Gas workers in BC’s Horn River Basin (Photo: Damien Gillis) By Karen Cooling, Marc Lee and Shannon Daub The steady stream of bad news from Alberta’s oilpatch is a potent reminder of the boom-and-bust nature of being a resource-commodity exporter. It’s a story deeply understood in resource communities, as decisions
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The Common Sense Canadian: Canada, Quebec’s political leaders blind to clean tech revolution
Part 1 of a 2-part story from innovation expert Will Dubitsky on Canada’s missed opportunity to build a prosperous green economy. The ardent defenders of our resource economy are in no way limited to the climate skeptics who support TransCanada’s Energy East project, the Keystone XL pipeline and the tripling of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline capacity to
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Suzuki: Wind power has come a long way – Wildlife impacts improving, health issues minimal
There’s no free ride when it comes to generating energy. Even the cleanest sources have environmental consequences. Materials for all power-generating facilities have to be obtained and transported, and infrastructure must be built, maintained and eventually decommissioned. Wind turbines take up space and can harm wildlife. Hydro floods agricultural land
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Clean-tech is good for the economy and environment
Photo: Associated Press/ Ed Andrieski What’s the fastest-growing sector in Canada’s economy? Given what you hear from politicians and the media, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s the resource industry, especially extraction and export of fossil fuels like oil sands bitumen and liquefied natural gas. But we’re no longer just
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC sitting on enough geothermal to power whole province: New maps
Steam rising from the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station in Iceland (Photo: Gretar Ívarsson / Wikipedia) By Erin Flegg – republished with permission from desmog.ca At a time when B.C.’s politicians are considering flooding the Peace Valley for the Site C hydroelectric dam, a new project by the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association says the province
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: China’s war on coal means lots more renewable energy…and fracking
Shale gas is a big component of China’s future energy plans China has declared war on coal and coal consumption is down as a result. But this coal war offers some good news, some not so good news for Canada, and some bad news, all at the same time. China turns
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Nearly 100% of US car sales could be electric in 15 yrs – the challenge is powering them with clean electricity
An electric smart car in Amsterdam – from the popular car sharing service, Car2go (Wikimedia Commons) There are those who suggest that a migration to a green economy is too expensive, that we must convert to natural gas as a transition fuel, that the subsidies for clean technologies are driving
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada’s green cities take lead on climate change
Vancouver is Canada’s climate leader (photo: Wendy / flickr) Amid the dire warnings about global warming’s impacts, what’s often overlooked is that actions to reduce or prevent them will lead to livable communities, improved air quality, protection of natural spaces and greater economic efficiency, to name just a few benefits.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Over half Germany’s energy now comes from solar power
Read this June 19 story from Popular Mechanics on Germany’s steady march toward a renewable energy future. The Common Sense Canadian has been documenting Germany’s green energy success story over the past several years. Continuing its unrelenting march toward a renewable-powered future, Germany now can produce more than half of its energy from solar. The official word
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Elon Musk buys solar company to build large-scale panel factories
SolarCity Chairman founder Elon Musk By Jonathan Fahey, The Associated Press NEW YORK – The energy world is not keeping up with Elon Musk, so he’s trying to take matters into his own hands. Musk, chairman of the solar installer SolarCity, announced Tuesday that the company would acquire a solar panel
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Obama gets tough on coal plant emissions with 30% reduction goal
President Obama visits Copper Mountain solar plant (Photo: Sempra U.S. Gas & Power) By Dina Cappiello, The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rolled out a plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 per cent by 2030, setting the first national limits on
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: 6 reasons why renewable energy is no joke
Photo: Associated Press/ Ed Andrieski Listen to the rebuttals against opponents of oil pipelines, coal, and fracking and a familiar refrain emerges – it goes something like this: It’s hypocritical to attack fossil fuels, because we all depend on them and will continue to do so well into the future. In
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Phoenix rising: Largest solar power array set to energize 230,000 homes
The Agua Caliente solar power array, near Phoenix, Arizona Read this May 9 syory from Scientific American on the world’s largest solar power array, in Arizona, which is about to go online near Phoenix, Arizona. Global climate change is here, and it’s only going to get worse, according to a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Green jobs see huge growth globally: Why is Canada missing out?
There are those like Stephen Harper who repeatedly say we must choose between economic development and sustainable development. And there are those who, concerned about the environment and the latest reports from the International Panel on Climate Change, suggest that economic development and sustainable development should be reconciled. Countries such
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: David Suzuki: Don’t blow off wind power
I have a cabin on Quadra Island off the British Columbia coast that’s as close to my heart as you can imagine. From my porch you can see clear across the waters of Georgia Strait to the snowy peaks of the rugged Coast Mountains. It’s one of the most beautiful
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Nova Scotia and UK team up to study tidal power
The world’s first commercial-scale tidal power generator, in Northern Ireland (Photo courtesy of Siemens) HALIFAX – Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom have agreed to work together on research aimed at generating electricity from high tides like those in the Bay of Fundy. Energy Minister Andrew Younger and Corin Robertson, the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Europe leads the way on building a green economy
The European Union has fast become the global leader on migrating to a green economy, with its Emissions Trading System (cap and trade scheme) in place since 2005. Canada has much to learn from the current and future EU debates on establishing new targets for 2030 – particularly how to
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Wind power now Spain’s top source of electricity as GHG’s plummet
Read this inspiring story from The Guardian on Spain’s dramatic increase of renewable energy and consequent 23% decline in energy-related carbon emissions. Remarkable new figures from Spain’s grid operator have revealed that greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s power sector are likely to have fallen 23.1% last year, as power generation from
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: 60 Minutes charged with hit job on cleantech
Read this Jan 6 story from the Huffington Post on the backlash generated by a recent 60 Minutes exposé titled “Cleantech Crash”. A recent “60 Minutes” segment is drawing sharp criticism for its pessimistic take on the green technology sector, which questioned whether clean tech has become a “dirty word.”
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Germany shows a thriving green economy is possible
When Prime Minister Harper is challenged on his environmental record, one of his standard replies is that between economic development and sustainable development, he must give priority to the economy. While it suits Harper’s ideological agenda to imply that economic and environmental objectives are opposing forces, the facts suggest otherwise.
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