When it comes to cost, wind and solar projects beat coal

B00Mer

Keep Calm and Carry On
Sep 6, 2008
44,800
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Rent Free in Your Head
www.getafteritmedia.com

When it comes to cost, wind and solar projects beat coal​


 

Mowich

Hall of Fame Member
Dec 25, 2005
16,649
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Eagle Creek

When it comes to cost, wind and solar projects beat coal​


 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
23,217
8,055
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
The word green has to be redefined. It is not a sweet Wordsworthian halo. In our real and present world, green politics mean the crippling of efficient and ready systems in the vain hope of wand-waving into existence an entirely new energy system.

In these fall days of 2021 as I read all the news from Europe, of petrol shortages, swiftly rising fuel costs, extreme lineups at British gas stations, brawls breaking out at the pumps, Germany already shuddering at the possibility of a cold winter and not enough heating fuel, half the continent now on a leash to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his gas line, plus the ever ready sultans of the Middle East musing about either raising prices or cutting supply.

It is a melancholy observation that the paucity of common sense and the excess of folly in so many politicians has ever persuaded sovereign governments that they should subscribe to the nonsense and economically suicidal policies of “net-zero” emission and the quixotic idea that windmills and solar panels can service First World economies.

There is no keener signature of an adolescent mind than gluing oneself to a highway barricade while believing your adhesive activism is going to save the planet. This is Extinction Rebellion’s tactic in current day London, England. In Canada there is no keener signature of a reckless disregard for the nation’s stability, and full dis-concern for Western Canadians, than utilizing the snobbish, condescending slogan “the planet comes first” as the cover for choking the economy of one of our provinces.

As always, it is necessary to emphasize that if oil were the principal resource in Ontario, it would be protected, and if it were the principal resource in Quebec, it would have state and religious protection. Everyone out West knows this. It is becoming a harder and harder question why Alberta stays in the Confederation, not that the Confederation idea or Confederation itself is a question in Albertan minds.

Alberta is turning to questioning Confederation because Ottawa has become so warped and careless in its attention to Alberta’s central industry, and by easy implication to the dignity of the citizens of that province. To some degree it sees itself as being on a “second tier” of Confederation, and its energy industry as being offered as a sacrifice to win the approval of the IPCC, international greenism and Hollywood worthies — hardly a comfortable political mindset.

The most remarkable thing in our current moment is not that there are rumblings of discontent out West. It is the remarkable patience the West has maintained during the decades-long attacks internationalist environmentalism has carried out against Alberta, while Ottawa at best has complacently looked on. Alberta is a second citizen in the Confederation, and very many of its residents are reluctantly waking up to that fact.

There’s another one of those ridiculous, multi-thousand-attendee global warming conferences about to choke the airways and fill the first-class beds of Glasgow, Scotland. Thousands will once again gather to draw up the latest decrees and issue fresh Jeremiahs about the always threatened doom just around the corner. It will be another private-jet convocation where superior people, with no need to worry about furnace fuel or life in the Third World or having to line up in a gas station queue, will meet to tell the peasants of the world how they should live from now on.

They shall talk of building back better, and just transitions, and our glowing net-zero future. Canada, with what little prestige it has left, will be there trying to be the loudest in supporting such manifest follies. Everyone attending should say a prayer Europe doesn’t have a hard winter, though maybe the prayer is a little late. http://apple.news/AKFVDcbsaSHWTvtohw6m_Xg
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
23,217
8,055
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Winter is coming — and it’s not looking pretty. A confluence of events are threatening to create the perfect storm that could see an unusually cold winter coupled with prohibitively high home heating costs, in an economy already facing significant inflationary challenges.

Europe has been in the grips of an energy crisis for much of the summer, with the loosening of COVID restrictions combined with shortages of supply and low levels of inventory driving natural gas prices six times higher than they were a year ago. The problem has been exacerbated by the push to replace fossil-fuel generation with renewable-energy sources.

Wind production has been down throughout Europe this year, and it got worse at the end of August, when the wind stopped blowing in the North Sea, causing wind generation in the United Kingdom, which last year accounted for around 25 per cent of the country’s power, to drop off significantly. The resulting increase in the prices of oil, natural gas, coal and carbon credits have caused British electricity prices to increase seven fold year over year.

High prices in Europe and Asia are causing manufacturers to decrease production and exacerbating global shipping and supply chain problems that are leading to shortages of consumer goods worldwide. Energy shortages in Europe are also beginning to affect the agriculture industry, threatening to increase food prices, which are already seeing high inflationary pressures.

Canadians are also feeling the brunt of high gas prices. At the beginning of the month, FortisBC, the largest natural gas distributor in British Columbia, raised its prices by nine per cent, and Manitoba Hydro customers saw rates increase between 8.7 and 19 per cent. Enbridge Gas, which heats three-quarters of Ontario’s homes, also upped its prices.

Canada has the 17th-largest proven natural gas reserves in the world, but the number of new wells completed annually in Western Canada dropped from over 12,000 in 2008, to 820 in 2016, and Alberta’s natural gas production has decreased by about 25 per cent since 2007.

1633799601242.jpeg

Ten years ago, Canada looked well positioned to become an energy superpower. But over the preceding decade, numerous private-sector proposals to build LNG terminals off the coast of B.C., as well as pipelines connecting Alberta to the West Coast, United States and Eastern Canada have all been stymied by petty jurisdictional disputes and politicians who cave to the interests of radical environmentalists.

Meanwhile, gas on Alberta’s AECO index is selling for 55 per cent less than at the Henry Hub terminal in Louisiana. The oil industry faces similar issues due to pipeline constraints.

1633799743372.jpeg

Now we have the worst of both worlds: despite the lofty rhetoric espoused by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders about climate change, demand for oil and gas has only increased over time (aside from an expected dip during the pandemic), yet Canada does not have the infrastructure necessary to take full advantage of it.

1633799817401.jpeg

Had we built the pipelines and LNG terminals necessary to get our energy resources to markets in the U.S., Asia and even Europe, the impact of higher prices for energy and consumer goods would have been offset by a corresponding boom in the energy sector. Instead, this winter, we will all be forced to be cold, miserable — and poorer.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,337
113
Vancouver Island
The word green has to be redefined. It is not a sweet Wordsworthian halo. In our real and present world, green politics mean the crippling of efficient and ready systems in the vain hope of wand-waving into existence an entirely new energy system.

In these fall days of 2021 as I read all the news from Europe, of petrol shortages, swiftly rising fuel costs, extreme lineups at British gas stations, brawls breaking out at the pumps, Germany already shuddering at the possibility of a cold winter and not enough heating fuel, half the continent now on a leash to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his gas line, plus the ever ready sultans of the Middle East musing about either raising prices or cutting supply.

It is a melancholy observation that the paucity of common sense and the excess of folly in so many politicians has ever persuaded sovereign governments that they should subscribe to the nonsense and economically suicidal policies of “net-zero” emission and the quixotic idea that windmills and solar panels can service First World economies.

There is no keener signature of an adolescent mind than gluing oneself to a highway barricade while believing your adhesive activism is going to save the planet. This is Extinction Rebellion’s tactic in current day London, England. In Canada there is no keener signature of a reckless disregard for the nation’s stability, and full dis-concern for Western Canadians, than utilizing the snobbish, condescending slogan “the planet comes first” as the cover for choking the economy of one of our provinces.

As always, it is necessary to emphasize that if oil were the principal resource in Ontario, it would be protected, and if it were the principal resource in Quebec, it would have state and religious protection. Everyone out West knows this. It is becoming a harder and harder question why Alberta stays in the Confederation, not that the Confederation idea or Confederation itself is a question in Albertan minds.

Alberta is turning to questioning Confederation because Ottawa has become so warped and careless in its attention to Alberta’s central industry, and by easy implication to the dignity of the citizens of that province. To some degree it sees itself as being on a “second tier” of Confederation, and its energy industry as being offered as a sacrifice to win the approval of the IPCC, international greenism and Hollywood worthies — hardly a comfortable political mindset.

The most remarkable thing in our current moment is not that there are rumblings of discontent out West. It is the remarkable patience the West has maintained during the decades-long attacks internationalist environmentalism has carried out against Alberta, while Ottawa at best has complacently looked on. Alberta is a second citizen in the Confederation, and very many of its residents are reluctantly waking up to that fact.

There’s another one of those ridiculous, multi-thousand-attendee global warming conferences about to choke the airways and fill the first-class beds of Glasgow, Scotland. Thousands will once again gather to draw up the latest decrees and issue fresh Jeremiahs about the always threatened doom just around the corner. It will be another private-jet convocation where superior people, with no need to worry about furnace fuel or life in the Third World or having to line up in a gas station queue, will meet to tell the peasants of the world how they should live from now on.

They shall talk of building back better, and just transitions, and our glowing net-zero future. Canada, with what little prestige it has left, will be there trying to be the loudest in supporting such manifest follies. Everyone attending should say a prayer Europe doesn’t have a hard winter, though maybe the prayer is a little late. http://apple.news/AKFVDcbsaSHWTvtohw6m_Xg
We have been suffering attacks on our forest industry for far longer with little help, and when we have had dippers in power politicians openly aiding the terrorists.
 
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Reactions: Twin_Moose

Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
10,616
5,259
113
Olympus Mons
I dunno why wind keeps getting pushed. Even those who are working in the field of green energy development have stated that wind power is NOT a long term solution. To be sure, it will still be part of the energy mix but only as a minor component. Despite all the new technology to make it more efficient, wind power still suffers from the same major deficit that plagued it for the last 5000 years; you cannot control the wind.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
23,217
8,055
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
I dunno why wind keeps getting pushed. Even those who are working in the field of green energy development have stated that wind power is NOT a long term solution. To be sure, it will still be part of the energy mix but only as a minor component. Despite all the new technology to make it more efficient, wind power still suffers from the same major deficit that plagued it for the last 5000 years; you cannot control the wind.
If we could just figure out how to harness the power of Political Lies & Ethics Violations, the Left could really save the planet.