Shivering and other ways to keep warm

[oneoff]

What regulations and taxes are in place (or planned to be imposed) to make sure all forms of combustion and metabolism producing CO2 are going have to pay the required carbon tax penalties.

You see....absolutely anything using oxygen (or oxidizing agents) to reduce carbohydrates or carbon in any other form has an end product of quite probably producing that nasty and deleterious CO2 which some have determined will be managed through economic penalties.

Well this radical change of direction and self imposed control will only be adhered to by naive countries who may not realize that their zeal and reliance on technology (that doesn't currently exist in a sustainable or economically feasible form) will provide direction to the "poor house".

We are in effect charging for oxygen use; most commonly derived from air.

And while trying to save every last animal; whats the plan for uncontrolled human existence.

Maybe that's the territory of various religious beliefs.

Will a Donald Trump make a good president? Is the world in good hand or are we now making the serious decisions by "Facebook" consensus?

What will Western Canada look like in mid winter after the oil economy of the world has been "wound down" as is planned?

[farmaholic]

After my rant in GF's Entertainment thread, I thought of persanal attempts to reduce CO2 footprints. It wasn't long ago, individual "families" whose numbers were two and three times larger lived in houses 3, 4 maybe 5 times smaller. Now they're controlling the temp inside that space year round with alot of energy. When the fanatics of climate change..... I will too.

[burnt]

Short answer - think 19th century existence for us commoners.

Contrast that to living like royalty for the Gores, Suzukis, Trudeaus and their entourage (including the nannies).

But do not begrudge them their privilege - their jet-setting ways are an absolute necessity so that we shivering slobs can continue in our abject existence...

[farmaholic]

I wonder if Al Gore's lifestyle, junkets and need for energy to support his lifestyle excedes my modest sized farm's? Hypocrits!

[burnt]

farmaholic- you are not alone in your assessment:

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Al-Gores-Hipocrisy-The-Climate-Crusader-Profits-from-Fossil-Fuels.html

How strong is this kool-aid that the left imbibes?

[TOM4CWB]

Look at Earth from the Space station at night. We can turn all those street lights off after 11pm... and save a massive amount of electricity. Same with buildings at night and yard lights.

Get a good infra red camera system... if security is needed... with motion sensors and LED lights that go back out when the motion stops. That should only cost 5 trillion and take 10 years to install! Think of all the computer chips that could consume!!!

[agstar77]

How much energy and CO2 would be saved by dual tracks used as open highways no sidings for trains stopping? They could be run by computers.

[bucket]

Agstar

Did you double wrap yourself in tinfoil today.

Railways are doing a great job.

Why not add in that most of the grain terminals should be open 24/7.

Potash is loaded every day.

You are just talking crazy.

All in good fun. I agree with you. But I am wrapped in foil most days according to some here.

[chuckChuck]

Renewable energy in Germany
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Germany's renewable energy sector is among the most innovative and successful worldwide. Net-generation from renewable energy sources in the German electricity sector has increased from 6.3% in 2000 to about 30% in 2014.[1][2] For the first time ever, wind, biogas, and solar combined accounted for a larger portion of net electricity production than brown coal.[3] While peak-generation from combined wind and solar reached a new all-time high of 74% in April 2014,[4] wind power saw its best day ever on December 12, 2014, generating 562 GWh.[5] Germany has been called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".[6][7]

More than 23,000 wind turbines and 1.4 million solar PV systems are distributed all over the country's area of 357,000 square kilometers.[8][9] As of 2011, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing renewable energy commercialization,[10] with a particular focus on offshore wind farms.[11] A major challenge is the development of sufficient network capacities for transmitting the power generated in the North Sea to the large industrial consumers in southern parts of the country.[12]

According to official figures, some 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2010, especially in small and medium-sized companies. This is an increase of around 8% compared to 2009 (around 339,500 jobs), and well over twice the number of jobs in 2004 (160,500). About two-thirds of these jobs are attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act[13][14]

Germany's energy transition, the Energiewende, designates a significant change in energy policy from 2011. The term encompasses a reorientation of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in very small cogeneration units), which should replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency.

[boarderbloke]

Tom, I really like your point about street lights. Why DO they need street lights in towns and cities? There are head lights on all road worthy vehicles, and if your walking, how about an LED flashlight? A question to ask the tree hugging cousins from the city. You know, the ones that want to cover the rural countryside with solar panels and bird chopping windmills!

If you've ever flown from the Caribbean, over Florida and up the east coast to Toronto at night, you know it's solid lights as far as you can see. That would be for about 3 hrs flying time, solid lights.

[chuckChuck]

Alberta has a world-class solar resource. How we develop it matters.

The Alberta government has set an electrical energy generation target of 30-per-cent renewables (up from the current nine per cent) by 2030. We have some choices regarding how we accomplish this in the next 15 years, and fortunately we can look to the experiences of other jurisdictions for guidance. In 2000, the German government launched its Renewable Energy Sources Act. This visionary initiative enabled Germany to increase its percentage of renewable electricity from six to 31 in only 15 years.

Alberta’s Climate Change Panel has called for using both wind and solar to reach this target. Wind is the low‑hanging fruit. Wind electrical energy is now less expensive than new coal electrical energy. To meet our 30-per-cent renewable energy target, wind will undoubtedly do the majority of the work.

Yet in the long run, solar energy will likely be the electricity source of choice. Because solar works at both small and large scale, it has the potential to transform our grid like no other source. How much can solar actually contribute to that 30 per cent? And how do we best develop it?

A quick look at reality: Last year, Alberta’s 1,000 grid‑connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems generated only 0.01 per cent of the 80,342 gigawatt-hours of electricity our province required. We have a long way to go. What is encouraging is that our installed solar capacity doubled in 2013, and again in 2014. All signs point to continued exponential growth.

According to the Fraunhofer Institute, 6.8 per cent of Germany’s electrical energy in 2014 came from solar PV. Germany reached this level of market penetration in 15 years, using a solar resource that is only 60 per cent as good as Alberta’s, in a country with half the land area of Alberta, with almost 20 times the population, with technology that was less efficient and much more expensive than what’s available to us today. So, yes Alberta can generate at least six per cent — and likely significantly more — of its electricity from the sun by 2030.

Let’s do this in a way that most benefits Alberta. Solar development can take two forms. There are large centralized solar plants called solar farms. A solar farm is typically connected to the electricity transmission system and paid the hourly price of the Alberta Electric System Operator’s (AESO) wholesale electrical energy market. There are also smaller solar plants, often located on rooftops. Alberta’s Micro-Generation Regulation regulates these. Micro-generators receive a credit for electricity they export onto the grid equivalent to their Energy Retailer purchase price. To reach its climate targets, Alberta will need to expediently develop both solar farms and rooftop solar.

Large solar farms offer a lower installed cost due to economies of scale. As large oil, coal and utility companies cancel less-productive projects, big solar farm investments will look increasingly attractive. Large projects can quickly boost solar production numbers. We need to do this, but let’s not abandon the additional benefits that a network of small solar systems can provide.

Rooftop solar offers different, but distinct advantages. Many smaller solar systems with a multitude of owners unleash broad sources of local capital. Profits from smaller projects will tend to stay in our communities creating local jobs, and multiplying economic benefits. Rooftop solar will be installed by Alberta’s existing solar installation companies.

Prior to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act, four large corporations controlled the country’s electricity. Fifteen years later, Germany has 1.3 million electricity generators. Their 63,000-megawatt renewable electricity market is owned by a broad mix of individuals, farmers, commercial and industrial players, co-operatives, and smaller municipal and regional utilities. Big utilities own a mere five per cent of this market.

If Alberta simply develops large, corporate-funded centralized solar farms, we will be operating from the same electricity generation and distribution paradigm we have now. We’ll miss the opportunity to include and leverage the entrepreneurial spirit of our citizens, including urban dwellers, farmers and small businesses. Our solar development program needs to encourage broad participation by Albertans to insure maximum benefits for everyone.

Rob Harlan is executive director of the Solar Energy Society of Alberta.

[boarderbloke]

Wow chucky, your really scraping the bottom of the barrel this morning posting from "From Wikipedia"

Both windmills and solar panels have been complete failures and money losers. And now those energies have to compete with $35 oil. haha
All those leftists that cheerlead the downfall of oil, now have to compete against the lower price with their panels. haha

[chuckChuck]

Renewables to lead world power market growth to 2020

As costs fall and emerging economies drive growth, IEA report sees major opportunities – but policy uncertainties remain

2 October 2015 Istanbul

Renewable energy will represent the largest single source of electricity growth over the next five years, driven by falling costs and aggressive expansion in emerging economies, the IEA said Friday in an annual market report. Pointing to the great promise renewables hold for affordably mitigating climate change and enhancing energy security, the report warns governments to reduce policy uncertainties that are acting as brakes on greater deployment.

“Renewables are poised to seize the crucial top spot in global power supply growth, but this is hardly time for complacency,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol as he released the IEA’s Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015 (MTRMR) at the G20 Energy Ministers Meeting. “Governments must remove the question marks over renewables if these technologies are to achieve their full potential, and put our energy system on a more secure, sustainable path.”

Renewable electricity additions over the next five years will top 700 gigawatts (GW) – more than twice Japan’s current installed power capacity. They will account for almost two-thirds of net additions to global power capacity – that is, the amount of new capacity that is added, minus scheduled retirements of existing power plants. Non-hydro sources such as wind and solar photovoltaic panels (solar PV) will represent nearly half of the total global power capacity increase.

The report sees the share of renewable energy in global power generation rising to over 26% by 2020 from 22% in 2013 – a remarkable shift in a very limited period of time. By 2020, the amount of global electricity generation coming from renewable energy will be higher than today’s combined electricity demand of China, India and Brazil.

The report says the geography of deployment will increasingly shift to emerging economies and developing countries, which will make up two-thirds of the renewable electricity expansion to 2020. China alone will account for nearly 40% of total renewable power capacity growth and requires almost one-third of new investment to 2020.

Declining costs drive growth

Renewable generation costs have declined in many parts of the world due to sustained technology progress, improved financing conditions and expansion of deployment to newer markets with better resources. Announced prices for long-term generation contracts at reduced levels are emerging in areas as diverse as Brazil, India, the Middle East, South Africa and the United States. As such, some countries and regions now have the potential to leapfrog to a development paradigm mainly based on increasingly affordable renewable power. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Affordable renewables are set to dominate the emerging power systems of the world,” Dr. Birol said. “With excellent hydro, solar and wind resources, improving cost-effectiveness and policy momentum, renewables can play a critical role in supporting economic growth and energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, meeting almost two-thirds of the region’s new demand needs over the next five years.”

Still, the MTRMR highlights risks. Financing remains key to achieving sustained investment. Regulatory barriers, grid constraints, and macroeconomic conditions pose challenges in many emerging economies. In industrialised countries, the rapid deployment of renewables requires scaling down fossil-fired power plants, putting incumbent utilities under pressure. Wavering policy commitments to decarbonisation and diversification in response to such effects can undermine investor confidence and retroactive changes can destroy it. Consequently, global growth in the report’s main case forecast is not as fast as it could be – and annual installations level off, falling short of what’s needed to put renewables on track to meet longer-term climate change objectives.

The report includes an accelerated case that assesses the impacts of enhanced policy frameworks in key countries, finding that this could boost global cumulative renewable power growth by 25% above the main case, with rising annual installations. An improving picture for renewables can have positive ramifications for global climate change negotiations. At the same time, a clear, supportive outcome from the COP21 climate negotiations in Paris in December could create a virtuous cycle for renewable deployment by increasing long-term policy vision and predictability.

But the accelerated case requires more coherent and committed policy action. “To be sure, system and grid integration will be crucial for enabling high levels of wind and solar PV. The IEA remains at the forefront of addressing these issues, including possible impacts on electricity security,” concluded Dr. Birol. “But while variability of renewables is a challenge that energy systems can learn to adapt to, variability of policies poses a far greater risk.”

The Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015 is part of a series of annual reports the IEA devotes to each of the main primary energy sources: oil, gas, coal, renewable energy and – as of 2013 – energy efficiency. The report is for sale by the IEA bookshop. Accredited journalists who would like more information or who wish to receive a complimentary copy should contact ieapressoffice@iea.org.

To download the executive summary of the Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015, please click here. The executive summary is also available in Chinese here and Japanese here.

To view IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol's presentation at the launch of the Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report 2015, please click here.



About the IEA

The International Energy Agency is an autonomous organisation that works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond. Founded in response to the 1973/4 oil crisis, the IEA’s initial role was to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in oil supply. While this remains a key aspect of its work, the IEA has evolved and expanded. It is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative research, statistics, analysis and recommendations.

[chuckChuck]

We are still going to need fossil fuels but change to renewables and cleaner forms of energy is happening rapidly.

[Hamloc]

Following the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011 Germany started shutting down 8 of its 17 nuclear power plants and has vowed to shut down the rest by 2022. While it is certainly true they have increased their use of renewables to replace the lost nuclear generation, they have also increased their use of coal power generation to fill the gap. Wind and solar are good forms of electricity generation but the wind doesn't always blow and the sun only shines so many hours a day. The efficiency of batteries to store power during times of low generation is increasing at about 6% per year, so the technology is coming but it is not there yet.