All posts by Roy Hales

Energy

Vancouver’s New Permits Discourage Rooftop Solar

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Editor’s Note: The City of Vancouver has since informed me that some of the information in this article arises from a misunderstanding. Permitting costs do not include the equipment, just installation costs, which significantly reduces the totals used below. Rob Baxter, President of SPEC, says the this is a verbal commitment they made and not yet in writing. It is expected to cut $650 from the bill, which he says will still be at least three times higher than permitting in Toronto. 

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Vancouver intends to become the Greenest City in the world. It has drawn up an Action Plan identifying 10 specific goals for that it wants addressed by 2020. These include the city’s carbon emissions, Waste and Ecosystems, but they appear to have largely overlooked the potential for solar energy. Vancouver is one of the least attractive cities for solar.

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Energy

Wind Energy Saved US Residents $1 Billion In Two Days

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Wind power saved PJM residents $1 billion in two days last year. Frigid Arctic temperatures spread over the 13 Mid Atlantic and Great Lakes states (PJM) on January 6 and 7, 2014. There was not enough conventional energy to meet demand. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), spot princes would have skyrocketed if had there not been an abundance of wind energy available.

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Environment, Indigenous Nations History

From An Era When First Nation’s People Were Regarded As Savages

By Roy L Hales

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The construction you see above occurred because the government refused to intervene after the owner took out the right permit. It was built on Grace Islet, a recognized First Nation’s burial site in Ganges Harbour, Salt Spring Island. This could not have happened in a white graveyard. It is only possible because British Columbia’s Cemetery Act descends from an era when First Nations were regarded as savages.

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Energy

The Future of Japan’s Solar Industry Is Uncertain

By Roy L Hales

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According to Amory Lovins, “Japan has twice the per-hectare high-quality renewable potential of North America, three times that of Europe, and nine times that of Germany.” Japan is currently #4 in the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI). There is a large untapped geothermal potential. By the end  of 2013 wind energy was feeding 2.6 GW to the grid, but the real leader of the renewable sector was solar. There was 13.5 GW of solar capacity. Now the future of Japan’s solar industry is uncertain.

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Energy, Finances

Energiewende Will Succeed

Bye Roy L Hales

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American critics of Energiewende regularly announce its approaching  demise.  A hypocritical article in the Wallstreet Journal announced that Germany will spend €1 trillion on its’ renewable energy experiment by 2040, without mentioning that a large portion of that money was for electric grid upgrades that would be needed anyway. Nor did the author disclose the fact an even larger sum (€90 billion a year) would have gone to fossil fuels. Similarly, Forbes mocked Germany’s slight rise in CO2 levels, without mentioning they are already 23% lower than the 1990 benchmark set by the Kyoto Accord. (The author’s country, the US, is still 5% above that target.) Their carping does not explain how Germany became Europe’s powerhouse and the fourth largest economy in the World. Nor does it do justice to the nation the  Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranks #3 for renewable investments. Energiewende will succeed because it is embraced by the German people.

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