Scheer leaves himself open to claims he’s in cahoots with Big Oil

[chuckChuck]

I have asked you this before with no response. Right now, with solar as only a few percent of the total, you can use the grid as storage and only increase the costs to everyone else by a substantial but tolerable level. Now, can you possibly put aside your aversion to math, and do a simple extrapolation? What happens when everyone on the grid does exactly what you did, and tries to add grid tied solar panels to meet their entire needs, using the grid as storage. At peak sun, generation will exceed consumption by an order of magnitude, you ( and everyone else), will be paying the electricity provider exorbitant rates just to get rid of the excess, there will not be a scenario where you will ever get paid for your solar power, since whenever the sun is shining, there will be a glut. I don't think I need to explain what will happen on winter nights, under this scenario, and what the resulting costs will be. So you will then have all of the legacy costs of the solar installation, the cost of dumping the excess onto an over saturated grid, plus when you do need to buy the power back in winter and at night, it will be from much more inefficient, and therefore expensive peaking generating sources. It is essentially a pyramid scheme, where those who get in early make out well, but in the end, everyone loses.

And you don't need to go to 100% to have that effect, at this latitude, anything much over single digits will cause costs to go parabolic.

Yes there is probably a limit to how much renewables can be used in the current system scenario. But a lot of those problems will probably be a non issue once affordable storage is available and we build a smart grid.

I won't be paying anyone for getting rid of excess solar power because the system can be easily shut off with a switch. Excess power is the least of our worries at this point.

Ask utilities and electrical engineers what the potential problems and solutions are. You are making a lot of sweeping claims without the facts or numbers from utilities.

All I know is my 25 kw system has produced 3.3 times what I used in the past 3 months including February the coldest snowiest month we had. But according to some, solar is not viable and doesn't work in western Canada! Wrong. It works 12 months of the year.

[chuckChuck]

Warren Buffet, who owns one of the largest wind farms in Iowa, said it without embarrassment:
“On wind power, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. This is the only reason to build them. They do not make sense without the tax credit.”
The ecological balance is just as bad: onshore wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands, even millions of birds and bats per year. As for wind turbines at sea, they kill many marine mammals, again in the utmost indifference of ecologists.[ATTACH]4190[/ATTACH]

You should stop posting untruths. Here is what the the Thomas Homer Dixon actually wrote that has been purposely mis-quoted:
"The concept of net energy must be applied to renewable sources of energy, such as windmills and photovoltaics. A two-megawatt windmill contains 260 tonnes of steel requiring 170 tonnes of coking coal and 300 tonnes of iron ore, all mined, transported and produced by hydrocarbons. The question is: how long must a windmill generate energy before it creates more energy than it took to build it? At a good wind site, the energy payback day could be in three years or less; in a poor location, energy payback may be never. That is, a windmill could spin until it falls apart and never generate as much energy as was invested in building it."

Check the whole story out here:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wind-idiot-power/

[chuckChuck]

Guaranteed that the solar panels Chuck installed will end up the same way, as the rules change, and the full cost ends up being born by the owner, instead of socializing the costs and privatizing the profits as is happening now with solar.

I am so glad you have a crystal ball and can guarantee the future! What is the weather and price of canola going to do this year? Will I get rain?

[blackpowder]

What a goddamn waste of my time looking at anything posted by Chuck.
In the here and now and for a generation or three, we need an economy based on producing goods and services for new cash. An affordable amount of that new cash then pays more public service.
A look at my town of 700+ has nearly 30 houses for sale. Nearby Camrose has all the higher consumer goods stores drying right up. Staples looks ready to shutter.
What part of basic economics is too difficult????
We have hired in Justin, a people kind who has never nor will ever make a new dollar with one of his own.
Scheer may be no better, but for God's sake get your head out of your ass.

[chuckChuck]

That is what happens when you are overly dependent on one or two commodities that go down in price because of changes in supply and demand. Alberta has long had a boom and bust economy. Another pipeline to tidewater won't change that reality. Kenney and Scheer can't change the fundamentals of a world market. Anybody who thought the boom and incredible growth would last forever was sadly mistaken. Peter Lougheed had a vision for sustainable managed growth. That vision was lost somewhere along the way.

[jazz]

chuck, Canada is never going to be what you think it should be. Too far north, too extreme, too spread out, mostly uninhabitable, poorly capitilzed, population clinging to the border of the US. its never going to be this tech utopia wonderland diverse industry thing you think it will. Never going to happen. So its resources. Be damn happy we have them and make the most of them. Canada is not dependent on a single resource that's why we have a confederation, so that structure should help when one part suffers like oil. Same thing if fisheries had trouble etc etc. but we know that didn't work now did it?

[fjlip]

chuck, Canada is never going to be what you think it should be. Too far north, too extreme, too spread out, mostly uninhabitable, poorly capitilzed, population clinging to the border of the US. its never going to be this tech utopia wonderland diverse industry thing you think it will. Never going to happen. So its resources. Be damn happy we have them and make the most of them. Canada is not dependent on a single resource that's why we have a confederation, so that structure should help when one part suffers like oil. Same thing if fisheries had trouble etc etc. but we know that didn't work now did it?

That is exactly why Canada should NEVER have gone along with ANY Climate Change plans, we are unique, TOO sparse, too spread thin and #1 TOO F*CKING COLD.

[fjlip]

So chuck the windmill is untruth, what about the explanation for SIMPLE minds? http://humansarefree.com/2018/11/all-lies-about-global-warming-debunked.html http://humansarefree.com/2018/11/all-lies-about-global-warming-debunked.html

[fjlip]

Or...If you look at satellite data and weather balloon measurements, you then note that the temperature rise around the world is relatively modest; that it is much lower than the rise that is predicted for us by authorities, and that these predictions rely on calculations that are highly uncertain.

This is because the simulation inputs cannot take into account past temperatures (for which there is no precision data[3]), except by subjectively adjusting x, y, z data that are not always known.
So why believe WAGs? Any number could be right or wrong.

[jazz]

That is exactly why Canada should NEVER have gone along with ANY Climate Change plans, we are unique, TOO sparse, too spread thin and #1 TOO F*CKING COLD.

Yup we should have went to that Paris thing and said, here are the incremental improvements we can make. They involve incentivizing efficiency, not punitive taxes. It means our resources will not be hampered in anyway nor will our citizens be inconvenienced by any of this. Secondly, we get credit for our trillion trees and 200m acres of sequestered carbon each yr. We will provide you with that calculation and we are carbon neutral right now. We welcome carbon credits being purchased here.

[Taiga]

Yup we should have went to that Paris thing and said, here are the incremental improvements we can make. They involve incentivizing efficiency, not punitive taxes. It means our resources will not be hampered in anyway nor will our citizens be inconvenienced by any of this. Secondly, we get credit for our trillion trees and 200m acres of sequestered carbon each yr. We will provide you with that calculation and we are carbon neutral right now. We welcome carbon credits being purchased here.

You should run for politics. I agree with almost everything you post. That would keep you busy.

[chuckChuck]

chuck, Canada is never going to be what you think it should be. Too far north, too extreme, too spread out, mostly uninhabitable, poorly capitilzed, population clinging to the border of the US. its never going to be this tech utopia wonderland diverse industry thing you think it will. Never going to happen. So its resources. Be damn happy we have them and make the most of them. Canada is not dependent on a single resource that's why we have a confederation, so that structure should help when one part suffers like oil. Same thing if fisheries had trouble etc etc. but we know that didn't work now did it?

That's why we have social programs like EI and Social assistance or do you want us to bail out the oil companies who made bad decisions because the price of oil fell?

Poorly capitalized? Huh? We have advantages and disadvantages as a country and we are still one of the best places in the world to live and work with high incomes and a high standard of living.

Oil is important but we have a very diverse economy as a nation. Resources are always going to be important in Canada but that shouldn't stop us from diversifying our economy and building a sustainable future based on a changing world.

The picture you paints is of a struggling country stuck in the past. That is so far from reality for most Canadians. Many of the disadvantages you mention are actually advantages in many cases: Too much land, a small population and too far north. Maybe add to the list too many trees, too much fresh water, too much hydro power, and too much good soil! My we have big problems!

I am glad that there are whole lot more positive people out there who don't listen to all the negativity.

Let me repeat the price of oil has gone up and down numerous times in my lifetime and politicians had very little to do with the change in price.

[jazz]

Let me repeat the price of oil has gone up and down numerous times in my lifetime and politicians had very little to do with the change in price.

Just trying to be a realist. We need more of that here in this country instead of unicorns and fairy tales.

Just to educate you on oil. That heavy crude has another $5-8 per bbl in it just by sitting ready to tanker at tidewater. More to the market than just some posted price you watch on the news.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Yes there is probably a limit to how much renewables can be used in the current system scenario. But a lot of those problems will probably be a non issue once affordable storage is available and we build a smart grid.

I won't be paying anyone for getting rid of excess solar power because the system can be easily shut off with a switch. Excess power is the least of our worries at this point.

You missed the point completely. Yes, you can and will have to shut it off to avoid paying someone else to take your power, since there is no someone else in Western Canada(which is what Germany does, sells excess to their less gullible neighbors and has caused their power rates to sky rocket). But now do an economic analysis on your grid tied system when you never get paid for the excess, but still have to pay for the shortfall.

Of course, you could always just wait for the long promised affordable energy storage to be your salvation. Are you aware that while we have been waiting for promised battery costs to budge even incrementally ( since they are already approaching their physical limits), the COP for shale oil has declined by multiples, thanks to human ingenuity, and free market forces.

Ask utilities and electrical engineers what the potential problems and solutions are. You are making a lot of sweeping claims without the facts or numbers from utilities.

All I know is my 25 kw system has produced 3.3 times what I used in the past 3 months including February the coldest snowiest month we had. But according to some, solar is not viable and doesn't work in western Canada! Wrong. It works 12 months of the year.

You completely ignore what I just asked you. It works 12 months of the year because everyone else is willing(forced) to subsidize your folly by providing backup storage for you, by buying your excess, and giving it back at the same rate when the sun doesn't shine. That only works until a few more crony capitalists such as yourself decide to take advantage of the generosity of everyone else to subsidize their virtue signalling. A smart grid and smart meters will result in the a drastic difference in the price you get paid for your excess vs. the price you pay for your shortfall, so don't hope too hard for that one to happen. Please come back and show us the numbers when you have added on site storage, and eliminated your grid tie. If the numbers still work, then I will be installing the next day.

[blackpowder]

That's why we have social programs like EI and Social assistance or do you want us to bail out the oil companies who made bad decisions because the price of oil fell?

Poorly capitalized? Huh? We have advantages and disadvantages as a country and we are still one of the best places in the world to live and work with high incomes and a high standard of living.

Oil is important but we have a very diverse economy as a nation. Resources are always going to be important in Canada but that shouldn't stop us from diversifying our economy and building a sustainable future based on a changing world.

The picture you paints is of a struggling country stuck in the past. That is so far from reality for most Canadians. Many of the disadvantages you mention are actually advantages in many cases: Too much land, a small population and too far north. Maybe add to the list too many trees, too much fresh water, too much hydro power, and too much good soil! My we have big problems!

I am glad that there are whole lot more positive people out there who don't listen to all the negativity.

Let me repeat the price of oil has gone up and down numerous times in my lifetime and politicians had very little to do with the change in price.

Then plow Mother Earth for cash and invest in education and industry development with that new cash.
At this point in time I can't see where else the money is going to come from.