Energy

The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion has been a thorny issue for Justin Trudeau's ruling Liberal government. The $7.8-billion pipeline would ferry 890,000 barrels of tar sands crude 1,150-kilometres from Edmonton to a terminal in Burnaby, B.C., near Vancouver, where it would be exported to markets in Asia. The battle over the Kinder Morgan pipeline is about more than just the dangers of transporting oil by pipe, it is also about bitumen-filled supertankers in ecologically sensitive coastal waters. If it is built the pipeline will increase tanker and barge traffic 700 percent in the Salish Sea and Puget Sound....

A leak in the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline occurred just days before Nebraska decides on the fate of a pipeline expansion. The tar sands oil that would be carried by the pipeline are currently being shipped by rail but not at the rate it would be if the $8 billion KXL expansion were built. If the KXL runs at full capacity it could ferry up to 830,000 barrels per day. There are many reasons to oppose the KXL. The tar sands require more energy to transport by pipe and more energy to refine.  As revealed by oil spills in 2015...

In the context of our carbon budget, fossil fuels are anything but cheap. To illustrate this point consider the fact that market forces recently killed the largest tar sands pipeline ever proposed. When the Canadian government imposed a climate test on the Energy East pipeline project it ceased to be viable. TransCanada withdrew their application when they knew that the project would be subject to carbon accounting. TransCanada had no choice but to take the project off of life support because they knew that a scientific assessment reveals that the Energy East is terminal. Every new fossil fuel project brings...

The death of the Energy East pipeline proves that people can change our world for the better. While it is easy to feel overwhelmed and impotent recent events prove once again that protest works. Last year around this time we saw how a people-powered protest managed to kill the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). On October 5th the Energy East died when TransCanada announced that it was withdrawing its application for the pipeline. Upon hearing the news about the Energy East 350.org organizer Aurore Fauret said this in a group email, "Today, two things are clear. Firstly, climate action and pipelines...

The dream of almost limitless clean energy from nuclear fusion is close to being realized. After 6 decades of research and testing fusion finally appears to be on the cusp of delivering on its promise to revolutionize energy production. Sometimes called "star in a jar" because the technology mimics the energy conversion processes like those in our sun. UK-based Tokamak Energy has announced that it has a working fusion reactor called ST40. The cost-effective reactor has achieved a critical step known as 'first plasma' that heats plasma. They plan to reach the fusion threshold of 100 million degrees Celsius (180...

Although it may not always be an accurate appraisal, environmentalists prefer renewable energy over nuclear power. They commonly lump nuclear power in with dirty fossil fuels like coal. Every nuclear plant that closes is heralded as a great victory. However, closing nuclear power plants commonly results in increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Those who welcome such closures don't seem to realize that the energy produced at this facility will need to be replaced. If that energy is created by coal or gas-powered energy generation it will increase emissions. When Southern California Edison’s San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS), was taken...

The declining costs of harvesting energy from the sun mean that market forces will drive the ongoing growth of solar energy. As predicted by GMO at the beginning of 2016 market forces are driving the growth of renewable energy. By the end of last summer, GMO reported that solar was emerging as the least expensive source of energy on Earth. By the end of last year, these expectations were confirmed by a Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) report. In 2016 solar capacity grew by 50 percent. Last year solar hit a record low price low of $29 per MWh or...

The day after Donald J Trump fired the first salvos in his war against the EPA and others, he delivered on his promise to double down on fossil fuels with the approval of two pipelines. On Tuesday, January 24th, Trump signed Executive Orders that overturn the Obama administration's decision on the Keystone XL (KXL) and the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). This authorizes TransCanada Pipelines to move forward with the 1,179-mile KXL and Energy Transfer Partners can also proceed with the 1,172-mile DAPL. This is a blow for environmentalists and indigenous people who had fought hard to shut down the KXL...

David Letterman returns to television this fall to proclaim his love for the planet and rant against those who are destroying it. He is coming out of retirement to share his concern about climate change and the importance of renewable energy and solar energy in particular. This is not his usual comedic shtick, instead, he will be hosting an episode of a program on ecological degradation and environmental action. The program is an Emmy-winning climate change documentary-series called, "Years of Living Dangerously". The show chronicles life in the Anthropocene, it tells the story of those who contribute to climate change...

The controversial $15.7-billion Energy East pipeline project is hanging by a thread. If it were to be built it would deliver 1.1-million barrels of oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Eastern Canada refineries and a marine terminal in New Brunswick. Communities from Manitoba to New Brunswick have joined with environmental groups to oppose the pipeline. The Pembina Institute estimates the annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the Energy East pipeline are the equivalent of putting an additional seven million cars on the road. Steadfast opposition to the pipeline has intensified this year. In January Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre...