Syntaris Power

…a recent article claims it could take just 40 years to convert the bulk of the world’s global energy usage from fossil fuels to renewable energy, primarily wind and solar power.

That’s not only vehicle fuel, but also electric-power generation, home heating, and the many other global activities that rely on the remarkably high energy density of the hydrocarbon molecules in coal, oil, and natural gas.

Researchers from Stanford University and the University of California-Davis published their analysis in the journal Energy Policy.

Measuring costs vs benefits

The main challenges, say the authors, will be summoning the global will to make the conversion. “There are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources,” said author Mark Jacobson, a Stanford professor, saying it is only a question of “whether we have the societal and political will.”

Another challenge: accurately accounting for both the costs (which are comparatively easy to tally and project) and the benefits (which are tougher).

When looking at the cost of junking half a century’s worth of existing power plants, for example, how can electric utilities benefit from the tens of billions of dollars in public health costs that will be avoided in the future once those emissions are no longer being generated?

Those public-health benefits might include saving 2.5 to 3 million lives each year.

And then there’s the benefit of halting climate change, not to mention reductions in water pollution, and increased energy security as more of each nation’s energy is generated from within its own borders.

Step One: New generation from renewables

The authors assessed the costs, benefits, and materials requirements necessary to convert the bulk of the world’s energy usage to renewable sources.

Just as it will do over the next few decades for cars, electricity will play an increasingly large role, with 90 percent from wind turbines and various forms of solar generation.

Hydroelectric and geothermal sources would each provide about 4 percent of the total, with another 2 percent from wave and tidal power…

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Dear Mr. Abbott, Ms. Clark, Mr. de Jong, Mr. Dix, Mr. Falcon, Mr. Farnworth, Mr. Horgan, Mr. Lali, Mr. Larsen, Mr. Mayne, Mr. Simons, and Dr. Stilwell:

This winter has seen remarkable strides in worldwide leadership on combating global warming. December alone saw Japan announce an escalating carbon tax, designed to curb fossil-fuel consumption; California’s Air Resources Board voted to adopt the large-emitter cap-and-trade provision laid out in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Clean Energy Act; and Chris Huhne, Minister of Energy in the U.K., set out a four-point program that includes a national carbon tax tied to reductions in income and employment taxes.

Curbing carbon pollution and slowing global warming while putting money in people’s pockets makes obvious sense. But there are additional benefits. California’s renewable-energy sector is now growing more rapidly than any other segment of its economy, providing tens of thousands of new, well-paying jobs while broadening the tax base. In B.C., the carbon tax is stimulating capital investment and innovation that is helping to drive the GDP associated with the green economy from $15 billion in 2008 to a projected $20 to $27 billion by 2020, as much as 15 per cent of provincial output. Some 225,000 direct and indirect green jobs will be in place by 2020, up from 166,000 in 2008.

By Thomas Pedersen, Special to the Sun

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Oil sands, pipeline and coal-power companies now among the biggest players

Several of Canada’s largest energy and resource companies are quietly staking out positions in a sector that seems at odds with their usual extractive activities: the renewable power business.

Oil sands, pipeline and coal-power firms are now among the biggest players in renewables, with portfolios of wind, solar, small hydro power and ethanol production that in some cases outpace the holdings of most “pure” green companies.

Environmentalists and small companies in the sector are sanguine about the competitors; they welcome the big firms as a significant source of clout and capital that can add momentum to the shift to renewable energy.

“It reflects the reality of energy in the 21st century,” said Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation. “A lot of the innovation is happening at the small company level and then is getting [moved] up to larger businesses that have the capital to invest more.”

…Meanwhile, Calgary pipeline operator Fort Chicago Energy Partners recently bought up three small-hydro operations – Swift Power Corp., Pristine Power Inc., and the B.C. hydro assets of Enmax Corp.

…While Suncor plans to add one wind farm a year to its holdings, Mr. Lambert is loath to predict how large a proportion of its business renewables will make up. So much depends on access to power grids, provincial energy rules, and the shape of the still-undefined federal energy strategy.

It makes sense to have a diverse range of companies in the renewable business, he said. “You need to have those entrepreneurial players who are creating new ideas and innovating, then you need the big players for the growth stages of many of these technologies where access to capital is important.”

Small green energy companies agree. “The more that gets done, the better, whether it is by a pure play or by a traditional fossil fuel generator,” said Kent Brown, the former chief executive officer of Canadian Hydro who is now running a startup firm called BluEarth Renewables Inc. “We want to see projects get done and get done successfully.”

News Release

VANCOUVER, B.C. Today, Canada’s Environment Minister, the Honourable John Baird, and British Columbia’s Minister of State for Climate Action, the Honourable John Yap, announced that Canada and British Columbia will coordinate their greenhouse gas emission reporting under a national single window system.

…”Being able to report GHG emissions only once while meeting the requirements of both the federal and provincial governments will save British Columbia industries time and money,” said Minister Yap. “This is another example of the strong partnership we have with the Government of Canada, and single window reporting will be an important tool as British Columbia moves towards a regional cap-and-trade system.”

…Under the auspices of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), the federal, provincial and territorial governments made a commitment to ensure that all jurisdictions are able to measure, track and report progress on the reduction of greenhouse gases.

On March 15, 2010, Environment Canada launched its Single Window Reporting System to collect information on greenhouse gas emissions in support of the Department’s mandatory reporting programs for greenhouse gases.

Canada is committed to reaching the target we inscribed in the Copenhagen Accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

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