In May, Germany was able to supply 50% of their national energy consumption using renewable power sources. That was remarkable in itself given the size of Germany in both industrial and population size. Now, it’s been announced that for the first half 2012 Germany produced 67.9 billion kilowatt hours of
Continue readingTag: energy
Environmental Law Alert Blog: Yes to a national energy strategy, no to tankers
Friday, July 27, 2012 Today (July 27th) Premier Christy Clark walked out of the Council of the Federation meetings, being held between Canada’s Premiers in Halifax, vowing that she would not discuss a National Energy Strategy until Alberta agrees to share revenue that it gets as a result of the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Homeowners Can Earn Cash From Solar Roofs
Energy is still delivered via large power stations which can fail and leave entire regions without electricity. The future requires a more distributed energy grid that is a combination of large and small electricity generators, doing so will ensure electricity is not so heavily impacted by a rise in the
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Stove That Uses Fire to Charge Electronics
BioLite is a company that focuses on creating clean-burning stoves. We’ve looked at stoves before and why it’s important to create efficient stoves for a better planet and healthier people. Recently, an employee of BioLite gave a presentation at TEDx Montreal about the importance of clean stoves. The company has
Continue readingearthgauge: Global CO2 emissions rise 3 percent in 2011: report
Climate change is upon us folks and it’s only going to get worse. Yes, events like the current U.S. drought, which is being called one of the worst in recent memory, cannot be conclusively linked to climate change but it is entirely consistent with what climate scientists have been predicting
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ice Can Help Power Grids During Peak Use
Air conditioners use a ton of energy and when everyone has their’s running the load on the power grid can be pushed to the limit. At night, when it’s generally cooler, the power grid isn’t being used nearly as much. A company called Ice Energy is using that extra night
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Romney, Obama Surrogates Spar Over Energy Policy
energy vote.jpg On Wednesday of this week, representatives from both the Obama and Romney campaigns debated issues of energy and environment, where the two campaigns’ differences on issues ranging from renewable energy subsidies to approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline were on full display. Speaking for the Obama campaign, spokesperson
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Investing in the Green & White – Why Not in Green Power?
At yesterday’s Saskatchewan Roughrider game, Premier Wall announced provincial funding for a new stadium: an $80-million grant and a $100-million loan to be repaid over time through a surcharge on tickets. While it’s unclear why a stadium should be anywhere near the top of the priority list, a readiness to
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Squamish Nation sign Save the Fraser Declaration
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 On Saturday, July 7 2012 the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Squamish Nation signed onto the Save the Fraser Declaration. In doing so, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish joined more than 100 First Nations in asserting their own Indigenous Laws which effectively ban Tar Sands projects throughout their territories, and
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Being fracked
Clark’s fracking registry: a fractionary issue, Vanessa Annand, The Martlet, Sep 22, 2011, Volume 64 Issue 7 “…Fracking, a process that allows companies to pump out hard-to-reach deposits of oil and gas by fracturing the rocks around them, has been banned in several areas of the world, including France, Quebec,
Continue readingCanadian Trends: Alberta, Canada’s ‘Energy Capital’, implements rolling blackouts
Yep, another Alberta post. Welcome to the reality of the two-tiered Alberta energy system. What do I mean by two tiered? Well let me explain. Over a year ago I wrote this piece on the “requirement” for the new high capacity transmission lines. Quoted in that piece is this little blurb: Alberta
Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alert Blog: Six Questions for your MP about Bill C-38
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 With Bill C-38 before the Senate, Members of Parliament (MPs) have gone home from Ottawa. There they will doubtless receive a warm welcome from their constituents, as well as questions about the Budget and why attacks to Canada's environment and the laws that support it were
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Reinventing the wheel, timidly
British Columbia has established significant domestic production of natural gas and there are enormous reserves of recoverable gas newly discovered. Western Europe has identified major new gas fields and North America has vast reserves of natural gas. So has Russia and, using technology developed in the last decade, China is
Continue readingearthgauge: New Josh Fox Film “The Sky Is Pink” Reveals Fracking Contamination
Check out the latest ant-fracking film from Josh Fox (the maker of Gasland) called The Sky is Pink, which is being called “the best 18 minute movie ever made.” But “The Sky Is Pink” cites damning evidence that safe fracking is a contradiction in terms. The gas industry’s own documents and
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Our pending meltdown
Are BC Liberals about to drag taxpayers into another economic calamity? Something akin to BC Hydro’s private power initiative, where government has taken near $50 billion of financial risk and guaranteed abundant profits to private energy promoters. [Russia’s] Gazprom Biggest Loser as Shale Gas Upends World Markets, Bloomberg Businessweek, June
Continue readingCanadian Trends: $80 / barrel? Prepare yourself for the next Albertan epic fail.
Once upon a time, Alberta was in deficit. Their King at the time, Ralph, decided that this was completely unacceptable and from that moment forward (with the aid of an earlier oil boom and massive government cuts) the deficit would be no more. Ralph accomplished his goal, Albertans rejoiced, and in
Continue readingearthgauge: Earthgauge Radio June 21, 2012: Solar power to the people!
Download: earthgaugeradio-podcast-june21-2012-solarpower.mp3 On Earthgauge Radio this week, I have a special program on the coming solar power revolution. Have you ever thought about installing solar panels on your roof or, if you don’t have a roof, what about investing in solar energy? Well if the answer is yes to either
Continue readingearthgauge: Special program dedicated to solar energy on tomorrow’s edition of Earthgauge Radio
On Earthgauge Radio this week (7:00-8:00 AM on CKCU radio 93.1 FM in Ottawa or online at www.ckcufm.com), I’m presenting a special program on the coming solar power revolution. Ever thought about installing solar panels on your roof or, if you don’t have a roof, what about investing in solar
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Clean electricity, conservation and a zero-carbon future
Today we released a new Climate Justice Project report, Clean Electricity, Conservation and Climate Justice in BC: Meeting our energy needs in a zero-carbon future, co-authored by John Calvert and myself. The report is central to the vision we have been developing of a zero-carbon BC, with a focus on
Continue readingCanadian Trends: One big idea: Banking Oversight? Please.
Emerging from their resort world leaders have come up with one idea that just might work. Banking Oversight. No seriously, this is what they are spending money coming up with. Click the link, see for yourself. Of course their brand of banking oversight is new. It’s nothing like the banking
Continue reading