Canada well on its way to a renewable-energy future

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,778
454
83
Canada well on its way to a renewable-energy future

In 2016, renewable energy surpassed coal as the largest source of installed power capacity in the world. China's carbon emissions peaked. The German upper house, the Bundesrat, voted to ban gasoline-powered cars by 2030. Vancouver chose to outlaw natural gas in new buildings by the same year.

These are among the many signs the world is moving toward kicking its carbon habit, possibly by mid-century – a shift that would represent the simplest way to combat climate change.

Canada faces a paradox in this regard. We are a large country with many resources, a small population and we already produce 10 per cent of the world's hydro power, so you might think we could easily power ourselves with 100-per-cent renewable energy. On the other hand, most of our territory is not connected to electrical grids nor near population centres. In addition, we are energy hogs, in part owing to our need for heating and transportation that comes with a northern climate and dispersed population.

So far, the deployments of hydro, solar and wind energy in Canada have been made in the highest-yielding locations. It is natural for the low-hanging fruit to be picked first. What is next? Now that Justin Trudeau's government will ensure a uniform national carbon price, the question is, will it be just about tightening our belts or will it hasten a bountiful supply of renewable energy? This depends on an old puzzle in economics: Future renewable-power installations could either get cheaper, because we have learned from earlier practice and technology development, or they could get more expensive, since the best spots for steady wind, reliable solar and proximity to existing power distribution and population centres are already taken.

To answer this, a student and I mapped each province's remaining "low-hanging fruit" of renewables in the form of wind, solar, wave, tidal and some biomass energy. We compared this with total energy use, including electricity, transportation, heating and industrial production.

The bottom line: There is plenty of renewable-energy potential near current roads, power lines and population centres. Most of it is wind power, with plenty of hydro and solar as well. In fact, every province except Alberta and Ontario has a large surfeit – enough to be choosy about siting installations to minimize environmental side-effects.

Indeed, the boom and associated savings should be big enough to amply help workers and communities in transition.

For instance, were Newfoundland to develop the easily accessible part of its truly enormous wind resources and to export the power, it would generate an annual income of $200,000 a household.

While carbon pricing helps push this kind of investment, the market costs of building and of running wind and solar power are dropping, on their own, faster than policy is moving. That makes a shift to renewable power inevitable. By 2022, it will simply be cheaper to build and provide a gigawatt of wind power than the cheapest fossil-fuel alternative, and solar will be just behind. Because wind and solar are technologies, not fuels, their costs will continue to drop as time goes on.

What about transportation, which still relies on liquid fuels? Our analysis assumes nearly complete electrification, a recently fanciful idea that is now already in motion. Electric cars have numerous advantages and are transforming the market faster than hybrids did.

They say if you want to know what the future will be like, you should look at what investments are being made today. Judging by the accelerating rate of private-sector wind and solar investment here and elsewhere, it seems for Canada this trend is unlikely to stop until all our energy needs are met by clean electricity.

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/re...http://www.theglobeandmail.com&service=mobile
 

coldstream

on dbl secret probation
Oct 19, 2005
5,160
27
48
Chillliwack, BC
High volume, centralized energy generation, using clean fossil fuel and nuclear power, represents by the far the most responsible and efficient source of energy.. and will remain so for most this century.

That idiot Justin is regulating and taxing us back to a stone age economy by way of fabricated threats and an illusory fantasy of decentralized energy which will be costly, inefficient and environmentally hazardous. I doubt he'll last his tenure.. and will be unable to do much of anything given events south of the border.

I'm waiting for some leadership alternative to emerge in Canada who is not such a weakling and fool.
 

Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
10,607
5,250
113
Olympus Mons
In 2016, renewable energy surpassed coal as the largest source of installed power capacity in the world.
Much of which is hydroelectric, which isn't exactly environmentally friendly depending on the location. Wind and solar however only account for 4% of the world's energy supply. Even China's commitment to emissions reductions will rely heavily on hydroelectric and nuclear power.
In Canada though, we have idiots who think their idiotic ideology trumps reality and they'll insist on trying to power the country with sunshine and farts.
And now the idiot in the article starts talking about going after the non low hanging fruits of renewable energy. What a f*ckng dolt. How much more prime farmland does he figure we should give up? Ontario has already lost substantial prime farmland with the placement of turbines. Ontario's turbines provide half the generating capacity as the Bruce NPP yet take up 10 times the land space, all while their nacelles leak oil onto the farmland below. On top of all of that, wind and solar have negligible impacts on emissions reductions considering you need backup generation constantly running in the background, and guess what that consists of. You got it, fossil fuels.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,336
113
Vancouver Island
How does one lubricate the bearings on a windmill without petroleum products? Should we go back to whale oil?
For that matter could one even build a windmill without using petroleum products?
 

personal touch

House Member
Sep 17, 2014
3,023
0
36
alberta/B.C.
Well that's that . Have you turned in your car yet ?
Shut up

Not only that they are expanding their Elkford operations .


That should read Fording are expanding their Elkford operations .
Good news

How does one lubricate the bearings on a windmill without petroleum products? Should we go back to whale oil?
For that matter could one even build a windmill without using petroleum products?
You sh sh too,
Been into the gin and juice
 

Murphy

Executive Branch Member
Apr 12, 2013
8,181
0
36
Ontario
Big oil is offering bursaries to come up with dino oil alternatives using cats. They squeeze them for their oil and juice. You can make all kinds of things out of squeezed cats. The fur and guts are also usable. They're not just for violin strings and Chinese food anymore!

Here's my old (and late) buddy, Jimmy Brown (Jim Ed to the rest of you), singing...

Pop A Top

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABQrnAqW3YY
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
19
38
Edmonton
You might find this interesting.
https://www.albertaoilmagazine.com/...oving-towards-viable-renewable-energy-future/
How Traditional Energy Companies Are Building a Viable Future for Renewables

[COLOR=#5b5b5b !important]Last year was a record-breaker for global investment in renewable energy, and the trend is expected to continue [/COLOR]
By Willow White

July 18, 2016





Statoil
Four percent growth doesn’t sound like much. But that’s all it took to make 2015 a record-breaking year for global investment in renewable energy, which last year topped $329 billion. And though it may surprise most environmentalists, the oil and gas industry played a significant role in that year-over-year increase—and they’re on track to do it again in 2016. The truth is, however, they’ve been at it for a while.
Let’s rewind for a moment to the 1970s. Exxon is then studying the first lithium-ion battery, an innovation that will drive the solar storage industry, and Chevron is investing in two massive geothermal projects in the Philippines. Today, Chevron is one of the largest producers of geothermal power globally and the company provides clean energy to millions of people in the developing world. The industry continues to invest in renewables despite an abundance of cheap oil. In the fall of 2015, Total announced plans to invest $500 million per year into developing clean energy.
“We should be widening the sources of energy, not limiting them.”
Rick George, former CEO of Suncor
Of course, investing in renewables helps the industry gain social license, but it’s not all about good PR. When you peel back the politics, the relationship between oil and gas companies and renewable energy development is a natural one. The industry has capital to invest and a wealth of technological expertise—not to mention experience with the deployment of huge energy projects, and engagement with the communities where these projects are.
Enbridge and TransCanada, the country’s largest pipeline companies, both invest heavily in renewable energy. Enbridge may be known in the public mind as a pipeline company through-and-through, but the company owns 16 wind farms across North America, making it the second-largest wind power producer in Canada. Along the shores of the Great Lakes and in remote villages in Quebec, Enbridge’s wind turbines are prevalent. Meanwhile, TransCanada’s energy portfolio is far more diverse, comprised of hydro, solar, nuclear and wind power. TransCanada is a joint-owner of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario, and while nuclear is not a renewable energy source, it is a very low carbon emitter. Today, the Bruce nuclear plant provides 30 percent of Ontario’s power and TransCanada recently extended its agreement with the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator to keep the facility running until 2064.
Furthermore, in 2011, TransCanada agreed to purchase nine solar facilities in Ontario from Canadian Solar Solutions for approximately $470 million. Terry Cunha, spokesperson for TransCanada, says that it’s just good business to have such a diverse energy mix. “You need to have a combination of fossil fuels [and] renewables such as hydro, solar [and] wind as part of a total energy mix in order to be successful,” he says.

In spite of these ongoing renewables projects, Canadian oil and gas and midstream companies continue to face the brunt of North American environmental criticism. While filming the Oscar-nominated film The Revenant near Calgary in 2014, Leonardo DiCaprio was mocked by Albertans when he wrongfully mistook a gust of warm air as “scary” evidence of climate change due, at least in part, to Alberta’s oil sands. In actuality, the change in temperature was, as every Albertan knows, a Chinook—the warm wind that blows seasonally down from the Rocky Mountains. While DiCaprio’s remarks were harmless enough and elicited eye-rolls across the province, the comments fueled his growing anti-Canadian oil campaign as exemplified most recently in his speech at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to DiCaprio’s remarks after the forum, critiquing him for using “inflamed rhetoric.”
But DiCaprio is no one-man show on the environment. He’s one of many celebrities who criticize Alberta’s oil sands yet remain silent on the efforts of the industry to reduce carbon emissions and promote renewables. Currently, Alberta has the third-largest wind market in Canada, with a total wind energy capacity of 1,500 MW, enough to power 625,000 homes per year. Many of these wind farms are owned by oil companies: Nexen jointly owns Soderglen wind farm in Fort Macleod along with TransAlta; Suncor and Acciona are part-owners of the Chin Chute and Magrath wind projects; and Enbridge owns the largest wind farm in Western Canada in Vulcan County. Canada’s first commercial wind farm, which opened in 1993 in Cowley Ridge, Alberta, is still operating today. As the second province in Canada to begin phasing out coal power, Alberta’s wind market is expected to grow by thousands of megawatts over the next 10 years in order to fill some of the void left by coal.
Alberta’s renewable energy influence goes beyond the province’s borders, as well. In 2004, Talisman Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) announced plans to build the first deepwater offshore wind turbine east of Scotland to test the feasibility of such a project. The Beatrice wind project was a success and electricity generated from it continues to power the nearby Beatrice oil platform. But, more significantly, the project verified the feasibility of building wind farms in deep water, sparking the development of similar projects, including Statoil’s first floating, deepwater turbine, built 10 kilometers off the southwest coast of Norway. The ground-breaking project now feeds Norway’s power grid and Statoil is in the midst of building five more floating turbines off the coast of Scotland.
Imre Szeman, a Canadian research chair and professor at the University of Alberta, studies fossil fuels and the modern movement toward a renewable energy economy. He says he’s glad to see oil and pipeline companies turn their attention more to renewables. “Overall, it’s a positive thing,” he says. “They are energy companies, and just one of the energy sources that they deal with a lot right now is oil and gas.”