Another world climate conference in an exotic remote location, another hundred or so airplane tankfuls of kerosene turned into carbon dioxide (CO2) and dumped into the atmosphere—all in the name of getting together to talk about how not to dump so much CO2 into the atmosphere. Is that how the Durban conference will go...
Occupy Ottawa update II: it’s still possible to run on grid power
A lot of the criticism of the Occupy phenomenon has centred on its general incoherence on substantive policy. What do the Occupiers want? The movement started with Occupy Wall Street, which might suggest disapproval of the Wall Street bailouts from 2008 and 2009 and a belief that the Street brought the financial calamity on...
Occupy Ottawa update: why they’re using gasoline
Following on my rather judgmental November 16 post, I just spoke to some of the protesters at Occupy Ottawa. Very friendly people. I asked about the gasoline generator that is providing power to the site: couldn’t they just plug into the grid? They told me the National Capital Commission (NCC), which owns Confederation Park,...
What lights up Occupy Ottawa? It could and should be clean energy, but it’s not
This is the first of a three-article series. The other articles are “Occupy Ottawa update: why they’re using gasoline” and “Occupy Ottawa update II: it’s still possible to run on grid power.” I wonder when Bob Dylan’s classic “The Times They Are a-Changin’” will become the anthem for the Occupy protests that have swept...
An excellent radio interview: a Quaker explains why she now supports nuclear energy
Karen Street, a former electrical engineer and science/math teacher, recently did a lengthy and absolutely engrossing interview with a Wisconsin-based spiritual radio station, on the subject of nuclear energy. Karen used to oppose it, but as you will hear her explain, she discovered, in the course of a 1995 research project, some excellent reasons...
Ontario’s CANDUs can be more flexible than natural gas-fired generation and hydro generation
There is a widely held belief that commercial nuclear-electric plants are only capable of baseload operation when in fact they can be more flexible than a natural gas-fired generating station. This belief has led the Ontario government to restrict nuclear generation to 50 percent of total demand, in its Long-Term Energy Plan, to avoid...
Japanese MP drinks water from Fukushima basement, and lives to tell the tale
It has been 437 days since not one, not two, but three nuclear fuel bundles melted at the Fukushima-Daiichi generating station in northeastern Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11. Nobody has died from radiation so far. That includes a Japanese member of parliament, who last Monday drank a glass of...
How to pay for new nuclear in Ontario: introducing the “Climate Change Contribution”
In the run up to the Ontario provincial election, I participated in a televised debate the subject of which was the electricity bill. (You can view the video at the bottom of this post.) The Ontario power bill is full of confusing and contentious line items. Few are more confusing and contentious than the...
Correction: I was wrong about Eclipsall Energy
Last week I participated in a televised debate about the Ontario energy situation following the October 6 election. At around 11:44 of the debate, the video for which is below, I incorrectly included Eclipsall Energy, a Scarborough, Ontario-based company that makes solar energy modules, in a list of solar manufacturers that have recently “gone...
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