This mornings interview is with Simon Fraser Biology professor Lynne Quarmby, who recently came to the media’s attention because of her stand against Kinder Morgan on Burnaby Mountain. She had not fully realized the extent to which Canadians are disenfranchised. Though 70% of the population were opposed to this project, they had no voice in the matter. This led to her decision to “enter the belly of the beast.” Lynne Quarmby seeks the Green party nomination for the new riding of Burnaby North – Seymour.
MPOWERD makes solar lanterns, but they are also much more than that. They were founded in response to the Haiti earthquake. So I interviewed the President, Scott Kling, about how MPOWERD lights up people’s lives.
According Clean Energy Canada’s report Tracking the Energy Revolution, last year there were more Canadians working directly in clean energy jobs – such as efficiency, clean transportation, biofuels, wind and solar energy – than were directly employed in the oil sands. Roughly $6.5 Billion US was invested in this nation’s clean energy sector. Only four of the five principal investment firms are either German or Japanese. Renewables are big business in Canada and getting bigger.
Western Maryland sits on top one of the most controversial shale deposits in North America. There were 245 cases of water contamination in the neighbouring state of Pennsylvania and reports from West Virginia as well. Maryland’s Departments of Environment and Natural Resources have been studying fracking operations in these two states for over three years and just released a draft report (p 2 of attached) on how fracking “can be accomplished without unacceptable risks of adverse impacts to public health, safety, the environment, and natural resources.” These proposed rules are the strongest in the US and, using them as a criteria, I decided to grade the LNG development in my province. British Columbia gets a conditional “F” in Fracking.
Last week the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA) released a report stating BC could develop geothermal for half the cost of hydro. That’s only the first of a series of benefits, that include little environmental impact, more jobs and energy that costs less to produce. CanGEA claims there is a sufficient geothermal potential to meet all of British Columbia’s future power needs. (p 7) Geothermal could supply the 1,100 MW of capacity and 5,100 gigawatt hours per year (GWh/yr) of energy that the proposed Site C dam offers, but an officer of BC Hydro says it is not likely they will switch to Geothermal.
