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Issues Pages:
Trudeau to push to make Trans Mountain and Energy East pipelines a reality
Tue, 2016-04-12 14:26
#1
Trudeau to push to make Trans Mountain and Energy East pipelines a reality
Tue, 2016-04-12 14:29
#2
Well that didn't take long. Justin is going to use his cuddly image to seil more pipelines and fossil fuels. I could have sworn we defeated Harper.
Justin Trudeau has told his senior lieutenants to draw up plans to make the Energy East pipeline and the Trans Mountain expansion in British Columbia a reality.
The prime minister has been convinced by his finance minister, Bill Morneau, and other influential voices around the cabinet table that the pipelines have to be built to achieve the ambitious economic growth targets his government has set.
But the problem for the Liberals is that this conviction has to be conveyed subtly to a public that has decidedly mixed views on oilsands expansion and pipelines.
The prime minister has never been an advocate of a Canadian future without oil. He supported the Keystone XL pipeline, and explicitly stated that no country that found 170 billion barrels of oil would leave it in the ground.
But people with knowledge of the matter suggest he has recently issued instructions that a pipeline strategy has to be top priority.
The government will make the ultimate decision on whether to approve the proposals, starting with Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain application, on which cabinet is expected to rule by Christmas. ...
With a provincial election due in May 2017, the Liberals are conscious that Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberals will need to be wooed. Her government opposes the Kinder Morgan expansion but Ottawa could engineer a deal that meets a number of the five requirements Clark suggested need to be fulfilled to win her approval — benefits for First Nations, a “fair share” of the economic spoils for B.C., and a world-leading marine oil-spill response system.
The Quebec government of Philippe Couillard may be easier to persuade, since the premier wants the federal government to invest $1 billion in Bombardier, the jewel in the province’s aerospace crown.
The Trudeau government has introduced new regulations for pipelines that include a climate change test and greater consideration of indigenous rights.
But government sources suggest the environmental case for these two pipelines can be made by pointing out that any increase in production in western Canada will be offset by declines in production overseas. ...
A broader public concern than greenhouse gas increases is safety, and the belief is that the public can be persuaded transporting oil by pipeline is preferable, and safer, than shipping by rail. A Leger poll in March suggested Quebecers prefer pipelines over other delivery options.
The Liberals are aware that Trudeau will have to perform a delicate balancing act on the file — he has established credibility on the environment and polls suggest he is trusted to make the right decision by a majority of Canadians (unlike his predecessor). ...
The first test of the new policy will be Kinder Morgan. The National Energy Board has completed its review and its final decision is pending, before the file is passed on to cabinet. NEB hearings into Energy East have not yet started. ...
As important will be the impact on public opinion of non-governmental organizations like Environmental Defence, which applauded the inclusion of a climate test that assesses projects against Canada’s commitment to keep the change in global temperatures below 1.5 C.
http://ecocidealert.com/?p=18731
Tue, 2016-04-12 14:59
#3
No doubt Justin will reassure us that, despite NOAA (National Oceanci and Atmospheric Administration) reporting that February 2016 was the tenth consecutive month in which a new global average temperature mark was set, there is nothing we have to worry our pretty little heads about.
The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for February 2016 was the highest for February in the 137-year period of record, at 1.21°C (2.18°F) above the 20th century average of 12.1°C (53.9°F). This not only was the highest for February in the 1880–2016 record—surpassing the previous record set in 2015 by 0.33°C / 0.59°F—but it surpassed the all-time monthly record set just two months ago in December 2015 by 0.09°C (0.16°F). Overall, the six highest monthly temperature departures in the record have all occurred in the past six months. February 2016 also marks the 10th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record has been broken. ...
February 2016 Selected Climate
Anomalies and Events MapIntroduction
Tue, 2016-04-12 15:46
#4
Quite a change to Liberal plans, at least in their official party emai release, just before Trudeau got all those accolades before the December 2015 Paris Sustainable Innovation Forum. But that was so long, long ago.
Children born today aren’t responsible for climate change.
But they, and their children, are the ones who will have to live with its consequences – from extreme weather, drought and floods, to increased disease.
Climate change is real and we no longer have time to debate it. The clock is ticking for us to do something about it. ...
There is no denying that the time to act has long passed. Governments both Conservative and Liberal have given too little in terms of concrete action. With each passing year it becomes more difficult to achieve meaningful reduction within the relevant time frame. ...
The bottom line is this. No country can solve this alone. Nor can any province or territory. But our children and grandchildren will feel the consequences if we fail. ...
Which is why I’m turning to you. It’s not just the federal government and provinces and territories that must rally together before we all head to Paris. It is all Canadians.
Please add your name to stand with the Prime Minister and Premiers heading to COP21 -- and tell them you’re ready to do your part to fight climate change.
Add your name now
Thank you,
https://www.liberal.ca/canadas-message-at-cop21-climate-change/
Wed, 2016-04-13 14:42
#5
First Nations opposition to Trudeau's plan to build the Trans Mountain pipeline has already started.
The Tsleil-Waututh Nation said Tuesday they have no intention of backing down in the face of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recently revealed support for Kinder Morgan’s $5.4-billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.
The National Post reported Monday that the prime minister has told his senior lieutenants to draw up plans to make the Energy East pipeline and the Trans Mountain expansion a reality.
But during last fall’s election campaign, Trudeau had promised First Nations more say in natural resource development.
First Nations in B.C. have also become emboldened in pushing land rights after multiple court wins, including a historic Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2014 that granted the Tsilqhot’in title to 1,740 square kilometres of traditional territory in the Interior. The ruling pushed consultation obligations for the government to a higher threshold.
“From the very beginning, we have said we don’t see (the Kinder Morgan) project happening,” said Ruben George of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation.
“(Trudeau) can say what he wants, but we believe the Canadian constitution protects our indigenous rights. And we have been winning that right,” said George, who manages the Tsleil-Waututh’s initiative to oppose the Trans Mountain expansion.
http://vancouversun.com/business/energy/tsleil-waututh-has-message-for-t...
Wed, 2016-04-13 14:52
#6
The Quebec Premier just slammed future oil exploration in his province
Philippe Couillard joked that oil could be transported off a Quebec island by teleportation
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has ridiculed the prospects of future fossil fuel development in his province as it pursues efforts to transform into a carbon-free economy.
“The future of Quebec does not rest on fossil fuels,” Couillard said in an interview published this weekend in Montreal daily newspaper, La Presse....
Wed, 2016-04-13 15:45
#7
First Nations opposition to Trudeau's plan to build the Trans Mountain pipeline has already started.“(Trudeau) can say what he wants, but we believe the Canadian constitution protects our indigenous rights. And we have been winning that right,” said George, who manages the Tsleil-Waututh’s initiative to oppose the Trans Mountain expansion.
i've been watching this from the first proposal. every community to Merrit is in agreement. then from south of Merrit to Burnaby.
all FN don't have to be in agreement. they've a bunch already.
looked at the Transmountain maps for the whole route it will follow and i saw there's a reason why the Fraser River water shed governance was given to the NEB. 
they now control all the area from the AB border to Prince George and down to the lower mainland also through Kamloops and down to Hope. yes, the southern area away from where the Fraser flows too. the north Thompson is part of the Fraser water shed and the twinned pipeline is pretty much following the river systems where it won't be on land already contolled by Transmountain.
have a look at the BC map and see what area of the province the NEB now controls.
Wed, 2016-04-13 19:04
#8
..with the tsleil-waututh, vancouver and burnaby being oppossed the km pipeline needs to find another port.
Wed, 2016-04-13 19:29
#9
Where are the alternative jobs?
Wed, 2016-04-13 19:47
#10
Where are the alternative jobs?
Yeah I guess your right the only thing we can do is export carbon and raw logs and unrefined minerals and water. Canadians have no other choices but to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. It is just our fate as a colony. No use dreaming of anything different because the oligarchy wants to strip the resources from the land as quickly as possible and get their money now.
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:02
#11
The National Post reported Monday that the prime minister has told his senior lieutenants to draw up plans to make the Energy East pipeline and the Trans Mountain expansion a reality.
This was one writer's story in a right wing rag, are there any other sources to back up what is being claimed in the article?
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:27
#12
Where are the alternative jobs?
NR are you looking for a job? I don't think Babble is a job board. 
Not surprisingly, I would say many of these types of jobs are currently in Alberta. At the moment, I believe that there are proportionally more opportunities outside of Canada. In Canada, we need to stop subsidizing what no longer works which I believe was a Trudeau promise, and support what does work for example:
The US wind power industry supported 88,000 jobs at the start of 2016, a 20% increase over the last 12 months, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
...
“With long-term, stable policy in place, and a broader range of customers now buying low-cost wind-generated electricity, our workforce can grow to 380,000 well-paying jobs by 2030.”
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:29
#13
..there's this. includes video. not sure if it's what your looking for though.
Trudeau attacked from all sides over pipeline stance
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government was criticized from all sides on Tuesday in response to a published news report that alleged he had instructed key officials to prepare a strategy to approve major new pipeline projects.
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:31
#14
..with the tsleil-waututh, vancouver and burnaby being oppossed the km pipeline needs to find another port.
the Port of Vancouver is a crown corp. if the BC government decides to allow the shipments they will.
i know, i know, we don't want it to happen. it will anyway. i've been thinking and thinking why for years.
oil companies aren't stupid they know fossil fuels are the thing of the past. so why spend billions?
the next commodity they want is the water. they're going to use the pipelines for whole sale water supply and transmission. they can tap into almost every major water way in BC. spring water sales will be the norm and sold to us as a flood prevention measure with benefits.
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:34
#15
Perhaps I should have been clearer: Where are the alternative green jobs? What's the plan? Who is going to pay for the training? Who is going to pay the workers?
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:37
#16
..there's this. includes video. not sure if it's what your looking for though.
Trudeau attacked from all sides over pipeline stance
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government was criticized from all sides on Tuesday in response to a published news report that alleged he had instructed key officials to prepare a strategy to approve major new pipeline projects.
Thanks epaulo. And to quote the final words of PM Trudeau in the video: "... and basing our decisions on evidence."
I can't find anything to back up what the author "alleges" in the article.
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:40
#17
Perhaps I should have been clearer: Where are the alternative green jobs? What's the plan? Who is going to pay for the training? Who is going to pay the workers?
You are under the delusion that a pipeline will be built with Canadian workers. I suspect like the Canada Line and other projects built lately the workforce will likely not be local and certainly not union. Until we start taxing the corporations and building public infrastructure we are hooped and the youth in our society will be relegated to flipping burgers and greeting shoppers. The oil and gas industry has no solutions either they just have a lot of politicians in their pocket apparently including the new NDP government in Alberta.
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:43
#18
What follows are 31 good jobs ideas for BC.
- Promote Co-ops as a Business Model
- Expand BC Hydro’s PowerSmart Program
- Buy Local
- Set Up New Crown Corporations
- Invest in Training
- Develop an Industrial Strategy for the Creative Sector
- Pay a Living Wage
- Implement the $10/Day Child Care Plan
- Use the Carbon Tax for Green Public Infrastructure Investments
- Create a Public Bank with a Local Development Mandate
- Transform the “Poor Jobs”
- Facilitate Knowledge Exchange between Universities, Business, Communities and Government
- Focus on Green Jobs for Youth
- Harness the Promise of Social Enterprise with Enabling Legislation
- Use Public School Infrastructure to Provide Quality Childcare
- Institute Precarity Pay
- Redesign the Economy to Respect the Ecosystem
- Develop a Youth Jobs Initiative
- Turn All Farm Jobs into Good Jobs
- Guarantee a Basic Income
- Create a New Urban-Rural Economic Development Initiative
- Green the Resource Industries
- Start Co-ops
- Adopt Green Procurement Policies in Hospitals and Long-Term Care Homes
- Establish Province-Wide Elderly Care Standards
- Support Co-operatively Run Businesses
- Fund and Build Affordable Housing
- Invest in Public Education
- Move Towards Greener, Carbon-Focused Forest Management
- Implement a Youth Guarantee
- Avoid Groupthink by Looking at the Data
- See more at: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/offices/bc/goodjobs#sthash.NTzBfSAo.dpuf
Wed, 2016-04-13 20:56
#19
Perhaps I should have been clearer: Where are the alternative green jobs? What's the plan? Who is going to pay for the training? Who is going to pay the workers?
I think I understood what you were asking. I think the word "alternative" is confusing because there may be no alternative. There are green jobs now. There is no plan that I know of -- a plan might help. There were some large infrastructure projects in Ontario. As is the norm these days, workers currently pay for training with some funds available through government and EI depending on the individual's criteria and needs.
The government, as promised, needs to ramp up support for "green" jobs that would certainly help in so many ways. Many in my community, as so many other communities across Canada, have lost their "Alberta" job working in the tarsands. I see green jobs available locally and abroad, and yes the companies pay the workers.
Wed, 2016-04-13 21:00
#20
it's happening whether you've personally investigated it or not NR. communities are taking charge and finding way to do it themselves and the industries will come.
http://www.therockymountaingoat.com/2013/03/more-exploration-for-canoe-r...
the City of Kamloops is solarizing and other municipal governments where it's feasible.
biz like this below will soon be everywhere with engineers designing energy efficient systems for municipal governments, universities and residential.
http://www.riversideenergy.ca/
our future will be combinations of solar, geothermal, wind and maybe magnetic.
Wed, 2016-04-13 21:07
#21
Perhaps I should have been clearer: Where are the alternative green jobs? What's the plan? Who is going to pay for the training? Who is going to pay the workers?You are under the delusion that a pipeline will be built with Canadian workers.
it will. no delusion.
I suspect like the Canada Line and other projects built lately the workforce will likely not be local and certainly not union.
not union.
Until we start taxing the corporations and building public infrastructure we are hooped and the youth in our society will be relegated to flipping burgers and greeting shoppers.
i agree and i don't too.
The oil and gas industry has no solutions either they just have a lot of politicians in their pocket apparently including the new NDP government in Alberta.
sure they do. not the small subcontractors but the big ones absolutely do.
Wed, 2016-04-13 23:12
#22
Where are the alternative green jobs?
Fossil fuel jobs are the ones in decline while green energy jobs are growing rapidly around the world, including in Canada.
Renewable energy investment and deployment is paying off, and in spades, when it comes to addressing a basic issue plaguing developed and developing countries alike: an inability to generate jobs that pay a good living wage. Around the world, renewable energy job creation continues to far outpace that for economies overall.
Some 7.7 million people are now employed across the global renewable energy value chain, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). That’s up 18 percent from 6.5 million in 2014, the agency noted in its 2015 Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/05/renewable-energy-job-growth-helps-ch...
And here is what has happened in Canada in the last five years in terms of green energy jobs.
Canada’s green energy sector has grown so quickly and has become such an important part of the economy that it now employs more people than the oil sands.
About $25-billion has been invested in Canada’s clean-energy sector in the past five years, and employment is up 37 per cent, according to a new report from climate think tank Clean Energy Canada to be released Tuesday. That means the 23,700 people who work in green energy organizations outnumber the 22,340 whose work relates to the oil sands, the report says.
Worldwide, 6.5 million people are employed in the clean-energy sector.
“Clean energy has moved from being a small niche or boutique industry to really big business in Canada,” said Merran Smith, director of Clean Energy Canada. The investment it has gleaned since 2009 is roughly the same as has been pumped into agriculture, fishing and forestry combined, she said. The industry will continue to show huge growth potential, beyond most other business sectors, she added.
While investment has boomed, the energy-generating capacity of wind, solar, run-of-river hydro and biomass plants has expanded by 93 per cent since 2009, the report says.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-a...
Wed, 2016-04-13 23:39
#23
Its time to realize how quickly the global energy picture is changing with renewable energy investment increasing sixfold in the last decade to surpass fossil fuel investment, stimulating a large growth in green energy jobs globally. On the other hand fossil fuel investment and jobs are in decline. The business news network Bloomberg News reports
The race for renewable energy has passed a turning point. The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there's no going back.
The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared with 141 gigawatts in new plants that burn fossil fuels, according to an analysis presented Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance annual summit in New York. The shift will continue to accelerate, and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added.
"The electricity system is shifting to clean,'' Michael Liebreich, founder of BNEF, said in his keynote address. "Despite the change in oil and gas prices there is going to be a substantial buildout of renewable energy that is likely to be an order of magnitude larger than the buildout of coal and gas."
The Beginning of the End
Power generation capacity additions (GW) Bloomberg New Energy Finance
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-14/fossil-fuels-just-lost...
Wind and solar have grown seemingly unstoppable.
While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels.
One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions in Mexico and Morocco ended with winning bids from companies that promised to produce electricity at the cheapest rate, from any source, anywhere in the world, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
"We're in a low-cost-of-oil environment for the foreseeable future," Liebreich said during his keynote address at the BNEF Summit in New York on Tuesday. "Did that stop renewable energy investment? Not at all."
Here's what's shaping power markets, in six charts from BNEF:
Renewables are beating fossil fuels 2 to 1
Investment in Power Capacity, 2008-2015 Source: BNEF, UNEP
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-06/wind-and-solar-are-cru...
Wed, 2016-04-13 23:49
#24
One of the principal arguments put forward by supporters of BC's proposed LNG industry is the jobs that it could create. However, even the $36 billion to be spent on the Petronas LNG project is expected to generate relatively few jobs, considering the amount of money involved.
Quote:
The project is expected to generate approximately 4,500 jobs during the peak construction period, 330 permanent jobs, and an additional 300 indirect jobs in the community.
http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/pacific-northwest-lng-pr...
On the other hand, renewable energy projects not only cause far less environmental damage, they generate far more jobs for the same size of investment.
Quote:
Robert Pollin, the President of Pear Energy and a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has studied this matter [green energy jobs versus fossil fuel jobs and found:]
“The basic facts are simple. When we invest, say, $1 million in building the green economy, this creates about 17 jobs within the United States. By comparison, if we continue to spend as we do on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, you create only about 5 jobs per $1 million in spending. That is, we create about 12 more jobs for every $1 million in spending — 300 percent more jobs — every time we spend on building the green economy as opposed to maintaining our dependence on dirty and dangerous oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear power.” ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/20/over-3-times-more-green-jobs-per-mil...
Considering all of the above information, it is both economically and environmentally dangerous for BC to be following this LNG strategy and more and more voters are coming to understand this, even in the Interior of the province.
Thu, 2016-04-14 00:16
#25
On the other hand, the world's largest private sector coal company went bankrupt today.
The US coal industry is imploding. And here's the most spectacular casualty yet: Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in St. Louis on Wednesday.
It's hard to overstate what a seismic shift this is. Peabody has been a giant in the mining industry seemingly forever, after starting out in Chicago in 1880 with just a wagon and two mules. Two decades ago, coal provided fully half of America's electricity, much of it dug up by Peabody. At its peak in 2008, the company had a market cap of $20 billion, supplying coal to 26 countries worldwide.
But then came the fall. The emergence of fracking and cheap shale gas in the United States, coupled with stricter environmental regulations, has helped push hundreds of coal-fired power plants out of business in recent years. US coal production has nosedived from 1.17 billion metric tons in 2008 to just 752.5 million in 2016. Coal consumption in China, another crucial market, has also cooled off of late.
Between 2012 and 2015, Peabody laid off more than 20 percent of its global workforce and shuttered some of its US mines. Today, the company is saddled with $10.1 billion in debt and its future looks gloomy. Hence the bankruptcy filing. ...
China's demand for metallurgical coal has dropped sharply, as the nation's breakneck industrial growth hit a saturation point. ...
The result was a bloodbath across the entire industry.
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/13/11420882/peabody-energy-bankruptcy-coal
Things are also grim for coal in western Canada. We already put enormous investments in BC into northeastern coal under the Socreds in the late 1980s even though there were many warnings that the Japanese were using BC coal to create a global surplus in order to drive prices way down. The result was the closing of the mines in 2000 and the shutting down of mining towns such as Tumbler Ridge. Now its happened again.
We can repeat this scenario again with the other fossil fuels as the world shifts away from oil and LNG over the next few decades.
While British Columbia and Alberta are both coal powerhouses, the two provinces’ coal industries face very different sets of challenges.
Viewed by many as an archaic fuel source, coal is still – by far – the world’s most widely used source of electricity. Cheap and plentiful, the global growth of coal-fired electricity is driven by emerging economies. Developed countries are decreasing their use but still burn vast amounts of the black and brown stuff. Coal makes up more than 20 per cent of power generation in the United Kingdom and about 40 per cent in the United States. When it comes to Canadian generation, coal is still king in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Alberta. ...
But if it didn’t exist before, the Paris climate change talks this month have crystallized a broad global perspective that deep, near-term reductions in the use of coal for power generation is one of the most important steps in reining in rising greenhouse gas levels. ...
The province’s (Alberta's) coal industry has long flown under the radar as higher-profile oil sands production attracted environmental controversy and scorn. ...
Despite predictions of power price spikes and disruption from critics of the plan, the government says simply that there will be no pollution from coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. ...
In northeastern British Columbia, concern is centred on low prices for steel-making metallurgical coal – the effects of which have already been devastating. Five metallurgical coal mines were shut down between the spring of 2013 and fall of 2014, throwing more than 1,300 employees out of work.
In the early 1980s, the coal industry effectively created Tumbler Ridge, with modern homes carved out of the forest.
This is the second time that tough times have threatened the district municipality’s very existence. Back in 2000 and 2001, hundreds of spacious homes on large lots sold for less than $35,000 after the Quintette mine closed in 2000. The Bullmoose mine shut down in 2003.
The impact has been especially painful in Tumbler Ridge, where prices for single-family detached houses have plunged. In the first 10 months of this year, detached homes sold in the community averaged $128,333, down 47 per cent from $240,901 in the same period of 2013, according to the B.C. Real Estate Association.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-a...
Thu, 2016-04-14 00:24
#26
While Canada continues to focus on oil an LNG, the rest of the world is shifting away from these both in terms of investment and jobs. Our goal is to sell our fossil fuel to the rest of the world as it moves away from this energy. Can we say Tumbler Ridge?
In January 2015 the United States produced 90% of new electrical energy from renewable sources with only 10% coming from natural gas and none from hydroelectricity (water in the article).
Based on data from FERC and educated “other solar” (essentially rooftop solar) estimates from CleanTechnica, we’ve found that 90% of new electricity generation capacity added in the United States in January 2015 came from renewable energy sources. To be more precise, 90% came from solar and wind energy.
The largest source of new capacity came from wind energy (54.7%), rooftop solar was second (26.7%), natural gas was third (10.5%), and utility-scale solar PV brought the rest (8.1%).
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/10/renewable-energy-90-of-new-us-electr...
Other countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, are turning overwhelmingly toward wind and solar power instead of hydro and fossil fuels.
The United Kingdom blew past previous wind power records in 2014 while Germany generated a record amount of electricity from wind in December, setting the stage for 2015 to bring more industry growth across Europe. Exactly how quickly it grows, however, is contingent upon several political and regulatory decisions to come.
Using statistics from the U.K.’s National Grid, the trade association RenewableUK found that wind generated enough electricity to power just over 25 percent of U.K. homes in 2014 — a 15 percent increase from 2013. Wind turbines provided 9.3 percent of the U.K’s total electricity supply last year, a 1.5 percent boost from 2013. ...
In December, Germany generated more wind power, 8.9 terawatt-hours, than in any previous month. According to the IWR renewable energy research institute, this record will be overtaken in 2015 as more offshore wind farms come online.
After strong wind power months in October and November, Scotland also set a monthly generation record in December. WWF Scotland stated that wind power generated enough power to supply electricity to 98 percent of Scotland’s households in 2014.
Scotland has even bigger plans for the future — and according to a new study, these plans can be met and even exceeded. Scotland hopes to generate the equivalent of 100 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020 and to export non-renewable production from conventional power plants to countries like England.
Across Europe, 2015 will also be a big year for renewable energy policy. Late last year the bloc released plans to legally require member countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below their 1990 levels by 2030. ...
According to two consulting firms, the E.U. renewables market will add 8.7 GW of wind and 10.7 GW of solar this year.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/05/3607904/wind-power-surges-in...
Thu, 2016-04-14 00:48
#27
Here are more countries moving away from fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy and jobs.
The most interesting develpment is that in 2014 for the first time developing countries outspent developed countries on renewable energy. If these poorer countries can do this, why can't wealthy Canada?
Quote:
For the first time, more than half the world's annual investment in clean energy is coming from emerging markets instead of from wealthier nations, according to a new analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The handoff occurred last year, and it's just the beginning.
The chart below shows quarterly clean-energy investment in OECD countries vs. non-OECD countries. The trajectory is clear: If you’re a power plant salesperson, you’re probably going to be working with renewables in poor countries from now into the foreseeable future.
Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-23/leapfrogging-to-solar-...
Thu, 2016-04-14 00:49
#28
China is also focusing on meeting its growth in energy investment with a large focus on energy from sources other than fossil fuels or hydro, thereby creating many jobs in these fields.
New funds for wind, solar, biofuels and other low-carbon energy technologies gained 16 percent to $310 billion last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-09/clean-energy-investmen...
In less than 10 years, Uruguay has slashed its carbon footprint without government subsidies or higher consumer costs, according to the country’s head of climate change policy, Ramón Méndez.
In fact, he says that now that renewables provide 94.5% of the country’s electricity, prices are lower than in the past relative to inflation. There are also fewer power cuts because a diverse energy mix means greater resilience to droughts.
It was a very different story just 15 years ago. Back at the turn of the century oil accounted for 27% of Uruguay’s imports and a new pipeline was just about to begin supplying gas from Argentina. ...
Now the biggest item on import balance sheet is wind turbines, which fill the country’s ports on their way to installation.
Biomass and solar power have also been ramped up. Adding to existing hydropower, this means that renewables now account for 55% of the country’s overall energy mix (including transport fuel) compared with a global average share of 12%. ...
There are no technological miracles involved, nuclear power is entirely absent from the mix, and no new hydroelectric power has been added for more than two decades.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/03/uruguay-makes-dramati...
Denmark and Ireland are also moving towards using wind as a major source of energy instead of hydro or fossil fuels.
Denmark set a new world record for wind production in 2014, getting 39.1 percent of its overall electricity from the clean energy source. The latest figures put the country well on track to meet its 2020 goal of getting 50 percent of its power from renewables.
Denmark has long been a pioneer in wind power, having installed its first turbines in the mid-1970s, and has even more ambitious aims in sight, including a 100 percent renewable country by 2050. Last year, onshore wind was also declared the cheapest form of energy in the country. ...
Ireland hits new record for wind energy
Windy conditions in Ireland meant the country saw not one but two wind energy records set already this year. According to figures record by EirGrid on Wednesday (Jan. 7), wind energy had created 1,942 MW of energy, enough to power more than 1.26 million homes.
And while we are still only a week into 2015, this announcement marked the second time this year the country has seen this record broken. On the Jan. 1, wind energy output was at a previous high of 1,872 MW.
http://ecowatch.com/2015/01/09/countries-leading-way-renewable-energy/
Thu, 2016-04-14 00:57
#29
Renewable energy investment and deployment is paying off, and in spades, when it comes to addressing a basic issue plaguing developed and developing countries alike: an inability to generate jobs that pay a good living wage. Around the world, renewable energy job creation continues to far outpace that for economies overall.
Some 7.7 million people are now employed across the global renewable energy value chain, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). That’s up 18 percent from 6.5 million in 2014, the agency noted in its 2015 Renewable Energy and Jobs Annual Review.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/05/renewable-energy-job-growth-helps-ch...
While overall I think you are absolutely right about the switch to a green economy generating good jobs the service jobs still aren't going away. Most factory workers weren't that skilled. In the late 70s a floor sweeper at Purina made 17$ an hour.
As long as the wealthy are allowed to siphon money out of the economy we will have difficulty paying for strong communities.
The "good paying jobs" line is just another smokescreen.
Thu, 2016-04-14 01:05
#30
BC LNG exports look highly unlikely. Even the Wall Street Journal thinks so, as the recently finished Louisiana LNG facility can meet the entire global demand for LNG, that has led to the rejection of further United States LNG facilities by regulators and the prediction of major problems for Canadian LNG projects.
Canadian addiction to fossil fuels seems never-ending no matter how risky the evidence tells us that it is.
As Premier Christy Clark marks her fifth year in office, U.S. regulators have served up some discouraging news about the current prospects for selling North American liquefied natural gas in Asian markets.
The latest setback happened Friday when the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) turned thumbs down to an estimated $9.5 billion LNG project in Oregon for lack of evidence of any overseas market for the stuff. ... T
he 21-page rationale posted at ferc.gov, the commission website, provided a good understanding of why the regulator balked at the proposed Jordan Cove terminal and accompanying pipeline. Four times commission staff requested details from the would-be developers — including Calgary-based Veresen Inc. — about potential buyers for the estimated annual output of six million tonnes of LNG. In the most recent response, delivered late last year, the commission was told only that negotiations with prospective customers were “active and ongoing” and partners were “confident that these customers will enter into long-term agreements.” Nor did the would-be developers take the strong hint from the commission and tentatively sound out potential buyers via the informal process known as an “open season.” ...
The Wall Street Journal noted as much last month when Cheniere Energy began shipping LNG from the first of two major export terminals on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
“The world’s appetite for North American LNG will be limited to about 6.5 billion cubic feet a day in the next eight years,” the newspaper reported, citing analyses by the U.S. department of energy and Canada’s own CIBC bank. “Cheniere has regulatory approval for nearly all of that volume, 6.3 billion cubic feet, from a pair of export terminals. That suggests trouble for dozens of other LNG projects, from Maryland to Oregon,” the paper continued.
It also suggests potential trouble for projects on this side of the border, because the Americans — thanks to Cheniere’s first terminal in Louisiana and the second one under construction in Texas — have got the product to market ahead of us. ...
The proposal put forward by Malaysia-government owned Petronas for a site near Port Edward on the Northwest Coast of B.C. is priced at $36 billion including terminal, port and pipeline. At peak, Pacific NorthWest LNG would produce up to three times as much product as Jordan Cove would have done. Granted some B.C.-based proponents have done a better job lining up potential buyers. But the environmental and regulatory obstacles are no less onerous on this side of the border and our equivalent of the landholder issue — aboriginal title — has been a greater cause for delay.
All of which tends to suggest that B.C. is still a long way from delivering homegrown LNG to world markets.
In her first year as premier back in 2011, Premier Clark suggested that the first terminal would be operational by now. But even if she manages to secure re-election next year, she’s more likely to be in her 10th year in office before the first LNG shipment is at hand.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Vaughn+Palmer+prospects+continue+fade/117847...
Thu, 2016-04-14 01:10
#31
The scraping of plans for a Saint John LNG export terminal provides further evidence that a global glut of LNG leaves Christy's trillion dollar LNG fantasy perilously close to death.
Unfortunately there is a world glut of LNG, these energy companies and investors only have themselves to blame, these greedy entities swooped in like vultures on Asia(Japan) and figured they could make $billions providing natural gas..
They created a massive glut...With new gas discoveries in nearly every country, with renewable energy leapfrogging fossil fuel investment, with a warming planet along with an economic stall in China...These companies and shareholders are not prepared to lose $billions...
Supply and demand, a massive supply glut AND LITTLE DEMAND...It really is that simple. ...
Spanish energy giant Repsol has halted plans to add liquefied natural gas export facilities at its existing Canaport LNG import terminal in Saint John, Canada.“The Saint John LNG liquefaction project has been placed on hold,” Brent Anderson, a spokesman for Repsol Canada told LNG World News in an emailed statement.
Repsol joins a growing number of companies that are delaying or cancelling their LNG developments due to market volatility and low oil and gas prices.
http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca
Thu, 2016-04-14 01:33
#32
The oil industry seems very much like a pyramid or a ponzi scheme. When the crash comes it will be people who own shares that are going to be ripped off.
Thu, 2016-04-14 10:28
#33
it's always been when a "stock" or "stock market" crashes the people who own shares are ripped off. what was the point of saying this???????
Thu, 2016-04-14 11:16
#34
..with the tsleil-waututh, vancouver and burnaby being oppossed the km pipeline needs to find another port.
the Port of Vancouver is a crown corp. if the BC government decides to allow the shipments they will.
i know, i know, we don't want it to happen. it will anyway. i've been thinking and thinking why for years.
oil companies aren't stupid they know fossil fuels are the thing of the past. so why spend billions?
the next commodity they want is the water. they're going to use the pipelines for whole sale water supply and transmission. they can tap into almost every major water way in BC. spring water sales will be the norm and sold to us as a flood prevention measure with benefits.
..txs quizzical. it is my belief that this issue will have to play itself out to determine whether or not bby will be the port to export increased dilbit. the forces against are very powerful in the lower mainland, along the southern coast and vancouver island. they also represent a lot of votes. something all the politicians are very well aware of. none of those politicians are going to force this on to this population without tremendous political fallout.
..i agree with you for the most part about the threat to our water and it will be the very same people who oppose the tarsands pipelines that will be the defenders of this as well.
Thu, 2016-04-14 12:00
#35
Here is an ode to the Peabody Coal cCmpany that went the way of the dodo bird but not before destroying most places it operated in.
Thu, 2016-04-14 12:19
#36
the constant commercials and propaganda is relentless. my bet is on they'll give final approval 2 days after the BC election.
Thu, 2016-04-14 12:53
#37
the constant commercials and propaganda is relentless. my bet is on they'll give final approval 2 days after the BC election.
..i like how you think. crafty. this is possible which means after may/17. the neb report should be out by dec/16. so a bit over a year for the final decision. a lot can change in that time. like this maybe.
Thu, 2016-04-14 15:00
#38
I don't like to link to right wing rags, but John Ivison is speculating again. I am starting to see a pattern.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/john-ivison-signs-that-b-c-pre...
Thu, 2016-04-14 16:26
#39
it's always been there the BC gov through NDIT has already spent millions in building northern community capacity well ahead of the pipelines coming in.
what they say and are really planning to do are 2 separate things.
all fkn smoke and mirrors to suck the voters in like the souless vacuum they are.
eta: smoke being created to blow up people's asses. manufacturing consent is full speed ahead.
The National Energy Board (NEB) announced on April 5, 2016 that pipeline companies will be required to publish their emergency procedures manuals on their websites by September 30, 2016. This is the first time a North American regulator has required pipeline companies to achieve this level of public disclosure regarding emergency response planning.Companies will be able to withhold limited types of sensitive information, including personal and security information, as well as species at risk and heritage resources information, such as the location of Indigenous traditional land use sites, archaeological sites or paleontological sites.
Trans Mountain understands the public wants access to more information about emergency response planning. In fact, Kinder Morgan Canada was the first Canadian pipeline company to voluntarily file a version of its Emergency Management Plan to the NEB, which has been publicly available since October 2014.
Fri, 2016-04-15 17:34
#40
We suspect many within the environmental and social justice movements have held back from putting pressure on the new government, but TransCanada clearly has not. Look no further than the corporation’s Energy East project website to see a picture of the premier proudly holding a “Go East” sign.
Premier Notley is wrong on Energy East, and she’s wrong on the need to get oil to tidewater.
Here’s why.
Respect for Indigenous rights includes communities along the pipeline path
Premier Notley promised to re-establish the critical relationship with Albertan First Nation peoples. Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is central to this commitment. At the centre of UNDRIP is the principle of free, prior and informed consent. Simply put, this means accepting an informed yes or no to projects on Indigenous lands.
While Energy East is still in the initial stages of review, Indigenous resistance appears to be following the same trajectory as it has with the Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan pipelines.
Several Indigenous communities along Energy East’s 4,400-kilometre pipeline path are already raising red flags with the project itself, as well as failures to adequately consult. This includes Treaty 3, the Iroquois caucus and the Wolastoq Grand Council.
Premier Notley’s cheerleading for Energy East and her promise to respect UNDRIP are on a collision course....
Sun, 2016-04-17 12:06
#41
Federal official compares pipeline blunders to mistakes that led to railway disaster
For almost three years, managers and executives at Canadian pipeline companies have been under a microscope. Their industry watchdog has been examining whether they make it easy enough for employees to report and fix anything that might lead to spills, explosions or other serious incidents.
Depending on who's talking, the results of this examination have either shown that there is encouraging progress in cleaning up the industry, or, a frightening disaster in the making.
What's clear is that some people in the pipeline industry are making mistakes....
Sun, 2016-04-17 12:26
#42
mmphosis..more on the story in the national
Burnaby politicians react to pipeline story
In a city where anything to do with oil pipelines can attract attention pretty quick, a recent news story suggesting the prime minister is getting ready to approve pipeline projects, including Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline, was expected to stand out.
quote:
Burnaby South NDP MP Kennedy Stewart called the story “distressing” and argued the move would go against an election promise by the Liberals to have Kinder Morgan reapply under a new set of rules.
“If he says yes to Kinder Morgan, all hell is going to break loose in B.C.,” he said. “I’ll be fighting this all the way.”
Stewart also said he’ll be stepping up his attempts to convince the prime minister to reject the pipeline project.
Sun, 2016-04-17 12:29
#43
Energy East Pipeline hits protected area roadblock
Research by the Wilderness Committee into the route of TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline has revealed a legal roadblock where the route crosses the Whitemud Watershed Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in western Manitoba, which is protected from oil and gas development.
Energy East proposes to convert a 40-year-old natural gas pipeline to carry diluted bitumen – heavy tar sands oil – across Manitoba. The original natural gas pipeline was constructed through the Whitemud WMA before the land was protected under the Wildlife Act. However, switching the product in the pipeline from natural gas to heavy oil is a substantial change.
“We’ve discovered that the Energy East pipeline proposal is prohibited under Manitoba law,” said Eric Reder, Manitoba Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee. “The existing lines might be ‘grandfathered’ in and seemingly benign, but changing the product that runs through this pipeline is a big development – with an even bigger risk"
The Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship has confirmed that oil and gas development is prohibited in protected Wildlife Management Areas. The Wildlife Act regulation explicitly spells out the sections of land that are protected, and the Whitemud WMA is one of the areas protected under the Act....
Sun, 2016-04-17 17:48
#44
That the NEP is going to table its report does not compel cabinet to say yay or nay now. Trudeau put the onus on oil companies to obtain social licence. There has been no news suggesting that cabinet intends to make a snap judgement.
From what I can tell Trudeau intends to let this play out in such a way that he can't be blamed for rejecting Energy East. He will probably never fully reject it. Consultations will never end. He will tell the oil industry to gain more social licence. The decision on these two pipelines is going to be put off year after year. I think Harper knew that he couldn't push it through otherwise he would have made sure it was started before he left office.
The oil companies know that the end is near. That's why they are all so desperate to sell. The Saudis stated straight out that they plan on putting other producers out of business through a price war. They want to make sure that for as long as anyone can sell oil it will be theirs. Once they put others out of business they will hike the price again.
Mon, 2016-04-18 10:53
#45
ya no you're wrong.
Mon, 2016-04-18 21:38
#46
ya no you're wrong.
We will just have to wait and see. It would certainly be the smartest political move from the perspective of votes. If he says no, the oil provinces will be pissed, if he says yes, Quebec will go into revolt and protesters will prevent it from going through.
He has held fast to his 3 criteria. Environmental review is just one of them. The others are economic benefits and social licence.
Mon, 2016-04-18 22:24
#47
environmental review is done report end of May. economic benefits are proven. social license is being manufactured and they don't need it in BC anyway.
Tue, 2016-04-19 18:08
#48
I saw nothing, I know nothing, I do nothing. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
One of Trudeau's shinnng lights is shinning a little less brightly today.
Port of Vancouver's jet-fuel pipeline approval surprises minister
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/port+vancouver+fuel+pipelin...
Wed, 2016-04-20 11:31
#49
i've maintained all along the transmountain game is rigged to make it go through.
NEB controls the whole Fraser watershed and NR your article shows the Port of Van has the right to do whatever they want. they won't be blocking any pipeline shipments.
if ya wanted to be really thoughtful, you could think about why Justin really shut down the northern route to tankers.
didn't it give the Port of Van complete assurances they'll get ALL the tanker traffic cash?
Wed, 2016-04-20 20:00
#50
I saw nothing, I know nothing, I do nothing. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
One of Trudeau's shinnng lights is shinning a little less brightly today.
Port of Vancouver's jet-fuel pipeline approval surprises minister
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/port+vancouver+fuel+pipelin...
Neither Trudeau nor the federal government had any say on this. It doesn't cross any borders, not even provincial.
It is really no wonder at all that the left advances at a snail's pace when they work so hard at undermining themselves.
Wed, 2016-04-20 20:56
#51
do you know anything about the Port of Vancouver and did you even read any back ground material of the Ports operations and changes made to operations under Harper before you leveled nonsense?