[Newsbot]

Title: Solar & Wind Reach a Big Renewables Turning Point : BNEF
Category: Environmental
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2015-10-07 07:30:54

[andyt]

Faaaantastik. (To quote Bill Vanderzalm) Of course not so good for Canada, we have lots of oil, not much sunshine, except in the summer in the north, (ironic). But yes, all the oil promoters, your time may be up.

In BC we should be looking at tidal and geothermal.

[BartSimpson]

andyt andyt:

In BC we should be looking at tidal and geothermal.

Why would you do that when you're exporting shitloads of coal to China? Just stop sending your coal to China and instead of letting them burn it for energy you burn it for energy - that way it'll be carbon neutral.

[andyt]

Why would we want all that pollution.

But China is a leader in solar, they may not want our thermal coal for much longer either.

[N_Fiddledog]

Speaking of Canada though, here's what I don't get.

As far as wind power goes, I keep hearing the big push is in Ontario.

I also hear the price of electricity in Ontario is skyrocketing.

But Bloomberg tells me wind power is the cheap way to go now.

Something is not adding up.

[andyt]

You might want to actually read the article. Does Ontario use a lot of carbon fueled electric generation, or does it have a lot of hydro? Did they do a poor job of subsidizing wind to get it off the ground, vs the US and EU? What is the rate in Ontario vs US and EU - they might still be substantially lower, even if the price is increasing. Was electricity under priced before the rate increase? Are they using the same technology as EU and US? And so on. It may be that in Germany, say, the cost of using carbon fuels was so high that renewables are cheaper there, but not in Ont. And so forth.

In BC I'm not aware of any significant use of wind or solar, yet our elect rates keep pushing up, to the point that the govt sometimes steps in as the hero and caps them a bit lower than BC Hydro wanted. Of course the govt doesn't mention that the use BC Hydro as a cash cow, nor that they need all that capacity for liquefied natural gas, which consumers will have to pay for.

[N_Fiddledog]

Also BC has a carbon tax.

But here ya go.

Skyrocketing electricity rates may force one in 20 Ontario businesses to close

Here's another one though.

A climate conference is coming up in Paris. All the big wigs will be there. I think Obama's going.

There's going to be a major push for economic controls and equalization payments to third worlders.

But wait...it's no longer necessary, is it? Haven't we just been saved? Bloomberg says wind and solar are now cheaper than fossil fuels even without subsidies.

So hooray! Wind and solar have saved the day. No more fossil fuels. Obama can stay home. Roll up the sidewalks Paris. Your fascist climate conference is no longer necessary.

[DrCaleb]

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

Here's another one though.

A climate conference is coming up in Paris. All the big wigs will be there. I think Obama's going.

There's going to be a major push for economic controls and equalization payments to third worlders.

But wait...it's no longer necessary, is it? Haven't we just been saved? Bloomberg says wind and solar are now cheaper than fossil fuels even without subsidies.

So hooray! Wind and solar have saved the day. No more fossil fuels. Obama can stay home. Roll up the sidewalks Paris. Your fascist climate conference is no longer necessary.

And that's why you always fail. You make assumptions that are incorrect, and base your whole argument on those.

[N_Fiddledog]

It's worse than that. I didn't know I was making assumptions. I thought I was making satirical points.

Serves me right. I should know better than to think thoughts without checking with you first. I mean how am I to know what I'm really thinking until you tell me?

[DrCaleb]

It's funny then that your satire and serious always seem the same, till you point it out.

[herbie]

Why the hell would BC burn coal when we have natural gas coming out our yingyang?
Besides, the SiteC hydro is going online regardless.
Yet with all the water and hotspots here, there's 50 more years of research grants to milk on geothermal. It's like fuel cells. Sure you can go to the Moon on them, but 45 years later they're still 15 years away from using in cars. They've been telling us 15 years away since 1980 FFS....

[andyt]

Rumor has it that Petronas is pulling out of LNG here for at least 5 years. The Lieberals are denying it of course.

Had an engineer on the radio that said we should refurbish the Port Moody gas powered generating plant and build another one somewhere else (in the north?) It would cost 1/2 half as much as site C, give us lots of power and not flood a bunch of farmland (and release a lot of methane from the rotting vegetation that's been flooded.) Of course that would put a lie to our pretense that we are green here while we export our coal and gas to other countries without charging a carbon tax on it - that's only for BC suckers.