By Roy L Hales
Good news for those concerned with the state of our province’s aging transportation system. The Federal, provincial and municipal governments are partnering to provide a total of $900 million for BC’s aging infrastructure.
Continue reading $900 Million For BC’s Aging InfrastructureBy Roy L Hales
More than 1,000 British Columbians participated what appears to be more off a spin exercise than a “poll.” Though critics constantly point to the lack of need, respondents to the BC Hydro commissioned survey were asked if they supported the dam “to help meet the rising demand for electricity in B.C.” Despite this, unconditional support for the controversial project has dropped to 49%. The poll finds opposition to Site C growing.
Continue reading Poll Finds Opposition To Site C GrowingAfter almost a year of feeding the grid, British Columbia’s first utility scale solar installation has proven it can “do what it was designed to do.” Though SunMine’s production fell in December and January, the site was back within 95% of the projected yield by the end of April (1,500 MwH of the anticipated 1,585 MwH). Now that the sunnier months have begun, the 1.05 MW installation is producing excess electricity. It is not surprising to hear that at the Engineers Canada Awards Gala on May 26th in Charlottetown, PEI, SunMine received national recognition.
Continue reading BC’s SunMine Received National RecognitionBy Roy L Hales
On June 1, 2016, the Governors of Washington, Oregon and California joined British Columbia’s Environment Minister and representatives from six West Coast cities, in the Borgia Room of San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel, to sign what history may show was a key milestone in the struggle to mount a concerted defence against the ravages of global temperature rise. The 2016 Pacific Coast Climate Leadership Action Plan has a strong emphasis on issues like ocean acidification; the integration of clean energy into the power grid; “support for efforts by the insurance industry and regulatory system to highlight the economic costs of climate change; and so-called “super pollutants” (also known as short-lived climate pollutants).” This sounds good, but do the Pacific Coast’s “Climate Leaders” mean business?
Continue reading Do The Pacific Coast’s Climate Leaders Mean Business?By Roy L Hales
In a recent interview with the ECOreport, Simon Fraser University Climate Scientist Dr, Kirsten Zickfeld described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s idea of fighting climate change while expanding the oil sands and building new pipelines as “delusional.” There is only a finite amount of carbon we can release into the atmosphere and if we hope keep the global temperature rise to 2 degrees C. We are already close to 1.5 degrees and may pass that threshold this year. Even if we do not build any new fossil fuel infrastructure, Canada will exhaust “its’ fair share” of carbon emissions by 2030. These were quite strong statements, so I asked a couple of other scientists – as well as environmentalists, politicians and government spokespersons – Can Canada build more pipelines? Or LNG facilities?
