A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the U.S. Supreme Court had told the Obama administration that the issue of climate change is the administration’s, not the court’s, responsibility. What would Obama do? Well, we just found out. On September 2, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave up trying to reduce the amount...
Clean, cheap industrial heat coming soon: Next Generation Nuclear Plant marches on
I am always glad when I hear of research and development dollars going to deserving projects led by deserving researchers. Today (August 16) I read a news release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reporting that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded more than $1.1 million to a UW-Madison researcher to develop ways...
Ontario natural gas strategy will make environmental implications of Keystone pipeline irrelevant
Environmentalists who make a big deal out of opposing the proposed expansion of the Keystone pipeline do so on the grounds of the sheer amount of carbon it represents. The proposal is about extending the pipeline from Oklahoma to Texas; it already crosses the Canada-U.S. border. The Canadian version of the Sierra Club in...
How Dalton McGuinty can fix the peer to peer disconnect on new nuclear plant in Ontario
When former Newfoundland-Labrador premier Danny Williams wanted something from the Canadian federal government, or was not happy with something the feds had done or planned to do, he did not hesitate to let them know. I know this not because I am an avid observer on policy matters that concern Newfoundland-Labrador. I know this...
How many days since Fukushima meltdown, and still zero casualties
After 434 days, the nuclear situation in Japan has not produced a single radiation casualty In the early afternoon of March 11—434 days ago—just hours after the first reports of a nuclear emergency in Japan in the aftermath of the violent earthquake and tsunami, a reporter called me asking if there was any possibility...
Energy growth and education go together: now, what produces the energy?
Hans Rosling, in this brilliant TED Talk, shows the direct link between the availability of electricity and education. He uses the electric washing machine as an example of how the lives of millions of poor women have changed as a result of electrification. This has a personal resonance for me. My mother grew up...
Fake Greens, Big Oil, and suffering Ontario: will the hicks mobilize?
One of the most exciting scenes in literature occurs when Willie Stark, in All the King’s Men, rebounds from the psychological trauma of realizing he’s been duped, by the “fellows in the striped pants” from the city, into running for governor. The striped pants’ plan was to use Willie, a small-time country lawyer, to split...
Power policy in real time: an interesting day in Ontario
So how is the Ontario Green Act paying off? I ask this on what could turn out to be the hottest day of the year. With Toronto noontime temperature at 35 Celsius (98 F), it is safe to assume most if not all air conditioners in the Greater Toronto Area are running flat out....
CANDU back in the game: what now?
After months of excruciating uncertainty, the CANDU situation has been resolved somewhat. As everyone predicted, SNC-Lavalin has agreed to purchase the CANDU reactor part of Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. I won’t go into the ins and outs of the deal. I’ll just focus on what needs to happen now. Assuming the deal is indeed...
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