
Photovoltaic energy has become a favoured form of renewable energy, since the
need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, deregulation, and the restructuring of
electric power generating companies. Canada is very into photovoltaic researches
both nationally and internationally, their strategy is to accelerate the
deployment of solar generated energy.
% [nao]
But unfortunately the geographical northern location of Canada does not allow to
achieve the maximum efficiency. For this reason the amount of electricity
produced by photovoltaic is only a very small percentage. But in the extreme
north there are places in which a day lasts for months because of the tilt of
the earths rotation, if technological advancement will be able to access to
these areas there is a huge potential to generate solar powered
electricity.

\subsubsection{Hydroelectric}

% [alan]
Canada is the world's second producer of hydroelectricity in the world, behind
only to China\cite{nrcan:energyfactsbook}. The large amount of rivers flowing
through Canada are an optimal location for building dams for energy production.
Hydroelectric stations have been developed where the environment was favourable, 
particularly in Quebec and N.L (Newfoundland and Labrador).

\subsubsection{Solar Thermal}

% [alan] edit by [nao]
70\% of the energy used in the residential and commercial/institutional
buildings sector is used for heating. Therefore the use of solar thermal
technology could drastically improve the consumption level of energy nationwide.
Like with photovoltaic panels, the light from the sun hits the earth with a
higher slope than on souther regions. For this reason this technology is rarely
used.

\subsubsection{Marine Energy}

% [alan] edit by [nao]
Canada with large coastal and inland waters has the ideal environment for using
the potential of the waves. This kind of energy is produced by the kinetic
energy contained on tides, waves and river current. Tidal current energy is
produced by the rise and fall of tides from the gravitational influence of the
sun and moon. In Canada there are 190 tidal power sites across it's coasts with
a total estimated capacity of 42 GW. Wave energy is generated by waves formed
by the heat of the sun. The motion of these waves can be used to power
turbines. But as powerful as this technology is more than double of current
electricity demand the harsh ocean environment, power conversion losses and
costs make this resources mostly not available.

\subsection{Nuclear energy}

Whether nuclear-powered energy production is a sustainable method is a 
controversial debate. In recent years the idea of abandoning this technology has
become popular in many countries, but renewables in the current state will never
be able to fulfill the huge energy demand that we need every day.
Because of this we may need to have a different take on view of nuclear
power plants. A strong argument against anti-nuclear is technological 
advancement, many people speculate that a new type of reactor can be less
dangerous. This argument will be covered in more depth in its own dedicated 
section \ref{nuclear}.
