2023.09.22 What if you blustered about the harm done to you by the 'carbon tax', but it turns out you actually benefitted from it? It's time for the energy industry to wake up and smell the reality. The Canadian climate incentive feebate program is working.

Federal carbon charges levied on N.B. Power have been returned, utility concedes (CBC)

TL;DR: N.B. Power got ALL the money they paid into the program back.
As a result of a real price signal, N.B. Power started selecting power suppliers based on cost.
The funds returned are paying for a conservation program for New Brunswickers which will help them reduce their personal energy costs, while also reducing their GHG emissions.
Apparently these are the 'harms' that N.B. Power needed to be saved from and justified their lobbying campaign to be exempted from the 'Trudeau carbon tax'.
Pierre Poilievre - who is currently living rent-free in a taxpayer-funded residence - should take note of how real economics work and that N.B. Power, like all Canadians en masse, get their carbon fees refunded. So, it's not a tax; it's a feebate.

2023.09.22 Much is being made of the 'thousands of abandoned EVs in China' in western corporate media in recent weeks.

There’s a lesson to take from China’s abandoned electric cars (electrek)

There is indeed a lesson to be learned here: inferior products have a limited market, especially when faced with something better for the same price. This is why EVs are eroding gasoline and diesel vehicles market share worldwide; EVs provide a better driver experience (quiet, clean, lower cost of fuel, lower maintenance costs), and the prices of EVs continue to fall as economies of scale mount and battery costs per kWh of storage continue to fall. By comparison, gasoline and diesel fuel contine to get more expensive, and initial purchase prices continue to rise. We're pretty much at the the tipping point now where the market for fossil fuel vehicles is going to collapse, and there will be a short-term premium for EVs in the face of a gold-rush market demand until it is satisfied. BTW, Big 3 automakers, it's a bad time to set up for a months-long strike when the final battle for EV market share consciousness is about to be established, and you won't even have product to put in a showroom.

2023.09.21 I'll bet my own dollar this isn't going to happen

Canada To Aggressively Reduce Methane Emissions From Its Oil And Gas Industry (OilPrice.com)
The government which continues to throw cash, tax-breaks and subsidies at the Taxpayer's Money eXtraganza, err, I mean Trans Mountain eXpansion or TMX, isn't going to hold the oil and gas industry's feet to the fire to get them to reduce their own waste and save their own money. I absolutely wish they would, starting tomorrow, as methane is over 100 times as potent a GHG as carbon dioxide over a 10-year span, and reducing natural gas fugitive emissions is the ultimate low-hanging fruit in reducing GHGs in Canada, but the sector has under-reported the amounts and dragged their feet on remedial action for decades.

2023.09.20 Industry has known this for ages. The question is, why won't they do anything to fix it? This is lost revenue for them.

Trio of Sentinel satellites map methane super-emitters (Phys.org)

2023.09.20 Project is expected to cut diesel fuel reliance in half - real climate change action

Sanikiluaq wind project represents major Nunavut renewable energy policy shift (CBC)

2023.09.20 Won't happen in Canada. Pity. Our governments are committed to climate destruction like buggy-whip makers when cars were replacing horses en masse.

U.N. chief calls for an end to $7 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies (CNBC)

2023.09.20 Australia: imagine if your roof could contribute zero-emissions electricity to the grid, and you weren't alone.

Rooftop solar takes record 74 pct share of generation in world’s biggest standalone grid (Renew Economy)

2023.09.19 "Oil extraction dwarfs mining"

"To compare EVs with conventional vehicles, first we need to look at how much stuff we pull out of the ground to make and fuel them.
"Mining minerals for the clean-energy economy is measured in millions of tons per year. For fossil fuel extraction, that’s a rounding error." Bing, bing, bing. That's the short version from the article.

Are electric cars really better for the environment? (Washington Post)

2023.09.19 Debunking another climate change myth: speculative 'carbon credits'

Revealed: top carbon offset projects may not cut planet-heating emissions (The Guardian)

2023.09.18 AI, Social Justice, Reduced shipping energy use and undergarments for the climate win

The uplifting undergarment that combats fashion industry waste (National Observer)

2023.09.17 Wright's Law and Battery EV technology - Cheaper and Cleaner with increased production

Why EV Batteries Keep Getting Cheaper & Cleaner (CleanTechnica)

2023.09.17 Australia: Photovoltaics displacing coal generation to record low

Ottawa’s program supporting Indigenous energy transition partnerships was so popular, it had to pause (Renew Economy)

2023.09.15 Doug Ford's 2018 Ministerial mandate letters were retrograde and reprehensible. They were kept secret because the government knew it.

Ontario 2018 mandate letters told ministers to limit climate law impact on businesses (Global News)

2023.09.15 If you want GHG removal done right, you may have to do it yourself

Rainforest carbon credit schemes misleading and ineffective, finds report (The Guardian)

Also, trees aren't an effective carbon sink if you set them all on fire, as Canada did in 2023.

2023.09.14 If you didn't like the volatile weather in 2023, here's your climate change wake-up call

New study finds most communities will encounter heavy rainfall, excessive heat under climate change (Phys.org)

2023.09.14 Emm, wasn't the right answer to increase funding when you're winning?

Rooftop solar sends coal to record low, and peaks at nearly half of all grid demand (National Observer)

2023.09.14 - As prices fall, two thirds of global car sales could be EVs by 2030, study says (MoneyControl)

2023.09.14 - And yet, Canadian taxpayers are continuing to subsidize future expansion of the worst oil on the planet

2023.09.14 Oops, you mean burning the planet and launching land-grab wars doesn't mitigate climate change?

Climate change is undermining nearly all sustainable development goals, says report (Phys.org)

2023.09.14 Reality check in case you believed the oil industry greenwashing on reducing GHG emissions

Oilsands profits remain high, but companies are putting the brakes on energy transition spending, with no new investment in reducing emissions (Pembina Institute)

2023.09.13 Can we go 9 for 9 before expiring as a species? Our actions say that's the way forward.

Six of nine planetary boundaries now exceeded (Pembina Institute)

2023.09.08 "Axe the Carbon Tax" - Disinformation

The Canadian Leader of the Official Opposition continues to mislead Canadians regarding global policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The phrase is catchy, but like most such propaganda, it is meant to hide the truth. While it is the responsibility of the federal government to implement the feebate system, it is a commitment under international agreements, not a Canadian government initiative.

Further, it is NOT a TAX. In Canada, it is a fee-bate system. Fees are collected, but the equivalent amount is returned to Canadians in the form of the Climate Action Incentive (CAI). The idea is that those that consume a lot of goods and services which create a lot of GHG emissions will pay more, and the CAI will not cover their out-of-pocket costs. Those who embrace a low-GHG approach will pay less in fees, and get a higher net benefit from the CAI. For example, someone who uses their CAI to buy an electric bike for commuting instead of a gas-powered SUV could cover the purchase cost with a year's worth of CAI payments, and continue to benefit from not paying the GHG fee in the gasoline purchases avoided. In a way, it's like a 'sin tax', except that you can get more than your money back via the incentive, if you change your purchasing behaviour. Similarly, if you buy a heat-pump for your house, and cut your heating oil or natural gas costs, you can come out ahead on the incentive program.

Even if Canada did choose to eliminate the fee within its borders, it would simply be imposed on us as a real trade tariff (tax) by other countries, with no off-setting rebate for regular Canadians. This is one example of such tariffs. EU agrees to the world’s largest carbon border tax.
So in reality, what the CPC is proposing to Canadians is to kill our exports as other countries close their borders to our goods via their 'carbon tariffs'. As Canada is highly dependent on exports, this will kill our economy.
The reality is that Canada is bound by international conventions to implement a basic fee on greenhouse gas emissions within its borders. The chart at (provided by Danny Kusuma via LinkedIn) shows that Canada is currently charging a fee which is at the lowest rate compatible with the intent of the agreements.
What the CPC isn't telling people is that they will will also axe the Climate Action Incentive, that 4 times a year bonus per household which offsets their GHG emissions fees, intended to provide households with the ability to make small changes to reduce their GHG emissions. All in all, this CPC policy is a multi-level financial loss for Canadians, even if we ignore the consequences of further climate change like storm and flood damage, and higher insurance, heating and cooling energy bills.
You can believe what you want, but this policy initiatve is a loss for Canadians on all fronts.

2023.09.08 Chasm between climate action and scientific reality laid bare in UN stocktake

2023.09.08 This is how the oil industry extracts the profit and leaves the liability to taxpayers.

2023.09.08 Proven technology and low-temperature differential make an efficient long-term energy store

2023.09.07 There is a lot of manufactured angst in corporate media about the horror of all those solar panels going to landfill.

Well, turns out that solar panels have some valuable materials in them, so when they reach end of service, they can largely be recycled (unlike post-consumer plastic). Because the materials have value, and there is a profit to be made. Another renewable energy myth bites the dust.
Greenbacker, which owns nearly 1GW of solar, makes a deal to recycle it all (ElecTrek)

2023.09.07 Again. Sigh. Deny, deceive, delay - from the tobacco industry playbook.

2023.09.07 Fossil fuel megacorps and captured governments don't want you to have clean, less expensive energy which can mitigage climate change and reduce the pressure on your wallet. If you really want something which is beneficial for people, you will probably have to fight for, and do it, yourselves.

2023.09.07 One clue about tech that won't work or be financially viable: the extremely profitable and profit-hungry fossil-fuel sector won't pay for development, but expects taxpayers to do so.

Like green hydrogen as a fuel or the TMX pipeline. This time, it's carbon capture, another industry greenwash mirage. If is could actually work and be profitable, industry would be all over it to stake their ownership claim and future profits. But CCUS has always been a climate-change stink bomb. Fun fact (not): most captured carbon to date in Canada has been used for Enhanced Oil Recovery, so it actually creates more net GHG emissions, not less. Finally, there is no evidence that carbon dioxide pumped underground actually stays there in the long-term, and due to the 'pincushion effect', every reason to believe it won't.

2023.09.07 Two of the enduring myths about EVs: they can't haul heavy loads; they can't do a full work day.

I have been driving EVs for a long time, so I know EVs can do whatever a fossil-fueller can do in terms of performance, and do it quietly, cleanly and at a lower fuel cost. Here's a story from the real world. The heavy duty electric truck that can run 24 hours a day (The Driven)
It's no longer about what vehicles makers could build; they're building these. This is Volvo, one of Europe's biggest heavy truckmakers, not some sketchy start-up. It runs 24 hours a day, recharging when it is stopped anyway to load or unload. Typical private vehicles are parked more than 20 hours a day. So now it's just about sticker price vs. people's supposed desire to keep the planet survivable.

2023.09.07 If you want a market for renewable electricity, the generator has to be able to get it to market. Transmission grid operators are not always cooperative with small and intermittent generators. Off the Grid (Science)
If we want a survivable planet, priority has to be given to zero and low-emissions producers instead of fossil-fuel burners. Another solution is to have municipalities be more friendly to renewables energy production within their borders, so long-haul transmission of clean electricity isn't needed.

---

2023.09.07 Another way to keep end-of-life wind turbine blades out of landfill. Renewable energy: The upcycled wind turbines getting a second life (Science)

---

2023.09.06 It's as if basic, greed-based economics works. Hunh. So if you want somebody to stop doing something, you tax the crap out of it, like alcohol and tobacco.

2023.09.06 Hunh, selling a fake product based on colonialist standing practice could lead to a corrupt market that benefits the rich?
Carbon markets are 'bogus solutions' as rich world keeps polluting, African Climate Summit is told (Phys.org)

2023.09.06 If you thought we were moving in the right direction on GHG emissions, spoiler alert.

2023.09.05 Turns out, now that we have end-of-life wind turbine blades, somebody figured out how to repurpose them.

2023.08.23 The uber-rich aren't just trying to escape the cess-pool of an environment they have made of planet Earth, they're adding even more GHGs as part of their escape projects.

2023.08.23 You have to be impressed with how resolutely the G20 governments continue to pour taxpayer money into fossil fuel subsidies and incentives in the face of catastrophic climate change. They may be fantastically wrong, but they're proud and committed to destroying our futures with our money.

2023.08.22 56 GW of new U.S. electric utility generation coming from non-fossil-fuels is a big deal, and pretty much all the capacity being retired is fossil-fuels. Why? Because renewables are cheaper. Ontario, BC, Saskatchewan and Alberta take note: net natural gas generation is falling in the U.S. due to economics, so why are you squandering taxpayer money to go in the wrong direction financially and environmentally?

2023.08.22 Uh-oh, reality intrudes on Canada's fairyland approach to climate change

2023.08.22 Speaking of carbon credits smoke and mirrors ...

2023.08.22 More evidence that tradable CO2 credits may be a scam. And this doesn't even count world-wide wildfires in 2023 that are turning tree-planting carbon credits into soot, ash and more carbon dioxide).

2023.08.22 Another gift from U.S. taxpayers to the fossil fuels industry - this instalment - US$1.2 billion

You can find many earlier postings (going back to year 2000) related to climate change at:
Keith's List Archive and
the Sustainable Biofuel List Mail Archive.

I present a lot of information in this blog and on this website. If you need some help sorting through the noise level and getting a forward-looking, proactive approach to climate change for your business, I can do that work for you via my consulting business. Contact