Energy

10/07/24
Author: 
John Woodside
Illustration by Ata Ojani/Canada's National Observer

July 8, 2024

Four years ago, Canada crafted a plan to capitalize on a global hydrogen market the government expected to be worth up to $11.7 trillion by mid-century. Billions of dollars of public money has been provided to seize the country’s share of the pie.

But there’s a problem: the global market is shrinking before their eyes.

03/07/24
Author: 
Nick Gottlieb
American fighter planes in formation at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. It serves as the headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and NATO Allied Air Command (AIRCOM). Photo by Roland Balik/US Air Force/Flickr.

Jun. 27, 2024

There is no path to a renewable future which leaves American hegemony in place

The United States has a material, vested interest in obstructing progress on climate change. This argument, laid out by Amitav Ghosh in his 2021 book The Nutmeg’s Curse, is crucial for understanding the politics not just of climate change, but of the world: everything from the American trade war against Chinese renewable technologies to the ongoing genocide in Gaza can be linked to it.

23/05/24
Author: 
Crawford Kilian
The Capilano reservoir in North Vancouver is contained by the Cleveland Dam. Despite appearances of plentiful water supply, journalist Tim Smedley warns many places in the world are headed for extreme scarcity. Photo via Shutterstock.

May 23, 2024

Tim Smedley’s new book documents the growing global crisis and ways to stave off the worst.

06/05/24
Author: 
Max Fawcett
Bill Tieleman is the director of the BC Coalition for Affordable Dependable Energy, a new lobby group fighting against municipal rules phasing out natural gas in new buildings. Photo provided by Bill Tieleman

May 6, 2024

For months, Canada's natural gas utilities have mustered lobbying efforts and funded online misinformation campaigns to fight efforts by municipalities to phase out the climate-warming fuel. And now they have a new ally with deep ties to the province's NDP to push the pro-gas message in the province's lefty media.

28/04/24
Author: 
Ashley Dawson, Bridget Moynihan, and Desen S. Özkan, Next City.
photo: Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first commercial offshore wind farm, went online in 2017 near Block Island, Rhode Island. Shaun Dakin / Unsplash.

Profiteers cannot be cajoled or shamed into acting for the public good. They must be compelled or replaced--and SOON!!

         -- Gene McGuckin

Apr. 22, 2024

27/04/24
Author: 
Jon Tattrie
Gurpreet Singh Selopal’s research team with their “quantum dots” for sustainable energy technologies. Photo courtesy of Dalhousie University

Apr. 26, 2024

Nova Scotia has announced its green hydrogen action plan, calling it an “alternative clean energy source” and adding that we’re emerging as a region with “ample opportunity” to produce the product — in part because of our potential offshore wind resource.

The government wants to help create a green hydrogen sector in Nova Scotia that “produces local benefits from both domestic and export opportunities.” There currently is no hydrogen-producing industry in the province.

24/04/24
Author: 
John Woodside
Natural Resources and Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson sits down with Canada's National Observer to discuss how the country can build the clean power grids of the future. Illustration by Ata Ojani/National Observer

Apr. 23, 2024

If Canada is going to meet its climate targets, virtually everything will need to be electrified. Gas guzzlers swapped for electric vehicles and public transportation; heat pumps put in place of gas furnaces; and renewable energy moving to centre stage as coal, oil and gas power plants are phased out.

Affordable, reliable electricity grids are essential to modern life and form the backbone of Canada’s economy. Without abundant power, energy-intensive sectors like auto manufacturing or steel production fall by the wayside.

17/04/24
Author: 
Andrew MacLeod
Low snowpack could bring challenges for BC Hydro. Photo via BC Hydro.

Apr. 12, 2024

How the Lowest Snowpack in 50 Years Will Hit BC

BC Hydro says it’s prepared to deal with the challenge of low reservoirs.

17/04/24
Author: 
Rachel Donald, originally published by Planet: Critical
photo credit: By Håkan Dahlström from Malmö, Sweden – Barrels graveyard, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80620791

Apr. 15, 2024

Oil in the North Sea is expected to be net-energy negative by 2031. This means that in 2031, it’ll cost more energy to extract the fossil fuels than we would gain by using them, rendering extraction unfeasibly expensive. Yet, rather than use our remaining years of access to these fuels to turbo-charge new energy infrastructure, fossil fuels are being extracted and burned for business as usual: quick cash. Around the world, the lights will go off in nations that don’t have back-up renewables. That’s most of them.

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