BC Hydro: privatize and regulate strictly
As managed since 2001 under Premiers Campbell, Clark and Horgan, BC Hydro has been an unqualified disaster. The company has used falsehoods to justify capital spending of about $40 billion…
energy
Energy innovation
Hindered by the political power exercised by fossil fuel companies and financial institutions supporting those industries, Canada’s federal government has been little involved in development of non-destructive renewable energy sources.…
Unlike Other Power Sources, Wind Turbines Still Useful When They Stop Working
Wind turbines produce renewable energy from air with a small footprint on the ground. This means they can get placed in various locations and offshore they can be massive (and…
Insulation is Better Than Oil
Insulation is a boring solution to the deadly consumption of oil inside your home. If you have a gas furnace or other fossil fuel heater then you can start reducing…
This Book Can Give You Power
Oil prices are rising again and oil is yet again at the centre of international conflict, it’s time to get off of oil. Sustainable energy is peaceful energy. Solar power…
Dutch Climate Lawyer Wins Dresden Peace Prize
Yes, a lawyer won a peace prize. Roger Cox, a Dutch climate lawyer who took on Shell, has been awarded the 2022 Dresden Peace Prize for winning a case that…
EVs will not disrupt the grid
electricity. That assumption is encouraged by utilities and vested interests enriched by massive spending to build unneeded capacity. Of course, the global oil industry has its own reasons for promoting…
An untapped energy source
Humans need stable energy supplies that do not harm the Earth and an underutilized source lies beneath our feet. Geothermal is clean, limitless, predictable, and almost carbon free. But geothermal…
Beer Cans for Passive Heating
They aren’t just for transporting a yummy beverage, beer cans can be used to create passive heating too. A simple contraption that you can make in your spare time can…
One Way Maritimers can Drastically Reduce their Energy Consumption
Canada’s Maritime provinces are blustery, cold, and powered by coal. The weather is fine for most people (and lovely in the summer), but they know they need to transition to…
See Through Solar Panels
The future is powered by renewables, and the more sources of electricity we have the more resilient our power grid will be. Researches at Michigan State University have created a…
Affordable electricity Decarbonization in OECD countries? Part I
After eight extensive posts about the Ontario electricity sector, I am expanding my geographic coverage to look at the electricity sectors in selected OECD countries. My focus will be on…
Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Human Fallibility
I’m just going to share verbatim a letter that I just sent to a few friends. I think it is worth giving it some thought. The letter expresses my comments…
Privatizing public dollars
The high-priced help at BC Hydro and the provincial government decided benefits of low-costs should never be wasted on consumers. To ensure it was not, the utility signed decades-long deals…
Quebec Cancels Planned LNG Operation to Protect the Environment
The waters of the Saguenay and the St. Lawerence have avoided great harm thanks to the cancellation of a massive natural gas facility in the area. People had been protesting…
Reducing CO2 Emissions by Targeting the 5% of Power Plants
Electric energy production using non-renewable processes produces an immense amount of carbon, and as a civilization we can’t afford to put more carbon in the atmosphere. Researchers from the University…
A Cheap Material for Producing Power from Waste Heat
Machines produce a lot of waste heat, and if we can capture that heat we can convert it into electric energy. Capturing thermal energy is currently inefficient because of thermal…
Resolving EV inhibitions
For personal use in urban areas, electric vehicles are clearly in our immediate future. But not everyone lives in a place where battery charging is a simple affair. Fast charging…
Home Water Heaters can Reduce Electricity Production
Across North America homes have massive tanks of hot water regardless of the outside temperature or other concerns. The energy cost to heat all this water is immense and not…
Ontario Electricity VIII: Now also going backwards on climate
There have been a number of important developments in the Ontario electricity sector since my last update when I summarized my arguments in front of the Ontario Legislature against the…