2024.05.29 The study states that the “social cost of carbon” could be around US$1,056 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions

Climate change costs the world 12% of GDP for every 1°C of warming (Sonnenseite)
This is why your quality of life is falling while oil industry profits soar.

2024.05.27 Wind turbines could protect agricultural land and provide a barrier to urban sprawl

Scientists explain misconception about wind turbines: 'This study might allow folks to take a fresh look' (TCD)

2024.05.25 Still going in the wrong direction, with the gas pedal pushed to the floor

Researchers issue warning after data shows record-breaking increase in air pollution levels: 'It's sad what we are doing' (Yahoo)

2024.05.23 Someone did the research and math for you. If you think nuclear energy is a solution, read this article.

'One Big Chart: how does the cost of nuclear power compare to renewables? (New Guardian)

2024.05.23 Is zero-carbon cement possible?

'Absolute miracle' breakthrough provides recipe for zero-carbon cement (New Atlas)

2024.05.23 The graphs deliver a powerful message

Powering Up: How Canada keeps the lights on (National Observer)

2024.05.22 When climate change ends growing food on land and harvesting food from the ocean, what are you going to eat?

'Boiling not warming': Marine life suffers as Thai sea temperatures hit record (Reuters)

2024.05.22 If you're not in China and want low-cost electricity, it's time to load up on the discount PV panels

Price wars, infrastructure hurdles hurt China’s solar industry (Semafor)

2024.05.22 Manufactured scarcity much? The answer is storage; clean electricity doesn't have to be a lost opportunity.

Germany has too many solar panels, and it's pushed energy prices into negative territory (Markets Insider)

2024.05.22 JIT delivery works for trucks and air freight, but it's news for on-water shipping?

Ridiculously simple idea cuts cargo ship emissions by 17.3% in first trials (World Atlas)

2024.05.21 This is about simple end-use efficiency; it does not consider the climate change impacts

We get more useful energy out of renewables than fossil fuels (Ars Technica)

2024.05.21 How did the fossil fuels industry let this get to press?

Big Tech employees missed out on $5.1 billion in 401(k) gains over the last decade because of fossil fuels, new research finds (Fortune)

2024.05.21 One approach would be for governments to hold the oil majors to their previously published voluntary targets

Top oil firms’ climate pledges failing on almost every metric, report finds (The Guardian)
Oil Change International's Press Release<
Report summary here Download the full report (63 page PDF) here

Ocean water is rushing miles underneath the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ with potentially dire impacts on sea level rise (CNN)

2024.05.21 Coal-fired generation in the U.S. was already plummeting, because burning coal costs more than new-build renewables

The coal industry, running on fumes, likely to shrink more with new EPA power plant rule (USA Today)

2024.05.20 Phytoplankton density is shifting with climate-change driven warming oceans

Why the world's oceans are changing colour (BBC)

2024.05.20 Raising PV efficiency should make solar electricity less expensive, and produce more in a smaller space

All-perovskite tandem PV cell based on carboranes hits 27.2% efficiency (pv magazine)

2024.05.20 Make money while reducing GHG emissions - it's not environment vs economy; it's the environment IS the economy

“We saved $17,000 in one hour:” Australia’s first electric truck show gives taste of the future (The Driven)

2024.05.19 Each time we have to repair and replace damaged infrastructure caused by climate change, your standard of living takes a hit.

UK rail faces fight to stay on track as climate crisis erodes routes (The Guardian)

2024.05.19 Shore power is a thing and is as clean as local grid (and most of those are improving with time)

Ships in some UK port cities create more air pollution than cars (The Guardian)

2024.05.18 For a family of four, that's $3,400 and counting, to make climate change worse.

You paid $850 for the Trans Mountain pipeline. Here’s why (CBC - 6-minute video)

2024.05.17 Now do you understand why your standard of living is falling? Petro-subsidies and climate change.

Economic damage from climate change six times worse than thought – report (The Guardian)

2024.05.17 Rail could have cleaned up their act, but chose not to act. Now, electric trucks are going to eat their long-haul lunch.

Electric Trucks Are Already Lower Carbon Than Rail In Much Of North America (Clean Technica)

2024.05.17 Canada is a climate change action laggard, and eastern Canada is doing better on emissions reductions.

The great Canadian climate divide (National Observer)

2024.05.16 We could do this with smart people designing truly smart grids for smart applications

World’s biggest grids could be powered by renewables, with little or no storage – if we are smart enough (Renew Economy)

2024.05.16 Individuals should have to be doing the heavy lifting here, but as industry and governments aren't pulling their weight ...

Revving up individual's climate action: How our plates and wheels can drive down carbon emissions (Phys.org)

2024.05.16 Nope, it's easy. Put a realistic price on GHG emissions and stop funding the CCS scam.

Coal proves hard to dislodge from US power system (Reuters)

2024.05.16 Fossil fuel growth has stalled while wind and solar are growing

‘Turning point in energy history’ as solar, wind start pushing fossil fuels off the grid (Yale)

2024.05.16 Carbon pricing works, major meta-study finds

"Based on 483 effect sizes extracted from 80 causal ex-post evaluations across 21 carbon pricing schemes, we find that introducing a carbon price has yielded immediate and substantial emission reductions for at least 17 of these policies, despite the low level of prices in most instances. Statistically significant emissions reductions range between –5% to –21% across the schemes (–4% to –15% after correcting for publication bias)."
Systematic review and meta-analysis of ex-post evaluations on the effectiveness of carbon pricing (Nature communications)

2024.05.15 Now do you understand why your costs are rising, your income isn't and your standard of living is falling?

Economic damage from climate change six times worse than thought – report (The Guardian)
Let the expert quoted in the article really drive that point home for you:
"Bilal said that purchasing power, which is how much people are able to buy with their money, would already be 37% higher than it is now without global heating seen over the past 50 years. This lost wealth will spiral if the climate crisis deepens, comparable to the sort of economic drain often seen during wartime."

2024.05.15 Nice graph of the automakers box-score on shifting to sustainable - worth the click on the link.

Automakers Continue To Lobby For Global Heating, Against EVs (CleanTechnica)

2024.05.15 The shift to clean energy in the U.S. picks up the pace

In a milestone, the US exceeds 5 million solar installations (electrek)

2024.05.15 And free fuel for years or decades

Wind turbines pay back life cycle carbon emissions in less than 2 years, NZ study finds (Renew Economy)

2024.05.15 In ancient times, we also let livestock graze in pastures in rotation (ley farming) to accomplish much the same results.

Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2m [petrol] cars, researchers say (The Guardian)

2024.05.15 Interesting factoid, but we need more renewables online to charge the storage, pumped or battery.

Battery storage is about to overtake global capacity of pumped hydro (Renew Economy)

2024.05.15 Once renewables can deliver more than total grid demand, like Germany hit on May 13, BESS can spread the joy

Germany solar power output jumps to record highs (Reuters)

2024.05.15 Regulatory barriers and big banks that make big money off big oil and gas with government guarantees?

Why cheap renewables are stalling (The Conversation)

2024.05.14 What an opportunity for a clean energy demonstration and education site

BC Hydro to dismantle decommissioned natural gas power plant in Port Moody (Global News)

2024.05.14 If you don't want to be sued by Exxon Mobil, it's time to divest your shares. Ain't delusion grand?

Column: Exxon Mobil is suing its shareholders to silence them about global warming (Yahoo)

2024.05.14 Short term profits are more important than the survival of their customer base; are we going to end up with just BYD and Tesla?

Nearly all major car companies are sabotaging EV transition, and Japan is worst, study finds (The Driven)

2024.05.14 Countries - as representatives of humans living in them - need to have more power than fossil fuel multinationals

Fossil fuel firms forcing countries to compensate them, Mary Robinson says (The Guardian)

2024.05.14 If we actually want renewables, we have to make space for them in the commercial market. We could start by ending subsidies for fossil fuels.

Renewable diesel glut hits US refiner profits, threatens nascent industry (Reuters)

2024.05.14 All part of the oil industry's deny, delay, deflect, disinform campaign

Solutions: short to mid-haul overland - high speed rail; over water: electric; save the biofuels for long-haul.
‘Magical thinking’: hopes for sustainable jet fuel not realistic, report finds (The Guardian)

2024.05.13 This BESS alone has almost the delivery capacity of the polluting fossil methane plant planned for Napanee

Canada's largest battery storage facility coming to region (Recorder & Times)

2024.05.13 If climate-change-halo countries (sorry Canada, that's not you) want to shift this, GHG import tariffs are the way.

China and India still rely heavily on coal, climate targets remain ‘very difficult’ to achieve (CNBC)

2024.05.13 Drop-in biofuels: still a viable solution for reducing net GHG emissions quickly at minimal cost

CSL biofuel program makes a comeback (Offshore Energy)

2024.05.13 Yes, 'the climate is always changing'. But not like this in human memory.

Chemical analysis of natural CO2 rise over the last 50,000 years shows that today's rate is 10 times faster (Phys.org)

2024.05.13 Q: Why is this easy for Portugal? A: It isn't; they have been working at it for over a decade.

Renewable energy averages 95 pct share in Portugal in month of April, 90 pct in year to date (Renew Economy)

2024.05.12 2 things. Not V2G, but V2C plus net metering. Will the trucks be back before peak demand starts?

Delaware waste trucks to push power back into the grid (Smart Energy International)

2024.05.11 If a community didn't take the fossil methane bait, they could have something like this.

125-megawatt energy storage facility to be built near Woodstock (London Free Press)

2024.05.11 A Wyoming media outlet found a PV hater, and tried to make a story out of it, ignoring farms that will get a sweet revenue stream

Massive $1.2 Billion Panel Solar Farm Planned For South Cheyenne (Cowboy State Dailiy)

2024.05.09 Looks like the Australian electricity market in New South Wales got Enron'ed by coal generators

There is a solution: ramp up renewables generation hard (Australia has a super solar resource and wind power), and install more battery storage as fast they can buy it. Then, mark those coal generators as unreliable power, so they'll be last invited to supply power to the grid in the future.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/energy-giants-burst-market-limits-as-3gw-of-coal-goes-missing-and-consumers-pay-the-price/ (Renew Economy)

2024.05.09 So, IESO can buy battery storage capacity at a lower cost than a natural gas plant equivalent generation, but buys the NG anyway?

So, IESO is going to lock Ontario electricity ratepayers / taxpayers into 3-4 decades of additional GHG emissions, rising generation costs (prices) due to GHG pricing, and polluting the air in eastern Ontario instead of saving money on the initial purchase. Seriously?!
According to the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, the cost per MW for peak power production is 60% lower using the battery solution instead of new build natural gas generation.
Did I mention that the NG plant proponent also offered a $4.8 million dollar sweetener to the Napanee town council? (Hamilton Spectator)

2024.05.08 Did the Alberta Premier tell a fib about renewable energy? Now, we'll see renewable invextment money flee the province.

‘Ministerial desires’: a behind-the-scenes timeline of the Alberta government’s push for a renewables pause (The Narwhal)

2024.05.08 What else do we need to be told to understand the situation? How are we debating the existence of a 'carbon tax', instead of increasing it dramatically?

We asked 380 top climate scientists what they felt about the future ... (The Guardian)

2024.05.08 And yet it's as though our governments think we can fix this by burning more fossil fuels - keep increasing those subsidies.

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target (The Guardian)

2024.05.08 This is what a truly 'smart grid ' would enable, but it require a degree of price signal intelligence still generally missing from the solution set.

Buildings can offer gigawatts of new peak capacity as ‘batteries’ (pv magazine)

2024.05.07 Shell's Shell game - where's the captured carbon? Nowhere, complete fiction, but they took the money.

I guess it's easier to make record profits if you sell something you never had. We used to call that stealing. In the oil industry, it's BAU, or is it another government subsidy?
Shell sold millions of carbon credits for carbon that was never captured, report finds (CBC)

2024.05.07 How bad is it when the captured AER has to throw a penalty flag? But it did take 3 years.

Calgary-based oil and gas company fined for violating methane emission rules (Global News)

2024.05.06 LNG is not a climate solution; it is politcal window-dressing to delay actual climate solutions.

The inescapable math of emissions, LNG, and international trade (Canadian Climate Institute)

2024.05.06 Did the Alberta Premier tell a fib about renewable energy? Now, we'll see renewable invextment money flee the province.

‘Ministerial desires’: a behind-the-scenes timeline of the Alberta government’s push for a renewables pause (The Narwhal)

2024.05.06 The system is working as the oil industry designed it.

Oil Companies Contaminated a Family Farm. The Courts and Regulators Let the Drillers Walk Away. (ProPublica)

2024.05.06 Alberta doubles down on killing renewables

New rules on renewable energy are driving away investment, Alberta government told (Globe and Mail)

2024.05.05 Does anybody actually sell real, verified carbon credits?

Shell’s Shell Game: Selling Smoke and Mirrors with ‘Phantom’ Carbon Credits! (Royal Dutch Shell PLC.com)

2024.05.05 Survey by Volvo

Study says 64% of Canadians are eying a ZEV as their next car (Drive Tesla))

2024.05.04 So, how does paying a few cents a litre on fossil fuels stack up against losing your newly uninsured house to a climate-change induced flood or wildfire?

State Farm announces major insurance policy change affecting tens of thousands of households: 'This decision was not made lightly' (TCD)

2024.05.04 When it gets really hot, moving air isn't enough to keep us safe.

Fans won't cool you down when temperature goes up, new study finds (CBC)

2024.05.03 Does it make you wonder what they're hiding? Spoiler: they leak a lot more than they report.

Enbridge tells staff to vote against more thorough emissions reporting (The Narwhal)

2024.05.03 Electric car fires make news because they're rare. Gas car fires: daily event.

Car Fires by Vehicle Type (meme) (CleanTechnica)

2024.05.03 Dropping battery prices and higher production volumes mean EVs will be more affordable

What EV skeptics are missing as the industry hits some growing pains (Business Insider)

2024.05.03 When we have cooked the pollinators, what are you going to eat?

Scientists Reveal 'Major' New Factor in Bumblebee Decline (Newsweek)

2024.05.03 AB has killed the appetite for renewables investment, and NG isn't showing up for work, so here's an opportunity for MB and BC renewables

Varcoe: TransAlta shelves wind project, pauses three other developments, amid upheaval in Alberta power market (Calgary Herald)

2024.05.03 Ideological policy generally makes for bad policy

A senior Alberta official found the renewables pause ‘very troubling.’ He was pressured to support it anyway (The Narwhal)

2024.05.03 As we watch greenwashers face legal challenges and massive fines, we will also see companies investing in genuinely sustainable products.

What’s the difference between greenwashing and lying? (National Observer)

2024.05.02 AB has killed the appetite for renewables, and NG isn't showing up for work, so here's an opportunity for MB and BC renewables

Storing energy with compressed air is about to have its moment of truth (Ars Technica)

2024.05.02 Renewables plus batteries means less expensive baseload electricity because NO fuel required

Neoen sees more “baseload renewable” contracts as it rolls out five new big battery projects (Renew Economy)

2024.05.02 Same news, but different headline than 'carbon price goes up and so do emissions'

Canada’s emissions drop to lowest in 25 years, barring pandemic lows (Global News)

2024.05.02 About that list of things that battery-electric drive will never be able to do ...

A fully-electric 10,000 ton container ship has begun service equipped with over 50,000 kWh in batteries (electrek)

2024.05.02 Expect crop failures in India in 2024

Summer heat hits Asia early, killing dozens as one expert calls it the "most extreme event" in climate history (CBS News)

2024.05.02 Maybe Genessee CCUS isn't feasible because Boundary Dam showed CCUS can't hit its advertised capture numbers.

Missed emissions goals at Sask. carbon capture project raising questions (CBC)

2024.05.02 Another CCUS (allegedly CCS) mirage goes up in smoke.

Weird, not financially feasible, given the value of CCUS (not CCS) is in producing more oil and gas via enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
Plans for $2.4B carbon capture and storage project near Edmonton have been cancelled (CBS)

2024.05.02 What is the oil industry trying to hide? Oh, right, methane and carbon dioxide emissions.

Methane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitors (CBC)

2024.05.01 The oil industry consciously and repeatedly deceived people about climate change?! BAU.

Here’s how Big Oil repeatedly misled the public over their private downplaying of climate crisis (euronews)

2024.04.30 More questionable carbon credits

World’s Largest Forestry Offsets Project Has License Revoked (BNN Bloomberg)

2024.04.29 It does change the math on energy managment and costs, and the trend continues

Battery costs have plummeted by 90% in less than 15 years, turbocharging renewable energy shift (Techspot)

2024.04.26 You know who isn't funding methane leaks surveillance satellites? The biggest leakers.

The eyes in the sky fighting climate change, one methane leak at a time (Financial Times)

2024.04.26 Alberta needs a reliable, responsive grid - instead of getting Enron'ed by the 'natural gas' industry.

Amusingly, the lowest cost electricity available to the Alberta grid now appears to be in-province renewables backed up by substantial storage, followed by imported renewable energy from Manitoba. Despite the low wholesale prices of fossil methane in North America's current glut, NG generation keeps on not showing up for work in Alberta. As a result, reining in that sector's bad corporate behaviour is an opportunity for even lower electricity prices.
Opinion: Alberta’s electricity grid needs energy storage to avoid brownouts (Calgary Herald)

2024.04.26 Using massive amounts of water during a drought to produce more GHG emissions and profits for a foreign company and risking property and infrastructure damage for Canadians. BAU, carry on.

Fracking Quakes Have Surged Near Fort St. John (The Tyee)

2024.04.26 At $10 a litre, 6 years after the fact, and penalty likely tax-deductible, that's not a slap, it's a parking ticket.

In GHG terms, about 670 tonnes of CO2. And $10 a litre doesn't cover environmental damage, let alone the cost of actually cleaning up their own mess.
Cenovus slapped with $2.5M fine for 2018 offshore oil spill (CBC)

2024.04.26 Environmental experts say 'carbon bomb'; Barclays says 'sustainable'.

Barclays accused of greenwashing over financing for Italian oil company (The Guardian)

2024.04.26 'Gish gallop' is definitely my new term for today.

‘Climate denial’ ad pulled from The Australian after being labelled ‘deceptive’ (The Guardian)

2024.04.25 (GHGEP-14) Until recently, pricing GHG pollution was industry's preferred tool for emissions reduction.

So, what changed in the past 2 years? Oh, right, that approach is actually working now, reducing emissions and fossil fuel sales.
Carbon emissions are dropping—fast—in Europe - Thanks to a price mechanism that actually works (The Economist)

2024.04.25 As world 'leadership' has given up on seriously addressing climate change, and mitigation, people have to shift to adaptation

Tips to help Canadians survive climate damage and disaster (National Observer)

2024.04.25 As world 'leadership' has given up on seriously addressing climate change, and mitigation, people have to shift to adaptation

Tips to help Canadians survive climate damage and disaster (National Observer)

2024.04.25 I have respect for Carbon Brief, but as more methane emissions are being detected, I think this is too optimistic - so far.

We might be closer to changing course on climate change than we realized (Vox)

2024.04.25 Novel approach - calling fossil fuels bluff on carbon capture: put up or shut down (in the next 25 years)

New rule compels US coal-fired power plants to capture emissions – or shut down (The Guardian)

2024.04.24 It will take a non-trivial amount of energy to collect, pulverize and distribute concrete pebbles to be effective

A New Use for Old Concrete Could Revolutionize Carbon Capture (Popular Mechanics)

2024.04.24 I would be more excited if it spoke about methane removal and prevention from sources other than the fossil fuels sector

Opinion: One small reference to carbon removal in 2024 budget, one big leap for Canada? (Globe and Mail)

2024.04.24 The myth keeps coming back, but the value of the materials makes recycling a financial no-brainer

Battery Recycling Shatters the Myth of Electric-Vehicle Waste (Bloomberg)

2024.04.24 Huge progress, but not quite done yet

What happens after your country runs on 99 percent renewable electricity? (The Verge)

2024.04.24 Gas and coal accounted for just 2.4% of power generation in the UK for a short period

Share of electricity generated by fossil fuels in Great Britain drops to record low (The Guardian)

2024.04.24 Hello FortisBC, people see what you're doing there.

Residents file lawsuit against major utility company for alleged deceptive practice: 'We need to be doing everything we can' (TCD)

2024.04.24 Using whole logs from primary forests for wood pellets exports as heating fuel

New report claims whole logs used for B.C. wood pellet production (TCD)

2024.04.23 Sea level rise (SLR) is part of climate change (global warming), and it's not gentle.

Coastal cities not safe from sea level rise warns oceanographer (Cosmos)

2024.04.23 It's going to get uncomfortable for humans

These European countries could lose more than 30 days of comfortable weather a year by 2100 (euronews)

2024.04.23 Another GHG feedback loop triggered

Northern permafrost region on track to become carbon source instead of sink due to global warming (DowntToEarth)

2024.04.23 Don't want to buy your PV panels from China, then here's another option

India Emerges as a Major Exporter of Solar Panels (Oilprice.com)

2024.04.23 Cheaper, green electricity are just bonuses.

Denmark plans massive 10GW offshore wind tender to insure against “Putin’s black gas” (Renew Economy)

2024.04.23 After 40 years now of driving electric (yes, 40), I agree that 'range anxiety' is much overstated in the corporate media

New research on EV car usage challenges common range anxiety phenomenon: 'Need not be a concern' (TCD)
I started doing trade shows in the 1980s talking to people about the potential of using electric cars (yes, we had electric cars back then - even back in the 1800s) for some or most of their driving. Even then, the usual response was too slow, too expensive, and can't go far enough to meet the person's needs. So, I would ask, on a typical day (not the 10-day drive across the continent 'vacation' trip), how far did they drive per day. The answer was almost always in the range of 60-100 miles per day (100 to 180 km). So, I would then ask if their insurance premiums reflected them driving 50,000 miles (80,000 km) a year or more. Then, they would say they really drove about 10,000 to 12,000 miles (16,000 to 18,000 km) a year, which is 33 miles per day (53 km). Even back in the 1980s, with lead-acid batteries, in an Ottawa winter, we could do 70-80 km a day recharging on a regular 120-volt household outlet. And the EVs and batteries today are massively better with much longer range than 40 years ago.

2024.04.21 Natural gas, renewables, conservation and efficiency have made up for ending coal-fired electricity production

Powering down: end times for the UK’s final coal-fired station (The Guardian)

2024.04.20 Enbridge profits trump housing affordability or climate change mitigation in Doug Ford's world.

Ontario’s Bill 165 will increase energy costs and fuel global warming (Hamilton Spectator)

2024.04.20 After billions in taxpayer money and decades of greenwashing (er, I mean 'research'),

CCUS still doesn't work to address reducing GHG emissions. As the underpinning for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), it IS effective at increasing oil and gas production, GHG emissions and oil & gas industry profits.
(CCS originally meant Carbon Capture and SEQUESTRATION (it was locked away). That isn't what the industry does now. Instead, they are doing CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization and STORAGE), because they reuse the carbon dioxide gas to repressurize old wells to get more hydrocarbons out, and some of that carbon dioxide comes back out of the wells. But worse, more hydrocarbons are produced to create more GHG emissions, so CCUS is a net negative for reducing GHG emissions. See what they did there? And if you're a taxpayer, you're financing this and more oil & gas industry profits.)
Big Oil’s Carbon Capture Conundrum (Oilprice.com)

2024.04.19 (GHGEP-13) Today, I yield this space to Richard Cannings.

2024.04.19 Save money, save the environment, reduce climate change, reduce oil spills. Downside: oil industry profits reduced.

Making their own electricity with solar panels to reduce diesel fuel purchases.
First Nation solar farm in B.C. expected to save 1.1 million litres of diesel a year (Castanet)

2024.04.19 If the fossils don't like your data, evidence or conclusions, they'll just lie (I mean 'report incorrectly') to ensure they fit the desired narrative.

UN livestock emissions report seriously distorted our work, say experts (The Guardian)

2024.04.19 It's only 'carbon capture' if it stays captured

‘Wake-up call’: pipeline leak exposes carbon capture safety gaps, advocates say (The Guardian)

2024.04.18 (GHGEP-12) Gas goes up 2% - giant uproar by the right-wing politicos. Up 11% - yawns.

2024.04.18 Is atypical flooding and storm damage better than more measured efforts to improve local climate conditions?

Playing God With the Atmosphere (The Atlantic)

2024.04.18 So your neighbour bought an EV. Did you thank them for lowering your electrical bill?

Study finds EVs are lowering electricity bills for all customers, not just EV owners (Charged EV News)

2024.04.18 Electric drive is starting to show up in real-life freight applications, displacing diesel

How electric trucks are becoming the norm for moving cargo (CNBC)

2024.04.18 Remember diesel-gate? Will this become hybrid-gate?

Toyota’s plug-in hybrids emit four times more CO2 than company claims (The Driven)

2024.04.18 A community-owned wind farm is expected to generate enough electricity to power 50,000 homes

Brits to own ‘UK’s largest’ people-powered wind farm (Energy Live News)

2024.04.18 I hope this can carry heavy and bulk cargo, as we need replacements for ice roads

Google co-founder to test massive zeppelin-like airship with electric motors: 'Now we must show that this can reliably fly' (TCD)

2024.04.17 BNN got the headline half-right; consumer interest in a poll is not the same as sales (real demand)

As personal EV demand wanes, the business case for switching grows (BNN Bloomberg)
"German coal mines spew 184 times more methane than what the country reports to the United Nations, according to a new analysis by Ember."

2024.04.16 (GHGEP-11) Let's talk about methane - the GHG the gas industry doesn't want to talk about.

So, while we label the GHG emissions pricing program as the 'carbon tax' (remember, not a tax, not about carbon), and the fossil fuel sector chants 'decarbonization', methane is 104 times (or more) as potent a GHG as carbon dioxide on a 10-year time scale. We don't have the luxury of spending 100 years, or even 20, fixing our GHG problem. Methane lasts about 10-12 years in the atmosphere. So, it produces it's negative impacts in the short term, while carbon dioxide lasts a 100 years or more in the atmosphere. Short version, methane is 'front-end-loaded', so dealing with it produces more benefit faster than focusing on 'decarbonization'. To be clear, we need to address both, but if had to choose if the next dollar removed a kg of methane or a kg of carbon dioxide, I would go after the methane. There are two ways to address methane, as we do now for carbon dioxide, and the same approach should be viable. Focus first on reducing or stopping the production of more methane, and second on removing the current inventory from the atmosphere. That's because capture and removal is hard (methane is about 2 parts per billion in the atmosphere, so you have to process a lot of air to enounter a little methane), while fixing leaks in natural gas pipelines and storage is easier to pin-point and repair. Also, we can reduce our consumption of natural gas (e.g., heat pumps, electric and solar water heaters, electric stoves ...) with off-the-shelf solutions thereby reducing fugitive emissions and health care impacts and costs. We have carbon credits, so it's time to create methane credits valued at 100 times the value as carbon dioxide avoidance/removal. (The Canadian government currently values methane destruction at just 25 times that of carbon dioxide in their nascent landfill gas GHG program.)

2024.04.16 and what we're learning about methane emissions is we have been fed still more fossil fuel lies ...

German Coal Mines Emit Much More Methane Than Reported, Study Says (Bloomberg)
"German coal mines spew 184 times more methane than what the country reports to the United Nations, according to a new analysis by Ember."

2024.04.16 Low-Methane Natural Gas?!!

Low-Methane Natural Gas Captures Almost Half the US Market (BNN Bloomberg)
So, as I did, perhaps you wonder what 'Low-methane natural gas' might be, as processed natural gas as used for household heating is 97% methane. So, low methane natural gas is what, 96% methane?
Turns out that 'low-methane natural gas' is just another fudge term for 'responsibly sourced natural gas' (RSG), itself a greenwashing fudge word, emmm, I mean 'voluntary industry certification' for regular old processed natural gas, a major greenhouse gas, but somehow produced with very slightly less environmental damage than the old way.

2024.04.16 If you remove GHG pricing now, you will pay in damage and insurance premiums later - if you can get coverage at all.

Climate risks in Canada a multibillion-dollar problem, but it doesn’t have to be: Panel (Daily Commercial News)

2024.04.16 We could make real progress on methane, but not if we keep getting distracted by cow burps.

Every time you blame cows for climate change, an oil executive laughs (Euronews)

2024.04.15 (GHGEP-10) The carbon fuel industry want Canada to scrap the 'carbon tax', because it makes home heating expensive for homeowners.

The oil and gas industry has always been willing to gouge consumers in pricing their products, so their agenda is not about keeping costs down for consumers.
However, homeowners should think about the financial consequences of ditching the price on GHG emissions and allowing planetary temperatures to continue to rise. Not only will Canadian consumers lose their Canadian Carbon Rebate, but their costs for homeowners insurance and building materials for new housing will also rise.
When fires draw near, insurance companies put homes on hold
In a time when we apparently have a 'housing supply crisis', wouldn't it be a good idea to protect the houses we have from severe damage and destruction? And keeping the costs of building materials down? And keeping our insurance costs down?
That's what we can do by shutting down planetary warming, by reducing GHG emissions and producing more waste heat, by stopping burning of fossil fuels. And, as an added incentive, for most, moving to heat pumps and electric vehicles will reduce energy and maintenance costs compared to using fossil fuels.

2024.04.15 A couple of weeks ago, I said we would learn a lot when the methane satellites started reporting ...

Coal, gas giants on notice over methane plume (NewDaily)
"Data released by the Australian Conservation Foundation on Tuesday showed Glencore’s Hail Creek open cut coal mine released more methane pollution in 16 days than the company reported over an entire year."
“And these are just the emissions we know about because the satellite happened to catch them.”

2024.04.15 This is kind of simple research and analysis that actually reaches a conclusion I love to see.

A Tale Of Two Tires Proves That EVs Aren’t Rubber Eaters (CleanTechnica)
Some things to note about driving EVs. In general, their INSTANT thottle response and maximum torque from zero RPM does tend to encourage what my son refers to as 'driving with enthusiasm'. I understand. However, most EVs today do come with eco-mode or traction-mode settings that essentially prevent tire spinning and heavy wear on tires. Excess tire wear in EVs, as with gassers, is withing the control of the driver.

2024.04.15 Renewables plus storage for a reliable, clean grid

California exceeds 100% of energy demand with renewables over a record 30 days (electrek)

2024.04.15 Climate change (droughts, floods) makes hydro power less reliable

Canada's Hydro-Heavy Decarbonization Strategy in Jeopardy (Oilprice.com)
Still, the reservoirs are big investments, and could be used with pumped storage powered by renewable energy. While the demand for electricity is very time sensitive, the time of day water is pumped into the reservoirs is not. Which makes them an ideal load for night-time wind power which is often curtailed for lack of demand at night.

2024.04.15 Would the gasser automakers lie to you about how clean plug-in hybrids are? Yes. Remember "diesel-gate"?

Plug-in hybrids pollute 3.5 times more than reported, study reveals (ynet news)
"The findings were particularly striking for plug-in hybrid vehicles, where real-world emissions were found to be 3.5 times higher than the figures claimed by manufacturers. On average, these vehicles were reported to emit 40 grams of CO2 per kilometer, but the actual emissions measured were 139 grams per kilometer, which is comparable to traditional, non-electric-assisted models."

2024.04.14 At less than $25 per spilled gallon, I don't think this qualifies as a "high price to pay for a preventable disaster"

Rather, being less than the environmental impact cost of the redidual spill damage, and as the fines are likely a tax-deductible expense, I imagine this is just seen as a 'cost of doing business', and incentive to cut corners on preventative measures again in the future. Remember, as the spilled oil weathers, it will continue to release carbon dioxide, the predominant GHG.

2024.04.14 Last year, global operating coal capacity increased by 2%

Record Surge in Global Coal Capacity Led by China (Oilprice.com)

2024.04.14 ‘Basically it’s a propaganda campaign.'

How to spot five of the fossil fuel industry’s biggest disinformation tactics (The Guardian)

2024.04.13 Yes that is BILLIONs per year. That has the oil industry's attention, so they're dissing EVs at every opportunity.

Electric cars and trucks can slash Australia’s $60 billion fossil fuel import bill (The Driven)

2024.04.13 Long-lived LED lights reduce fall injuries, as well as saving money

DOE Finalizes Efficiency Standards for Lightbulbs to Save Americans Billions on Household Energy Bills (CleanTechnica)

2024.04.13 PV for zero-emissions electricity, but solar thermal for zero-emissions water and space heating

Homeowner shares success story with often-forgotten type of solar panels: 'We had no trouble with it' (TCD)

2024.04.13 I find it truly troubling that we have reached this point.

2024.04.12 (GHGEP-9) Funny story. The 'carbon tax' was the oil industry's idea. Now they hate it.

Seems weird, right? Why would an industry want something that makes their product more expensive? Possibly because they are less impactful on them than other approaches like hard emissions caps or taxes the industry would actually pay, rather than fobbing the costs off on consumers.
Carbon Taxes: The Oil Industry’s Favorite Climate Solution
So, why do they have such a hate for it now? Because it's actually working to reduce GHG emissions, mostly by reducing demand for fossil fuels, and it's putting more money in the pockets of most Canadians.

2024.04.12 This is why the Ontario government torpedoed renewable electricity; it would have lowered consumer costs.

Instead, we have been sold an expensive bill of goods featuring fossil methane ('natural' gas) and nuclear for decades to come.
UK renewable boom plunges electricity prices (Energy Live News)

2024.04.12 Is it misunderstanding or misinformation when Ontario's government says it won't require EV chargers in new housing anymore?

The Ontario Building Code has NEVER required EV chargers to be installed in new non-MURB housing.
The 2018 Building Code Amendments require "Every new single detached, semi-detached and row townhouse shall be provided with a rough-in for future electric vehicle supply equipment. (charging station)", but not an actual charger / charging station / electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). Essentially, it's pulling the wire and setting aside a breaker in the service panel for the equivalent of a stove, clothes dryer or central air conditioner. This is pretty inexpensive when building the house and multiple such circuits are likely being installed at the same time and walls are still open to make stringing cable easy. It is much more expensive to run that cable after the house is completed. Homeowners are not being saddled with the cost of the actual charger as part of a new house; they can install one if they want one later. Having the 240-volt outlet in a garage or by the driveway can be handy for things other than EV chargers, such as electric welders, high-power pressure washers, or actually putting a stove or clothes dryer in the garage.
It seems a curious place to try to save $500 on something that adds at least that much to the resale value, when the same government is forcing new homeowners to take natural gas connections costing over $4,000, when many won't want that when electric appliances, electric water heaters and winter-grade heat-pumps are less expensive to install and operate over the life of the building - especially as fossil fuels continue to rise in price.

2024.04.12 And by 2050, electric vehicles can cut [U.S.] consumer costs by $200 billion — each year

Electric cars are saving all Americans billions on their utility bills — not just EV drivers (Quartz)

2024.04.12 A leading climate expert says "In general, the 2023 temperature anomaly has come out of the blue"

Uncharted Territory Dead Ahead (CounterPunch)

2024.04.12 Remember when the U.S. automakers got ambushed by Japanese imports in the 1970s and 1980s? Buckle up.

EVs are taking over the rest of the world much faster than the US (electrek)

2024.04.12 Oceans are about 70% of the planet's surface (and increasing), so if they're warming, it matters.

Scientists at Spain meeting sound alarm over ocean warming (Phys.org)

2024.04.12 As Canada debates whether it should even have a 'carbon tax', it remains a GHG emissions rogue state.

Germany and the U.K. have cut their climate pollution in half. Here’s how Canada stacks up (National Observer)

2024.04.12 While Alberta's government can't figure out how renewables work, the rest of the world didn't fail because of an eclipse.

"NREL showed a live stream of the passing of the eclipse and its impact on the grid. As expected, the lights didn’t go out – in fact they got switched on as the eclipse swept across the nation"
"A graph of the California grid (top) showed that the downturn in solar power was almost entirely made up by a jump in battery storage"
Chart of the Day: Batteries step in as solar eclipse sweeps across US (Renew Economy)

2024.04.12 Google Search is a for-profit tool. Did you think it wouldn't take fossil fuels money? Or use AI for that?

Oilsands disinformation is worse than you think (National Observer)

2024.04.12 A PV recycling crisis? More fossil fuel disinfo.

Perhaps they should figure out how to recycle their own plastic waste. Plastic is a petrochemical product.
Queensland backs solar recycling pilot, starting with “thousands” of rooftop panels (Renew Economy)

This is about when PV recycling should be showing up, as the first real volume of early PV panel installations are starting to fail after decades of service. By comparison, plastic pollution dates back to the 1940s, and the petrochemical industry still doesn't have a viable plan for capturing waste plastic, let alone actually recycling it for beneficial reuse.

2024.04.11 (GHGEP-8) Why do the oil and gas industries hate GHG emissions pricing? Because it's working.

For this item, I'm just going to let Michael Barnard explain it to you. It's a bit long, but I could not have written this better, and why duplicate the work?
Canada’s Carbon Price Working, So Of Course It’s Being Attacked (CleanTechnica)

2024.04.11 Romania has joined the big battery storage system chat

Romania connects largest battery storage system to date (pv magazine)

2024.04.11 You know what really complements intermittent zero emissions renewable energy? Energy storage.

Zen plans giant 1GW pumped hydro project at former coal pit to address solar duck (Renew Economy)

2024.04.11 Another big photovoltaic farm comes on line, this time in Portugal

Renewable energy giant flips the switch on major solar farm that could power thousands of homes: 'An important contribution' (TCD)

2024.04.11 The wheels seem to keep falling off for-profit, voluntary carbon credits markets and certifiers

The 'market' solution the fossil fuel industry wanted seems easily gamed and corrupted.
Climate target organisation faces staff revolt over carbon-offsetting plan (The Guardian)

2024.04.10 (GHGEP-7) Why does Canada have a GHG emissions pricing regime?

According to a number of Canadian politicians with popularity issues, it's purpose is to make Canadians poorer.

But that's not really it. The real driver is international trade. Canada is a trading nation. International bodies have been signaling for years that carbon tariffs on imports are coming. Europe already has a 'carbon border adjustment mechanism'. In short, that's a tax on imbedded GHG emissions pricing imposed by the importing country if the exporting country's GHG pricing is lower than the importing country. In short, if Italy imports grain from Canada, and Italy has a GHG price and Canada doesn't, then Italy applies the tax to the imports - which still puts a GHG-price on the grain for the Italian customer, but the tax revenue all accrues to Italy - not Canada, while the Canadian farmer still loses the sale because the customer sees the higher price. Now, if Canada applies the GHG pricing in-country, and that leads to shifting to lower GHG emissions energy sources, then the Canadian grain looks less expensive as an import overseas, and no GHG border adjustment gets paid to the Italian government; that money stays in Canada. So, once other countries start imposing those tariffs or there is an international system of ranking the GHG emissions intensity of each country, which way do you think Canada should go? Lower overall costs due to shifts to lower GHG-emissions choices and no money collected by the other country (money stays in Canada), or making Canadian products more expensive due to higher energy costs and the perceived price overseas is higher (uncompetitive), and the GHG-pricing is applied anyway, but collected in the other country?

The World Bank "Carbon Pricing" Dashboard

2024.04.10 And yet, so many of us have climate change fatigue or actively work against making necessary changes

UN climate chief presses for faster action, says humans have 2 years left ‘to save the world’ (AP)

2024.04.10 Well, that should kill the leaky Canadian fracked LNG export market to Europe

EU lawmakers adopt law to hit fossil fuel imports with methane emissions limit (Reuters)

2024.04.10 Renewables keep coming on-line

Europe’s largest PV plant goes online (pv magazine)

2024.04.10 Europe's emissions trading system works - 38% down in 20 years, while economy has grown

The EU’s Secret to Slashing Emissions (The Nation)

2024.04.10 The minerals used in an EV battery are a tiny fraction of those used to keep filling a gas tank for years.

Game-changing revolution going on in the EV battery world (National Observer)

2024.04.09 (GHGEP-6) About that 'carbon tax'. It's not about carbon. Carbon isn't a greenhouse gas (GHG).

2024.04.09 On the 10-year timescale, methane is 104 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a GHG

Methane from landfills is detectable from space – and driving the climate crisis (The Guardian)

2024.04.09 It's about cutting costs, not the environment- so make coal more expensive to speed the transition.

US power system set to cut coal use to record lows (Reuters)

2024.04.09 One planet, one atmosphere, one global climate - no free riders or we all lose

China’s Seaborne Coal Imports Rise Despite Projections of Flat Volumes (Oilprice.com)

2024.04.09 Note the amount of storage for this solar energy project - that makes for dispatchable power.

Major energy developer secures stake in expansive project that could change the future of power storage: 'We look forward to contributing' (TCD)

2024.04.09 Compressed air energy storage (CAES) project going ahead in Australia

Compressed air energy storage at a crossroads (pv magazine)

2024.04.09 NZ Climate Change Commission raises facts on methane emissions vs. lobbyist assertions

[NZ] Climate Change Commission lays down wero [challenge] over methane targets (newsroom)
"There is, the commission said, “no evidence to support weakening the current 2050 target, and enough to consider strengthening it”. The evidence for strengthening extends to the methane components of the 2050 target, as the faster-than-expected deployment of methane-inhibiting technology for livestock overseas means we could set ourselves a more ambitious pathway for slashing methane emissions.
"Specifically, though there has been new research on methane emissions since the target was set, “there has not been an important or notable change in the understanding of the physical science of methane and how it warms the atmosphere”, the commission said. This is an explicit point of difference with the agriculture industry’s submission on the commission’s review.
"Contrary to assertions from the industry that methane’s warming impact has been overstated, the commission also found methane was responsible for the majority of the warming New Zealand had caused to-date. That aligns with separate findings Upton published in 2022, based on research by the climate scientists Dave Frame and Nathanael Melia."

Sometimes a chart really completes a smackdown - like this one. That's a lot of bright green.

2024.04.09 Renewables step up in Europe to start 2024

Incredible 60% of Europe’s Electricity Was Powered by Clean Energy in the First Two Months of 2024 (Good News Network)

2024.04.09 Another advance for heat pumps for residential use (2 tons to 5 tons)

Johnson Controls unveils new residential heat pump series (pv magazine)

2024.04.09 In 2009, the G7 and G20 pledged to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels. Instead, they doubled down.

Hypocrisy In High Places As Developed Countries Continue To Fund Fossil Fuel Development Despite Pledge To Stop (CleanTechnica)

2024.04.08 (GHGEP-5) How do you avoid paying GHG emissions pricing?

The best way is to be a foreign-owned multi-national fossil-fuels extraction company.
The best way for most of us is to stop buying stuff with the GHG emissions price built into it. Which is the point of the fee.
Like gasoline, diesel, heating oil, fossil methane (aka 'natural gas'), propane, methanol, motor oil ...
You don't have to take it all on in one bite. While time is running out, you can take it in pieces.
For example, you can trade in a big gas guzzler on an electric car, and stop buying gasoline or diesel, which include the GHG emissions price. If you're not ready for that, maybe a plug-in hybrid. Or use transit or car-sharing or car-pooling. The Canadian government and several provinces offer rebates and incentives for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, so more free money there for you.
In a way, GHG emissions pricing is a tax; a tax on dumb. Don't be dumb.

2024.04.08 Parts of North America experienced a solar eclipse today, and the impact on electricity supply to grid customers was ... nothing.

Solar eclipse 2024: Texas power grid sees impact (Fox4)
"Despite the drop in solar energy supply easily outpaced demand."

2024.04.05 (GHGEP-4) How to make money on GHG emissions pricing

Here's the thing: pretty much everybody in Canada gets the 'Canada Carbon Rebate', no matter how much they actually paid out in GHG emissions pricing fees. In other words, you get money out, even if you put NO money in.
There's another term for that: FREE MONEY! That OTHER people, probably rich people with expensive toys, pay for. Want a piece of that? For years to come.
Because based on observed behaviour, most people don't want that free money, so more for you, if you want it.
In a way, GHG emissions pricing is a tax; a tax on dumb.

2024.04.05 Methane levels in the atmosphere are now more than 160% higher than their pre-industrial level ...

and it only lasts about 12 years in the atmosphere, so it is not just being replenished, but increased massively in recent times.
No sign of greenhouse gases increases slowing in 2023 (NOAA)

2024.04.05 Renewables continue to grow their share of electricity production.

Texas marks milestone on the road to a greener grid as solar tops coal in March (IEEFA)

2024.04.05 Hey Alberta, the solution is battery storage when natural gas generation doesn't show up for work (again).

Rotating brownouts leave thousands of Albertans without power Friday (CBC)
AESO grid alert caused by 'unexpected outage of thermal generation'
It was the AESO that overestimated the wind power that could be available, not the wind power producers.
Which is unfortunate, as in most of the world, wind power is sufficiently predictable that other jurisdictions see it as a reasonably reliable source of electricity generation.
"Very predictable:" Study shows global wind energy production is stable
Alberta does not pay generators for available capacity (aka spinning reserve or stand-by power), only for what the province actually buys, and the AESO gives preference to fossil fuel generation, because contracted supply is based on day-ahead bids, which favours dispatachable power over possibly intermittent power.
Using grid-scale battery storage would serve as spinning reserve, make intermittent power dispatchable due to the storage factor, and can be used for power conditioning and stabilizing the grid frequency.

2024.04.05 State prosecutors won against Big Tobacco for misleading claims, now a multi-national meat producer?

New York is suing the world’s biggest meat company. It might be a tipping point for greenwashing (The Guardian)

2024.04.04 (GHGEP-3) The 'carbon tax' is NOT A TAX (it's a feebate program)

Just because some money is collected by a government doesn't make it a tax.
Employment insurance premiums are not a tax; they're insurance premiums. Workers get money back when eligible.
Canada Pension Program contributions are not a tax; they're a retirement savings plan. People get money back when they retire.
A deposit fee for beverage containers (like beer bottles) are not a tax; they're a deposit-return system. People get money back when they return the containers.
GHG emissions pricing is not a tax; it's a feebate program. People get money back (multiple times a year) via the "Canada Carbon Rebate".
Today's phrase: There is no 'carbon tax'; it's GHG emissions pricing with an automatic refund.

2024.04.04 "Ethical oil" - not since whales were killed for lamp oil

Electric vehicles expose the myth of ethical oil (National Observer)

2024.04.04 Better question: Given CCS doesn't actually work to reduce GHG emissions, why does the government keep pretending it does? FTFY

Opinion: If Ottawa is counting on carbon capture and storage, it should start acting that way (Financial Post)

2024.04.04 Spoiler: it's humans making lots of GHG emissions.

Researchers find the link between human activity and shifting weather patterns in western North America (Phys.org)

2024.04.04 Once again, Alberta's 'thermal generation' (natural gas) 'baseload' electrical generation fails ...

and it's renewable energy, storage and power imports that keeps the grid functioning.
'Unexpected generation loss' led to Alberta grid alert (CTV News)

2024.04.04 Nice to see a rail innovator skip the pretending hydrogen is the solution step.

Autonomous Electric Trains Really Are Coming For Your Diesel (CleanTechnica)

2024.04.04 Net-zero biomethane as substitute for fossil LNG

I support drop-in biofuels as part of a transition to net-zero. My quibble with this one is the distance the biomethane has to travel to be used at it's end market. Still, Japan also has to import most of the fossil methane ('natural gas") it uses as well.
Japanese duo employs biomethane to bolster efforts toward carbon-neutral future (Offshore Energy)

2024.04.04 Where I come from, we call that lying.

‘Detached from reality’: researchers say Pathways Alliance misleading public with greenwashing (The Narwhal)

2024.04.04 These are the apex dealers for the world's fossil fuel addiction

Just 57 companies linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016 (The Guardian)

2024.04.03 (GHGEP-2) Remedial media: finally, somebody is calling it the 'carbon price', not 'carbon tax'.

Perhaps Canadian media can be taught how to report after all.
The proper term would be 'GHG emissions fee' or 'pricing', if anyone in the Canadian media herd is paying attention.
It's important to get the name right, so we can have a fact-based discussion of the topic.
The name of the legislation that enables the feebate program is the " Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act" (GGPPA), not the Carbon Taxing Act. Stop scapegoating the carbon price (National Observer)
Today's phrase: There is no 'carbon tax'; it's GHG pollution pricing.

2024.04.03 Truth vs. fossil fuel industry propaganda

Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles (Sabin Center for Climate Change Law)

2024.04.03 Wells Fargo: We think investor enthusiasm for SMR [small modular reactors] is misguided”

Banks Won’t Save Nuclear Power (CounterPunch)

2024.04.03 "there are bad actors today who are fanning the flames of climate doomism"

Forget ‘doomers.’ Warming can be stopped, top climate scientist says (The Harvard Gazette)

2024.04.03 This is on top of the Canadian federal EV rebate, and includes money for buying used EVs

Manitoba introduces EV rebates of up to $4,000 (Driving)
This is a progressive measure by a government that understands climate change is real.
Meanwhile, back in Ontario, the climate deniers that killed it's EV incentive still run the province.
Is it coincidence that Manitoba also knows how to run a provincial electricity grid and was able to prevent blackouts in Alberta back in mid-January when Alberta's baseload natural gas generation failed in the cold and Saskatchewan also had to import electricity from Manitoba?

2024.04.03 Fortunately, EVs are neither slow nor messy.

Understanding the slow and messy switch to electric cars (Axios)
And EV sales worldwide are continuing to grow, just not at the same rate of acceleration as before, which would be unsustainable given there is is finite market for road vehicles. But, even that needs to considered in the context of light fossil-fuel vehicle sales are actually decreasing in the past year or so, to the point that demand for gasoline in North America is dropping.

2024.04.03 As Norway approaches EV milestone, drivers in Ireland fall prey to 'misinformation'

EV Adoption in Ireland: AA Ireland Customer Survey Sheds Light on EV Reality (AA Ireland)

2024.04.03 CO2 emissions decrease due to increased renewable electricity displacing both coal and gas

EU carbon market emissions fall record 15.5% as renewable power soars (Reuters)

2024.04.03 There isn't enough cheap uranium left, and the stockpiles of spent fuel waste are a growing, unsolved problem.

No, Nuclear Energy Won’t Save Us (Medium)

2024.04.02 (GHGEP-1) Now that we're past the April 1st Axe the Facts hijinks, let's talk some truth about carbon pricing

Fossil fuel subsidies cost Canadians a lot more money than the carbon tax (The Conversation)
More to come in days ahead, but for now, here's a phrase for you:
Real Conservatives don't support oil and gas industry corporate welfare.

2024.04.02 Remember, methane is over 100 times a potent as carbon dioxide as a GHG (10-year GWP)

Fortunately for the fossil methane industry, provincial governments don't care what the public thinks or wants.
New poll shows clear public support for tackling methane emissions (Pembina Institute)

2024.04.02 Reducing air conditioning demand reduces peak electricity demand in many areas

Sunrise to sunset, new window coating blocks heat — not view (Notre Dame News)

2024.04.02 If nuclear power is the answer, what the heck was the question?

Industry declares a nuclear renaissance. Will the public be convinced? (National Observer)

2024.04.02 NS creates new rebate for larger (commercial) on-road EVs

Expands on the existing rebate up to $3,000 for battery EVs and long-electric range PHEVs, etc.
New Rebates for Larger Zero-Emission Vehicles (Government of Nova Scotia)

2024.03.31 What the Frack? The low cost of natural gas doesn't mean we aren't paying a high price.

Lawmakers rush to stop 'catastrophic-level event' at Texas oil fields:
'We are going to have complete and utter ecological devastation' (TCD)
As a species we can't even manage to extract fossil methane without massive damage. Think about that when you read about bet-the-planet geoengineering schemes.

2024.03.31 With the April 1, 2024 carbon pricing included in the price, gasoiline in Canada is still cheaper today than it was in late September 2023,

when it was just the oil industry gouging drivers. Are gas stations giving you quarterly rebate payments?
Price of gas in GTA hitting highest level in 6 months on April 1 (CityNews)
You have known - literally - for years the carbon price was going to keep rising, and could have planned for it.

2024.03.28 C is for capitalism, one convincing explanation for why the climate conferences have accomplished little.

Elizabeth Kolbert wants us to rethink the stories we tell about climate change (Grist)

2024.03.28 Western governments folded, so fossil fuels cleaned the table.

The prize: likely human extinction and the end of the industry's customers.
Surge of new [taxpayer-subsidized] US-led oil and gas activity threatens to wreck Paris climate goals (The Guardian)

2024.03.28 It's a decision to be made, not a destiny.

Manitoba has a world class wind resource, and southern Manitoba has solar exposure on a par with Alberta and Saskatchewan. If the cost of natural gas reflects its climate change consequences, wind and solar with storage (including existing hydro reservoirs) should be an easy choice based on financials. Manitoba could become the energy superpower that Alberta once had within its sights.
However, if Manitoba wants to backstop with truly renewable methane, it could harvest the annual algae blooms on its big lakes and biodigest the biomass to produce non-fossil methane. (white paper 26 pages PDF)
The demand for power might make one of Canada’s cleanest grids dirtier (The Narwhal)

2024.03.28 Western governments folded, so fossil fuels cleaned the table.

The prize: likely human extinction and the end of the industry's customers.
Surge of new [taxpayer-subsidized] US-led oil and gas activity threatens to wreck Paris climate goals (The Guardian)

2024.03.27 We can entice plug-in hybrid owners to produce less emissions by making gasoline expensive

and providing charging points that cater to vehicles with small batteries and limited charge rates (like at-work parking).
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers. (MIT Technology Review)

2024.03.27 Really, what else would a Canadian spend $450 on? Groceries, rent, mortgage?

Unimportant compared to boosting oil industry profits, right? (yes, that's per Canadian - 41,000,000 of us now)
Here’s how much the feds handed fossil fuel companies last year (National Observer)

2024.03.27 Today, we turn off renewable generators to make a point, instead of fossil fuels. Progress, I guess.

Polish grid operator switches off gigawatts of PV (PV Magazine)
Emmm, hello, local storage (batteries, pumped, compressed air ...)? Cross-border grid connects? Incentivizing demand shifts from fossil fuels, like local electric vehicle fleets?

2024.03.27 What's more important - keeping the grid functioning like you're paid to do?

or setting up renewables as the fall guy to protect your position? Easy, if you're a big natural gas generator.
Gas plant owner hit with big fine for sitting idle in major blackout first blamed on renewables (Renew Economy)
Must have been a shocker to get a fine instead of more taxpayer subsidies, even if it's taken eight years.

2024.03.27 Solar plus storage for the win: new 186 MW generation + 169 MWh storage in Texas

Texas installs another big solar + battery storage project (electrek)

2024.03.22 In 2023, 30% of electricity generation in Texas came from wind and solar, ahd the proportion is rising.

Meeting demand growth and greening the grid can go hand in hand (IEEFA)

2024.03.22 Eventually, international GHG tariffs will show national pussy-footing for the ridiculous posturing it is

World’s first-ever global emissions tax takes a step closer to reality (CNBC)

2024.03.22 Innovation in offshore wind turbine building and maintenance

Company develops revolutionary technology that allows wind turbines to practically build themselves: 'It will be a gamechanger' (TCD)

2024.03.21 Is it because we cab see a battery, but not carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides that people don't grasp how massive ICE exhaust is?

No Doubt About It: EVs Really Are Cleaner Than Gas Cars (BloombergNEF)

2024.03.21 Another data point: the prime function of Carbon Capture projects is to fatten oil and gas industry profits,

because they aren't effective at reducing GHG emissions, and in the case of EOR, actually increase emissions (like I have said for years now).
Carbon capture plants are underperforming — why are we so optimistic about them? (DownToEarth)

2024.03.21 In case it isn't yet clear, it's stick with the course on GHG-emissions pricing, or extinction. Pick one.

Industrial carbon pricing has three times the impact on emissions as consumer carbon tax: report (CBC)

2024.03.21 Includes link to 23-minute podcast

Climate quitting: the people leaving their fossil fuel jobs because of climate change (The Conversation)
I wonder if any of the climate-quitters would have the skills and experience to work with the framework of the Climate Homicide: Prosecuting Big Oil for Climate Death framework proposed by Public Citizen.

2024.03.21 We're going to need more lawyers (think RICO), but it might actually get the attention of fossil-fuel majors C-suites

Fossil fuel firms could be tried in US for homicide over climate-related deaths, experts say (The Guardian)

2024.03.21 Because fossil fuel and nuclear have big budgets, their disinfo is seldom fact-checked. It should be more often.

Dick Smith says no country has ever been able to run entirely on renewables. Is that correct? (ABC News)

2024.03.21 The Shell game on climate change (deny, delay, deceive) continues

Shell Backs Out of Massachusetts Offshore Wind Project (Oilprice.com)

2024.03.21 Dependence on Russian enriched uranium isn't even the biggest problem for fission reactors

Western countries ‘too optimistic’ on nuclear projects, warns engineering chief (World Energy Data)
Let's not forget there is no solution yet for high level nuclear waste disposal, we have had incidents with radiation releases, and renewables with storage can be built faster and cheaper than nuclear with no ongoing fuel costs, and creating good local jobs.

2024.03.20 Fossil gas utility FortisBC gets rejected on "Renewable Natural Gas" and LNG facility

'A big deal': B.C. utility regulator rejects plan for mandatory gas hookups (Richmond News)

2024.03.20 No one is as addicted to oil as the oil industry itself

Big Oil Grows Bolder in Transition Pushback (Oilprice.com)
As for the statement "We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately" - Aramco President & CEO Amin Nasser - I have a few thoughts.
1. The real fantasy is thinking we can go on with our profligate use of oil and gas and not make ourselves extinct.
2. If someone is going to invest in oil and gas, it should be the eye-poppingly profitable oil and gas industry, which still receives massive subsidies and incentives from taxpayers around the world.
3. If the oil and gas industry is going to invest in something, perhaps it could start with ensuring the survival of its end-customers.

2024.03.19 Efficiency and substituting renewable energy to reduce costs and emissions (it's not either-or)

Winged cargo ship saves three tonnes of fuel per day on first voyage (New Atlas)

2024.03.19 Hohum, another climate change emergency alert. Call me up when big money is actually working the problem.

UN weather agency issues ‘red alert’ on climate change after record heat, ice-melt increases in 2023 (AP)

2024.03.19 Sounds more likely to work than oil industry's CCS and CCUS fiascos

Oregon State University scientists discover metal capable of removing carbon dioxide from air (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

2024.03.18 Nice that mainstream climate science has finally twigged to methane, but they buried the lede.

The headline should have been, . That's the timescale that matters, because it's about how long methane lasts in the atmosphere (if we don't mess it up with fugitive hydrogen.
We don't have 100 years (like the Canadian government keeps implying by using a 25x multiplier. Per the eternally optimistic IPCC reports, we don't have 20 years (the 86x multiplier), who said we have just 12 years left to get to net-zero - 3 years ago. So we don't even have 10 years left.
Worse news, our methane emissions are way higher than we had imagined, let alone reported.
Methane: a powerful gas heating the planet (Phys.org)

2024.03.15 OK, I did a 'say what?' when I read the headline. But, having read the piece, I get it.

Baseload Power Doesn’t Make Sense Anymore (CleanTechnica)
In an era of cheap renewable electricity and battery storage dropping in price, new nuclear and fossil methane don't offer a cost per kWh advantage anymore, even if given the huge advantage of running full-time to best spread their enormous capital costs over as many kWh as possible. Naturally, staring at the two barrels of cheap zero-emissions renewable electricity production and cheap battery storage of this financial reality imperative shotgun, the Doug Ford government has chosen very expensive nuclear that won't be online in time to make a difference and fossil methane with all its attendant fugitive emissions and CO2 GHG production.

2024.03.14 Now they're starting to get it ...

Cheaper, more reliable and dispatchable electricity is better than nuclear or natural gas.
Oh, and it's zero-GHG, too.
Across the US, batteries and green energies like wind and solar combine for major climate solution (AP)

2024.03.14 You know what's dangerous for birds? Cats, and oil and gas drilling. No so much modern wind turbines.

Wind turbines are friendlier to birds than oil-and-gas drilling (The Economist)
Other hazards which cause more bird injuries and deaths are domestic and feral cats, buildings, vehicles, habitat loss, oil spills, pesticides, climate change, pollution, invasive species, power lines, and illegal hunting. In a couple of lists I found, wind turbines didn't make the top ten.

2024.03.14 With this context, and natural gas proving not be a reliable baseload generator ..

when it's cold in Alberta, Danielle Smith decides to take aim at renewables and EVs - out of touch much?
Danielle Smith's stance on renewables summary and review (Feb. 2024):
Danielle Smith misleading Albertans with wind and solar lies, soft moratorium (Energi Media)
Reality:
‘Reason-Based Wrecking Ball’ Demolishes the Case for Alberta Restrictions on Renewables (The Energy Mix)
Coal power disappearing from Alberta's grid as final generators prepare to transition (Calgary Herald)

2024.03.14 Leave it the Koch clan to sue a country for something it didn't do

Koch Industries’ US$30M carbon pricing lawsuit against Canada dismissed by international court (The Narwhal)

2024.03.14 No geoengineering without an effective off-switch.

Effects of geoengineering must be urgently investigated, experts say (The Guardian)

2024.03.13 It matters because methane is more than 100 times as potent as CO2 on a 10-year horizon

Aren't you tired of captured governments providing disinformation on behalf of the fossil fuels sector?
US energy industry gas leaks are triple the official figures, study finds (The Guardian)

2024.03.12 More than 90% of new cars sold in Norway are electric.

And it all started with some pop stars driving around in a jerry-built Fiat Panda.
How did Norway become the electric car superpower? Oil money, civil disobedience – and Morten from a-ha (The Guardian)

2024.03.11 Spoiler: the Good is at least partly wishful thinking, the Bad and Ugly are serious issues

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly reality about CCS (IEEFA)

2024.03.11 Unveiling the West Coast’s Electric Big Truck Future

The heaviest diesel semis are the dirtiest. Titan Freight Systems chose the electric lane and says it’s paying off. (The Tyee)

2024.03.11 Battery prices are dropping and production economies of scale are kicking in ...

BYD to slash EV prices even more with new platform as it looks to crush ICE car sales (electrek)

2024.03.08 Oil industry has sought to block state backing for green tech since 1960s

A strategy that has worked; governments around the world keep shoveling money at the oil and gas sector, even though it's killing their citizens via pollution and climate change. (The Guardian)

2024.03.08 It's the fugitive methane gas leaks, because the pipelines are lame

US natural gas pipeline accidents pose big, unreported climate threat (Reuters)

2024.03.08 India shifts back to coal

Modi’s fading renewables vision fires up India’s coal sector (The Economic Times)

2024.03.07 With batteries included

EVs will be cheaper to produce than gas-powered vehicles by 2027, Gartner says (yahoo!finance)

2024.03.07 This is what we call a positive feeback loop; climate change > droughts > climate change

Emissions hit a record high in 2023. Blame hydropower. (MIT Technology Review)
To be clear, it was power-generation emissions that rose in 2023. And that's because we still are not putting enough effort into conservation and efficiency, we are still subsidizing fossil fuels, we aren't installing solar and wind power fast enough, we are not restricting the profligate use of electricity for the crypto-currency and AI fads, and we're burning tax money pursuing the energy-wasting 'green'-hydrogen-for-energy charade.

2024.03.07 The desperation is becoming more apparent; fossil fuels return to blaming the victims

Fossil Fuel Fanatics Ramp Up Attacks On Electric Cars While Ignoring The Dangers Of Their Own Products (CleanTechnica)

2024.03.07 How to win at the EV charging network game:

If you provide sufficient points of service, where wanted, reliably, not a nightmare maze to use at an acceptable cost - but who did that other than Tesla in North America and Europe?
EV charging stations are proving to be a profitable business, after all (Fortune)

2024.03.06 If you thought the sudden interest in 'gold' hydrogen was strangely convenient ...

for oil and gas drillers to suppress news of renewable energy successes, you might find this interesting.
Golden hydrogen—or fool’s gold? (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

2024.03.06 Time to give up on hydrogen for trucks

battery-powered big trucks are on the road, already cheaper than diesel on life-cycle cost, and sticker prices are going to drop.
Electric Trucks Will Be Cheaper Than Diesel – Years Faster Than Expected (Forbes)

2024.03.04 How can there be a CO2 shortage for soft drinks when there are giant carbon dioxide capture projects?

Supermarkets running out of soft drinks due to carbon dioxide shortage, possible crisis on the horizon (Boing Boing)
Like the world's biggest CCS carbon capture plant which is in Australia, operated by Chevron. OK, per the article, they're not operating it very well, but still, even at 30% of target levels, that's still a lot of carbon dioxide available.

2024.02.28 Deny, delay, deceive - the oil industry playbook plays on.

‘A Trojan horse of legitimacy’: Shell launches a ‘climate tech’ startup advertising jobs in oil and gas (The Guardian)

2024.02.18 So, if you are a legacy automaker that bet on hybrids (win) and hydrogen (lose) and recognized that BEVS are going to eat your lunch because there are no hydrogen filling stations, what would you put in the concept car shop window?

Toyota went with a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that is more BEV than HFCEV. Also note, they're ditching their flagship HFCEV (the Mirai) after making trivial sales after a decade in production.
Honda’s Hydrogen-Powered CR-V Is Coming, Even If There’s Nowhere Left To Fill It

2024.02.18 I would worry about EOR and leakage.

Alberta First Nations seek answers on carbon capture and storage plans (Globe & Mail)
The Alberta Energy Regulator won't consider what's injected or how it behaves after injection, per their spokesperson.
So, no requirements for monitoring or that the CO2 will stay sequestered

2024.02.18 One solution would be for organizations to take green energy production in-house

like many do for their own heating, cooling, sewage, electrical distribution, data communications and other on-premises utilities and use it to off-set their current externally-provided energy for electricity, heating, cooling and plubing. It's called facilities management, and it would remove all reliance on the credibility of external 'green energy' providers or offsets sellers.
Princeton Study Uncovers Unseen Pitfalls of Popular Clean Energy Procurement Methods (SciTechDaily)
“There are beginning to be actual legal and financial ramifications for greenhouse gas accounting,” [Jenkins - Princeton assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment] said. “It’s not just about making marketing claims anymore.”

2024.02.18 California shows battery storage wins over natural gas 'peaker' plants on cost and functionality.

New report shows incredible success of grid in one state: ‘[This] proved the only tool ready to … avoid grid outages’ (The Cooldown)

2024.02.18 Battery electric trains on branch lines; grid-connected trains on main lines.

Available now, zero emissions, no fossil fuels, nor biofuels, nor expensive hydrogen equipment or fuel required.
GWR battery powered train travels UK record distance (Oxford Mail)

2024.02.18 Cobalt recovery from battery recycling

Scientists make breakthrough discovery while experimenting with urine: ‘We can reuse a very significant portion of the cobalt’ (The Cooldown)

2024.02.17 The problem with thresholds is they are really hard to reverse once triggered.

Once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we will see extreme climate change within decades, study shows (Phys.org)

2024.02.17 It's still trees for the win (if you don't keep burning them to the ground).

Very cool: trees stalling effects of global heating in eastern US, study finds (The Guardian)

2024.02.17 Fossil fuel companies have spent millions on lobbying politicians, advising their PR teams to sow uncertainty about irrefutable science

‘Speak to people’s values’: A climate psychologist’s guide to confronting denial and delayism (euronews)

2024.02.16 Household battery storage keeps improving

Tesla opens Powerwall 3 orders, Elon reveals 30 kW peak power (US$8400) (electrek)

2024.02.16 A thing governments could do on climate change is

to stop paying the 'inefficient' subsidies to the fossil carbon sector and use those funds to accelerate putting more renewables in place to green the grid, encourage lower cost EVs and make the public EV charging network truly functional and rational to speed the shift to clean transportation; fund weather-sealing and insulation upgrades for existing housing; provide incentives to install heat pumps to replace fossil fuel heating and even resistance electric heating, and change the building codes to actually encourage efficiency instead of inadequate building shells built cheap to increase developer profits.
Wind and solar are delivering an energy transition at record speed (Renew Economy)

2024.02.16 How is this (more expensive, less energy efficient, reduces cargo space) better than drop-in biofuel?

A container ship just tested a system to capture its own CO2 emissions (NewScientist)
Key line from the article:
“Shipping faces a very short time to decarbonise, because it has started so late,”

2024.02.16 Seismic shift at TVA: they finally get the EV thing, and they're going for it.

Millions Of Electric Vehicles To Invade US Southeast In Big Decarbonization Push (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.16 89% of people want governments to do more on climate change, but there's a perception gap.

Interview: Why global support for climate action is ‘systematically underestimated’ (CarbonBrief)

2024.02.16 I disagree with the premise of this article, because we solved these problems in the 1980s.

Most of the current crop of EVs do suffer degraded range in the temperatures where hydrogen vehicles can't operate at all, and where internal combustion vehicles also suffer in typical short-haul urban driving missions where EVs can excel. But, for the most part, this isn't a materials problem; it's design and driver behaviour issues. One possible exception at the moment may be some components in Level 3 chargers which weren't spec'ed for 'cold' conditions.

I drove EVs in the 1980s in Ottawa, Canada winters. Day in and day out. What we learned was to keep the batteries warm in the winter, and to remove excess heat in the summer, which improved battery capacity (range) and life. Today, that is called 'thermal management' (and it's still a weak spot for today's Nissan Leaf in particular). We learned to heat the cabin and clear windows while still at the 120-volt outlet before setting out. Today, that is called 'pre-conditioning', and the industry dismisses Level 1 charging because they're still missing low-hanging fruit on vehicle efficiency. It's taken the gas-car industry over a century to refine its product to its current state (climate destroyer), and it still has room for improvement. (E.g., gas filler doors with remote cable releases that fail and freeze shut, and reliance on engine waste heat for window defogging/defrosting which doesn't show up unit the end of a 20-30 minute commute drive.)

And sure, we would all like zero-cost batteries with infinite range that never need to be recharged, but today's lithium and sodium batteries are a big leap forward over the lead-acid and nicads we used in the 1980s in terms of weight, space and cost per kWh of storage. And there are improved versions in the development pipeline. Meanwhile, when are we going to get zero-emissions gas cars? I mean, if the driver for this article is unusual weather conditions, let's remember that's being caused by burning fossil fuels in the first place.

2024.02.15 The transition to renewables continues, with Texas leading the shift. Yes, that Texas.

Solar + battery storage will make up 81% of new US electric generating capacity in 2024 (electrek)

2024.02.15 Decision-makers keep talking about 'decarbonizaion', but the decisions just keep raising the CO2 level.

Keeling Curve hits all-time high (AXIOS)
The official NOAA CO2 tracker graphs from Mauna Loa/P>

2024.02.15 So, the oil industry is saying the 'carbon tax' isn't high enough to justify carbon capture projects.

World's biggest carbon-capture project at risk, Wood Mackenzie warns (CarbonBrief)
So, how about governments just calling boondoggle on the whole charade and fund renewables and biofuels with the incentive money instead?
I mean, even the Canadian oil minister and chief fossil fuel cheerleader is saying the Pathways Alliance should spend less on advertising (public-facing lobbying pressure) and buy a shovel.

2024.02.15 The Canadian fossil fuels sector can't make carbon capture viable, because it's just a cover for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

CCS Redux: “Best” Carbon Capture Facility In World Creates 25x More CO2 From Use Of Product (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.15 Presumably these big financial firms now understand that actually acting on climate change will threaten their profits.

JPMorgan, State Street quit climate group, BlackRock steps back (Reuters)

2024.02.14 Food production is definitely vulnerable to climate change. Can we adapt it fast enough?

Climate change is hitting Ontario’s farms hard. Why won’t the government talk about it? (The Narwhal)

2024.02.14 Major methane leakage points matter because methane is over 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a GHG on a 10-year timeframe.

Google to share oil and gas methane leaks spotted from space (Reuters)

2024.02.14 Sigh, 'decarbonization' is so 10-years-ago.

Methane is the key GHG to go after now (though don't let up on carbon dioxide either). They're both GHGs and we need to reduce both. The either-or question is not methane vs. carbon dioxide; it's species survival on this planet or not.
Decarbonization the latest buzzword from gas companies (National Observer)

2024.02.14 Some data and facts on the shift away from gas

Tiresome to keep seeing the clickbait headlines questioning the shift, but then backed up with nothing. So, again, I'll just say that buying a new vehicle now that is completely dependent gasoline for power is a questionable financial decision.
US EV Sales Up 385% Since 2019, Normal “ICE” Vehicle Sales Down 14% (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.13 We have technology to capture methane from landfill sites and burn it for beneficial uses.

Methane could make or break the world’s global warming limit. Where in Europe is it leaking most? (euronews)

2024.02.13 I'm going to take issue with this article posted at TVO.

If you understand power generation, the Ford government’s decision on nuclear makes sense (TVO Today)

I'm going to claim I do understand power generation in Ontario, including nuclear, more than the average bear. I'll just point to my award-winning book about energy and the environment ( The Emperor's New Hydrogen Economy - ebook version also available) as short-form credentials to back that claim, and I hold a Certificate in Energy Programming and Evaluation.

The TVO piece comes out in favour of pouring billions of Ontario taxpayer dollars into further extending the lifetime of part of the Pickering nuclear complex. This will result in this capacity coming online in 10 to 20 years from now, and will likely be the most expensive wholesale priced electricity in Canada when it starts producing, just as Bruce Nuclear is now the most expensive electricity on the Ontario grid today. By then, the world will either be producing cheaper electricity predominantly from renewables, or we'll on course to cooking our species into extinction.

There's another problem set with nuclear fission generation as practised by OPG (Ontario Power Generation). It's designed to be baseload power because it is hard and really expensive to turn nuclear fission generators off and on. Ontario learned this the hard way in 2003, as a result of the power utility in Ohio cutting costs by not trimming trees per the maintenance schedule. Turns out you can't just restart a nuclear generator and dump 500-900 MW of additional power onto the grid without causing more problems. So, forms of generation which can be turned off and on without damage need to be in place to balance the power surges the nuclear plants create. For Ontario, that was provided by its massive hydro power resource (thank you, Sir Adam Beck). Today, that would be simpler if Ontario had some big batteries connected to the grid to provide power stabilization and conditioning, much as Australia is doing in order to avoid service disruptions and save money. (Aside: Australia is learning that the batteries should be located near the demand areas, e.g. cities, so that when the transmission system is impacted, the battery storage can minimize disruptions for the most people.) In summary, increased (or continued) use of nuclear fission stations means the grid operator HAS to have non-nuclear generating assets in place that can turn off and on instantaneously and repeatedly to allow for unplanned outages at nuclear facilities, and restarting the grid or significant portions of it. Fossil methane plants can't spin up that fast, which is why batteries are already a better and less expensive solution for 'peaker' / 'grid stabilization' functions. 'Flow' batteries, preferably based on relatively benign materials, have the advantage of having expandable storage capacity after initial construction.

The plan to take the Pickering reactors off-line for rebuilding means those baseline load deficits will have to be replaced by other generation capability. If there is new-build to fill that gap, it will likely outlive the rebuilt Pickering generators, so it can't be based on fossil fuels which will be effectively banned in Canada (and the world) by 2040. Taking a portion of Pickering power offline for 10 to 20 years means a need to fill the gap, and that should be renewables and storage, given we'll be living with it for a very long time - likely to 2060 or later, when we need to be off fossil fuels per current legislation.

Doddy and Kastanya (both of the Canadian Nuclear Society) should not have raised the issue of the recent near blackouts in Alberta to try to bolster their case. The facts don't support their premise. It was not the predictable drop in output from solar at night-time or wind-power during a massive, stable weather system sitting on the Prairies which were the core problem. Those things are predictable, and can be resolved by having other generation assets and energy storage online and working, the job of the AESO. The low power availability on the Alberta grid was caused by natural gas generators failing as a result of the cold weather, causing unscheduled outages. Three things avoided blackouts in Alberta during this period:
a) people and industry responded to calls to reduce power consumption, despite the cold;
b) a pilot battery storage unit provided power for hours at the worst point in the shortages; and,
c) electricity from Manitoba was wheeled through Saskatchewan to cover the remaining shortfall.
And that electricity from Manitoba came from renewable hydro power, utilizing the storage of hydro reservoirs.
Despite the self-serving rhetoric from the Alberta and Saskatchewan premiers, renewable energy with storage was the hero of the hour during the event, not the cause of it.

More nuclear generation in Ontario will perpetuate another problem the IESO and OPG (and hence Ontario taxpayers have). Ontario already has too much baseload (nuclear) power online at low demand times, and has to find ways to get rid of it to avoid shutting down nuclear generators. (At least they would if all 13 GW of nuclear power that the IESO claims is available was actually operable, but at the moment 5 reactors are offline: Bruce A-1, Bruce A-3, Darlington-1, Darlington-4, Pickering B-7 (per Gridwatch).)
They have a few basic tools for this.
a) they can store the surplus generation for later use, typically by using pumped storage into the hydro reservoir above Niagara Falls (Sir Adam Beck GS);
b) they can store the surplus generation in batteries, though this capacitiy is still miniscule in Ontario, but has a better round-trip efficiency story than pumped storage;
c) they can sell the power to other jurisdictions (nearby U.S. states and Quebec); and,
d) they can burn it off in giant resistor banks.

The catch with selling the surplus power is that they are selling when others are also at low demand periods, so the market price is low, and sometimes negative - in other words, Ontario pays other utilities to take the electricity so OPG doesn't have to shut down generation from one of their nuclear stations. The catch with burning off the electricity is that it creates waste heat and wear on the resistor banks, which were originally designed for emergency use, not regular, repeated use. The catch with the pumped storage at Niagara is that it has a finite capacity - when it's full, it's full. The advantage of batteries is that there is a version called a 'flow' battery, which can store large and expandable amounts of energy. Moreover, if such batteries and pumped storage can solve the nuclear and fossil-fuelled power plant needs, that same technology can address the load storage/load-balancing issues for renewables. Therefore, we should only increase renewable solutions now – they have much shorter deployment timeframes and lower costs than conventional power plants.

In short, there are better options for Ontario in the short term and long term for securing the provincial electrical grid and providing reliable, affordable and environmentally-superior electricity for its citizens, starting with more renewables combined with appropriate amounts of energy storage. By comparison, the plan to rebuild the Pickering B reactors is a bad plan for Ontarians.

There is one over-riding justification for extending the life of the Pickering complex. It avoids two expensive and embarrassing bits of reality for a while longer. Shuttering power production at Pickering would require that a decommissioning plan would have to be undertaken which would show how mind-blowingly expensive that will be, and, a workable solution for permanent disposal of the nuclear waste which is stored at the Pickering complex. As the industry and government have bare shelves in that cupboard, they don't want those doors opened. The consequence of running the facility for another 4-5 decades beyond its rated lifetime could possibly be borne by those downwind of the facility.

2024.02.13 Fossil-fuel sector funded disinformation is driving energy and climate change policy

Journalist uncovers sources of well-funded campaign to spread deceit about offshore wind energy: ‘It’s changing voters’ minds’ (The Cooldown)
Effective spreading of disinformation takes effort and money. You have to figure out the right message that will resonate effectively (market research) and get people to want to share that disinformation forward, thus legitimizing it in the eyes of next-round recipients (paid influencers and recipient emotional manipulation). Typically, this needs to be reinforced with covert advertising via social media and in the corporate ('mainstream') media. So, when that much effort is going into an 'information' or 'educational' campaign, we can be sure the backers have an agenda. That's what was found here. Wind power does have some issues; every energy source we use does. The question is: on balance, does wind power (with storage) provide a better benefits to cost ratio than alternatives? My analysis over years says wind power (with storage) is a winner on capital costs, speed of deployment, environmental impact (extremely low GHG and other pollutant emissions) and operating costs (the fuel is free), resulting in low cost of electricity to the end consumer. It is a change, and people resist that, which is why we still use horses and buggies as our primary mode of transportation and taxpayer-subsidized coal-fired power generation.

2024.02.13 Potential to undermine the 'need' for carbon capture (CCS/CCUS) as alleged climate solution

Iron ore giants’ green steel collaboration leaves carbon capture even further behind (Renew Economy)

Based on research I did years ago - and I still follow the file - CCUS is a fossil fuel industry scam funded by taxpayers. It's part of the fossil fuel deny, delay, disinform playbook, like hydrogen as an energy store. In Canada, the original term was Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), where sequestration meant taking the carbon dioxide GHG out of the atmosphere for a geologic timescale period. But the oil and gas sector had another agenda for squeezing more oil and gas out of old wells, called Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). The dominant feature of EOR is pumping gas or liquids into the edges of a depleting well zone to increase pressure and push reluctant hydrocarbons to the well heads for extraction. Carbon dioxide fit the bill perfectly, so the terminology shifted to Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS). Storage being short-term and utilization is about EOR. However, in oil and gas well regions, the carbon dioxide isn't sequestered; it works it's way to the surface through leaky well casings, poorly sealed exploratory holes, and fractures from fracking. It's called the 'pincushion effect'. Further, some of that carbon dioxide is intentionally brought to the surface with produced water and the desired oil and gas, and then released into the atmosphere. Net result, more GHG emissions due to additional oil and gas production and leakage, not less emissions. Further, despite billions of taxpayer dollars spent on CCS/CCUS over the decades, none of the projects have proved to be cost-effective or result in a positive energy return on energy invested. Leaks of carbon dioxide are hazardous to air-breathing animals, including humans.
If you want to explore that risk further, do a web search for 'Lake Nyos disaster', or check out this recent article.

2024.02.13 If 'reformed' coal fan Andrew Forrest is calling you out on a 'climate change solution', you have a real problem.

Carbon capture tech a 'complete falsehood', says Fortescue Metals chairman (Reuters)

2024.02.12 Remember, as recently as 2021, Australia was refusing to phase out coal or encourage renewables.

South Australia enjoyed 82 pct wind and solar for entire December quarter. So it can be done (Renew Economy)

2024.02.12 The hydropower legacy isn't without issues, but it puts Quebec ahead on reducing CO2 emissions.

For climate progress, maybe the rest of Canada should join Quebec (The Hill Times)

2024.02.12 Methane is over 100 times as potent a GHG as carbon dioxide on a 10-year timescale.

‘It’s impossible to breathe’: Delhi’s rubbish dumps drive sky-high methane emissions (The Guardian)

2024.02.12 Now that we're looking for them, we can find the big methane emitters on the planet

Revealed: the 1,200 big methane leaks from waste dumps trashing the planet (The Guardian)

If we chose to capture this methane, we could burn it for beneficial purposes, massively reducing methane releases to the atmosphere and lowering GHG emissions on a CO2e basis, and displace the use of fossil methane with its attendant fugitive emissions.

2024.02.12 Scientists say global heating is driving ice loss and warmer water, as ice cover falls short of 50-year average of 18%

Great Lakes average ice cover drops to 6%, one of lowest levels ever recorded (The Guardian)

2024.02.09 Year-round local produce in a winter environment - reducing food-miles, creating local employment

Cornwall company growing year-round crop yields with innovative farming tech (CTV News)

2024.02.09 Brazil gas imports in 2023 at lowest level in 20 years, displaced by domestic hydro

Brazil's hydro power adds to global gas surplus (Reuters)

2024.02.09 Canada's oil and gas industry environment and climate change greenwashing disinformation goes into overdrive.

What do ‘clean’ and ‘green’ actually mean? Canadian watchdog receives complaints about environmental claims by Shell, RBC, Enbridge (The Narwhal)

2024.02.09 Solution: require all large-scale crypto-miners to use only new-build renewable energy to power their operations.

Just 137 crypto miners use 2.3% of total U.S. power — government now requiring commercial miners to report energy consumption (Tom's Hardware)

2024.02.09 The fossil-fuel-funded disinformation network takes a hit: money and credibility.

US climate scientist Michael Mann wins $1m in defamation lawsuit (The Guardian)

2024.02.09 Aviation, shipping and industry are on the table - how about drop-in biofuels and high-speed rail as solutions for aviation?

The world is reducing its reliance on fossil fuels – except for in three key sectors (The Guardian)

2024.02.09 Taxpayers worldwide have funded billions of dollars on carbon capture R&D and pilot projects, and little has been sequestered.

CCS Redux: Global Spend On Carbon Capture Since 1970 Would Have Avoided More CO2 If Spent on Wind & Solar (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.09 As the world gets hotter, more plants, livestock and workers will appreciate more shade.

Research finds agrivoltaics have payback time of less than five years in Portugal (PV Magazine)

2024.02.09 A new coalition of nine US states has joined forces to promote electric heat pumps,

with the aim of decarbonizing thousands of buildings by pushing oil and gas out of the heating, air conditioning and hot water business.
Yet Another Heat Pump Headache For Fossil Fuel Stakeholders (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.09 Contradictory headlines and narratives on EV adoption - intended to create confusion and doubnt?

Electric Vehicle Sales Growing Fast! (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.08 David Hughes is always worth reading.

A New Report Maps Canada’s ‘Daunting’ Path to Net-Zero Carbon (The Tyee)
Key conclusions from the 64 page report: Getting to net-zero in Canada

2024.02.08 ... she points to developments and statistics that tell a more optimistic story, from improving air quality to rising EV sales

A leading data scientist's journey from doomism to climate hope (BBC)

2024.02.08 Every month since June has been the world’s hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years.

World just experienced its hottest January on record: EU climate agency (Global News)

2024.02.08 I post EV advances items mostly to show demand for EVs is driving improvements in the technologies

EV Breakthrough May Allow Longer Journeys on One Charge (Newsweek)

2024.02.08 Sea level rise could happen faster than we imagine, driving shoreline erosion and storm surges

Scientists discover an alarming change in Antarctica’s past that could spell devastating future sea level rise (CTV News)

2024.02.08 Canada’s carbon footprint is not just a step but a giant leap beyond what’s been claimed

So the Canadian government has doubled down on climate destruction by using taxpayer money to complete the TMX pipeline so that even more emissions can be generated behind the smokescreen.
Canada’s Carbon Emissions Cover-Up (Jacobin)

2024.02.07 Canada's going to need a lot more solar panels and data transmission

How solar panels could act as a bushfire early warning system (Renew Economy)

2024.02.07 I have long said one of the options for displacing fossil carbon fuels is drop-in biofuels.

A new technology can make biofuels cheaper and greener than petroleum (Interesting Engineering)

2024.02.07 Batteries beat diesel for supplying peak demand - again

Diesel power stations to close as big batteries take centre stage (Renew Economy)

2024.02.07 "Blue tarp capital of the planet" - read on for the context for that one.

Joe Biden just did the rarest thing in US politics: he stood up to the oil industry (The Guardian)

2024.02.07 Climate solutions aren't always high-tech and complex; simple, appropriate technology works, too.

What Is A Solar Water Heater? How Does It Work? (The Times of India)
I have used a simple, seasonal solar water heater in a climate where sub-freezing temperatures are a reality for months at a time. As the planet warms, the useful season will likely be extended. Year-round solar water heaters based on vacuum tubes are also available, though more expensive. Either way, free heating energy is hard to beat on cost.

2024.02.07 More Canadian taxpayer wasted on another fossil fuel 'climate' charade

Europe's record renewable use weakens case for LNG in Canada (National Observer)
Didn't anybody else see the problem with the business case where the supposed market for a fossil fuel is already shrinking, the ability to deliver is still a decade away (yep, you need to build the ships and terminals), and the supply points are on the wrong side of the country (actually world) to deliver efficiently to the supposed market?

2024.02.06 EU reports coal use down 26% in 2023, natural gas down 15% for electricity production over 2022

Fossil fuels are losing ground to renewable energy in Europe (The Verge)

2024.02.06 So, we're going to use more fossil methane to power the AI disinformation engines? How about we just don't?

AI will trigger global surge in gas demand, says BP boss (Yahoo)

2024.02.06 China still building massive amount of new coal-burning power plants, which will run for decades.

China Was Responsible for 96% of Coal Plants Constructed in 2023 (OilPrice.com)

2024.02.06 Wait! What? OPEC thinks national governments should give them $14 trillion to produce more oil until 2045?!

Oil Market Needs $14 Trillion: OPEC Secretary General (OilPrice.com)

2024.02.06 And becoming less so by the day, it seems.

World ‘not prepared’ for climate disasters after warmest ever January (The Guardian)

2024.02.05 I wonder if humans will ever take climate change seriously

UN Carbon Removal Estimates ‘By No Means Feasible,’ Scientists Warn (Yale)

2024.02.05 One under-recognized contributor to climate change is the wasteful use of energy - in this case, crypto-currency.

Fundamentally, the mining of cyrpto-currency is the burning of electricity to power computers to achieve nothing of intrinsic value. We already have currencies and exchanges for turning currency into goods and services; we call them stores, banks, credit and cash. This is actually harder with crypto-currency, which is a gambling enterprise more than a reliable store of value. Further, one of primary benefactors of using crypto-currency is illegal activity, such as collecting funds from deploying ransomware.

So, when a government says it wants to be able to deny providing subsidized electricity to crypto-miners, I'm in favour. In most jursidictions, there are times of day when producing a marginal unit of electricity costs the system more than the revenue it collects from it, so a subsidy. At those times, grid operators and generators should have the ability to turn down that non-essential demand for electricity.

If the marginal price of electricity from the grid is not subsidized, then the crypto-miner has the option of generating their own electricity at a lower cost per unit, and doesn't need grid power to run its operations. Solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage and power-handling equipment are all commercially-available off-the-shelf techology.

2024.02.05 Still at the lab stage, and has some issues to work through, but has potential.

An electrifying new ironmaking method could slash carbon emissions (Science.org)

2024.02.02 The reason oil is so 20th century is because

new oil has a lousy EROEI, and can't beat renewables without massive taxpayer subsidies. That's just math and basic finance. It doesn't even include the fact that climate change is an existential challenge for our species, and oil/gas/coal/nuclear are the primary drivers.
Continuing to fund fossil fuels development and use is basically a suicide pact for humans on planet Earth.
We have already reached post-peak oil (National Observer)

For a good but short treatment of the EROEI (energy return on energy invested) topic, a recent piece from Michael Barnard. (CleanTechnica)

2024.02.02 Hunh, so all those new EVs didn't break the grid. Told ya so.

The US Added 1.2 Million EVs To The Grid Last Year, & Electricity Use Went Down (CleanTechnica)

Years ago, I wrote: "EVs are the killer app for the smart grid." Sadly, the electrical supply industry chose to see EVs as a threat to their stability, and have resisted their adoption, usually while pretending not to put up barriers. Hence the past disinfo campaigns about how EVs would break the grid or require massive additional costs to meet the demand. Turns out doing a little math debunked those claims, but they still pop up pretty frequently in various forms.

Electrical demand tends to go up and down over the course of the day. Conventional power production - and especially nuclear fission - wants a steady demand level. So, one of the big challenges for the grid (generators, transmission system and local distribution) is to meet the demand without interruption (load-following), while minimizing the amount of power generation equipment they have to buy, install, maintain, and smoothing out the amount being transmitted. Building excess generation and transmission capacity is the most expensive solution to that problem. A much cheaper opportunity is to move loads from high demand times (e.g. dinner-time, aka peak-demand period) to lower demand times (e.g. the middle of the night, aka sleep-time). (There are some variations on this, such as parts of California where there is so much solar electrical energy production that it moves the time that big power plants see maximum demand during the daily cycle.) But for the most part, dinner-time is high demand time and sleepy-time is lowest demand time.

Anyway, if you can find a way to use your infrastructure more efficiently (e.g. ship and sell more electrons on the same equipment), that lowers your overall fixed cost per electron sold, and thus your overall cost per electron sold. (Actually, the electrons are more rented than sold - you just pay to have electrons pushed around to power your stuff. No electrons are actually consumed, they just get recycled through the wires continuously.)

Suppose somebody shows up and says to the electric utility, I want to buy rather a lot of electricity on a daily basis, and I don't much care when during the day I get the power as the load is discretionary and is available to be connected to the plug about 20-22 hours a day. If you're a bright spark at the electric utility, you might look at your daily demand curve and note that when it's sleepy-time each day, you have lots of excess supply capacity earning no money. So, you ask this new load if they're OK with getting their juice during the night (say from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.); they say OK; and you say Great! Done!

You have probably figured out this honking new load is an electric vehicle, and figure it's going to suck back electrons like a V8 muscle car at the gas pump. Except, electric cars can be crazy efficient. I know because I have been driving them since way before Tesla Motors was a thing. When I was commuting about 50 km a day, I would plug into a regular 120-volt wall socket and recharge my EV battery each day. Used about 7 kWhs a day in the summer and 8 kWhs a day in the winter. I mostly work from home now, but the power consumption is about the same - about 6-7 km per kWh. So how much energy is that? Well, to give you a sense of the power use, a hand-held hair dryer uses about 1.5 kW. A vacuum cleaner uses about a kW. My EV charger uses less than that, but runs for hours at a time to get to that 7-8 kWh per day to cover 50 km.

Most people really have no sense of what a kWh is, but dollars they understand. So, let me do that math for you so you know how crazy expensive it is to recharge my electric car, assuming I will travel 50 km per day. This is a little more complicated than you might think, because the price of electricity isn't a constant here. I can choose from 3 pricing plans from my local utility, and the price varies by time of day in 2 of those plans. Turns out the grid in my jurisdiction has a really good deal on electricity between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. every day, because they have way more generation during sleepy-time than demand. Even after they pump water into hydro reservoirs, and sell all they can outside the province (sometimes at negative pricing), and tell all the wind generators, gas generators and hydro stations to stop producing, and burn some up in big electrical resistance coils, they still have too much power being produced at night. So they offer a really sweet price on electricity from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. (C$0.028 per kWh). So, that whacking 7 kWhs a day I need to cover 50 km a day costs me - wait for it - C$0.20 (I rounded up). Adding taxes, that jumps to $0.22. A day. Just for fuel. $1.10 a week. Crazy, right? Of course, if I wasn't such an environmental crusader, I could just use a gas car that gets about 12 km/litre, and at $1.40 a litre, my weekly fuel bill would be just $29.20.
(50 km per day x 5 days per week x ($1.40 per litre / 12 km per litre)) = $29.20 per week)
Wait, what? My weekly fuel bill for electricity would be $1.10, but my weekly fuel bill to go the same distance using gasoline would be $29.20!

The article I referenced at the top of this post talks about some reasons why overall electricity demand went down in 2023 over 2022, while the number of EVs increased by over a million. They're right about appliances, heat pumps, lighting, computers, screens and other things being more efficient, and they're not even accounting for the additional load resulting from crypto-currency mining or AI servers serving up a lot of wrong answers.

Let's think about some other things that are also likely reducing the need for electricity from the grid. How about a few folks putting up solar panels on their roof, offsetting some need for electricity, though that's smaller than you think, as most are grid-connected.

How about some other electrical demand that is likely shrinking as EVs reduce the demand for gasoline and diesel fuel. Oil refineries are huge consumers of electricity, and as they produce less gasoline and diesel, their need for electricity drops. As people shift to heat pumps, their demand for heating oil will be reduced. Getting the gasoline and diesel from the refinery typically requires using long pipelines (usually electric powered and there are a lot of pumping stations). The pipelines get the gasoline and diesel to regional storage tank farms, which have to pump the gasoline and diesel to the top of the big storage tanks. Then, the gasoline and diesel is pumped into trucks for delivery to houses, buildings and refuelling stations, and they use electric pumps to load the trucks. Then, when you pull up to the gas or diesel pump, electricity is used to power the pump and the stand that processes your credit card and the cashier's shack. (aka "convenience store")

You probably figure it can't be that much electricity though, right. Well, I'll leave you with a couple of data points to consider.
This website says refineries in the U.S. used 48.89 billion kWh in 2005.
This website says the U.S. used 9.2 million barrels of gasoline and 4.1 million barrels of diesel per day on average in 2005.
So if you do the math (kidding, I'll do it for you), turns out a gallon of gasoline or diesel takes about a quarter of a kWh of electricity at the refinery. That doesn't include any of the pumping and storage electricity use to get the fuel to your gas tank.
(I'm assuming the same amount of electricity per barrel of gasoline or diesel. Technically, not exactly accurate, but close enough. 365 days in a year.)
(9.2 million + 4.1 million) x 365 = 4.855 billion barrels per year
Divide the 48.98 billion kWh by the 4.855 billion barrels, and we get about 10 kWh of grid electricity used per barrel.
Most Americans don't buy their gasoline or diesel by the barrel, so we'll convert to gallons. Strangely, the U.S. oil industry 'barrel' is 42 gallons. That dates back to the 1800s and using wooden barrels to move oil from Pennsylvania wells. Anyway,
10 kWh per barrel / 42 gallons per barrel = 0.24 kWh per gallon.

Suppose you're pumping in about 10 gallons (about 45 litres), that's 2.4 kWh of refinery-only electricity used. So each EV doing a regular commuting task is probably reducing overall electrical demand related to avoided liquid fuels by at least 250 kWh per year. 1.2 million new EVs in 2023 in the U.S. could be about 300 million kWhs for that year.

2024.02.02 U.S. auto dealers still think they can stop the tide. Which is why Tesla is eating their lunch.

Dealers Say 'Slow Down' On EVs. But The Sales Numbers Say Otherwise (InsideEVs)
There is a simple way of addressing the 3 main complaints raised by the auto dealers in their whinging letter to the White House.
1) Tax incentives were intended to 'prime the pump' for zero and low-emissions vehicles, so they should disppear with time. However, the oil industry continues to get massive incentives and subsidies from the U.S. government, despite being a mature industry raking in record profits while rendering the planet uninhabitable. So, to level the playing field, remove the incentives enjoyed by the oil industry in short order, as the G7 and G20 agreed to do more than a decade ago. Of course, that will end demand for your bread-and-butter product.
2) If you think the charging infrastructure is inadequate, then fix it yourselves. Install charging stations at your dealerships. Install charging stations in you communities where it will be valued, and brand the charging station with your advertising. However, it appears you're going to end up begging Tesla to let your vehicles charge at their stations, because Tesla has spent the money creating an adequate charging network, and continue to invest in it.
3) U.S. automakers could stimulate consumer demand for EVs by making a product that consumers want, such as an affordable EV that meets basic needs, or the Chinese are going to obliterate their market, much as the Japanese automakers got their foothold in the U.S. market by providing low-cost, fuel-efficient cars in the wake of the 1973 and 1978 OPEC oil embargoes. Or, do a web search on 'Tesla Redwood'. 2025 is next year.

2024.02.01 As some jurisdictions are still shy about adding battery storage to save money, businesses are stepping up.

Solar self-consumption boosted as battery cuts grid imports by 94% (pv magazine)
This set-up gives a second-life to Nissan Leaf electric car batteries, allowing the company to store electricity from solar panels during the day and use it to power operations after dark, reducing their overall energy costs and providing the ability to operate during grid outages.
From the article:
the installation of the battery has marked a pivotal step in the company’s journey to achieving a net-zero operation, noting that the battery “gives us the opportunity to store the solar energy we’ve generated during the day and utilise it to meet our energy needs around the clock.”

2024.02.01 We don't have to wait for 'breakthroughs' to address most of our industrial carbon emissions.

We just have to decide to make it financially attractive for industry to get serious about it.
How to decarbonize 85% of all industry using today's technology (New Atlas)

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