Transition Brockville archive
Tag : Solar PV (69)
CBC News / Don Pittis / 20 November 2020
A series of private sector-led projects in Alberta and Saskatchewan are evidence that profit-motivated entrepreneurs have already seen which way the wind is blowing.
Even as jobs disappear from the traditional fossil fuel sector, a new report from the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy says the plunging cost of alternative power is helping to stoke a low-carbon investment boom.
“This suggests building new renewables is now cheaper than operating existing fossil power plants,” the University of Calgary report said. And the first signs of that boom are already appearing.
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Carbon Brief / Josh Gabbatiss, Simon Evans / 13 October 2020
The world’s best solar power schemes now offer the “cheapest…electricity in history” with the technology cheaper than coal and gas in most major countries.
That is according to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2020. The 464-page outlook, published today by the IEA, also outlines the “extraordinarily turbulent” impact of coronavirus and the “highly uncertain” future of global energy use over the next two decades.
Reflecting this uncertainty, this year’s version of the highly influential annual outlook offers four “pathways” to 2040, all of which see a major rise in renewables.
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Post Carbon Institute / Richard Heinberg / 27 April 2020
The film is controversial because it makes two big claims: first, that renewable energy is a sham; second, that big environmental organizations—by promoting solar and wind power—have sold their souls to billionaire investors.
I feel fairly confident commenting on the first of these claims, regarding renewable energy, having spent a year working with David Fridley of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to assess the prospects for a complete transition to solar and wind power.
We found that the transition to renewables is going far too slowly to make much of a difference during the crucial next couple of decades, and would be gobsmackingly expensive if we were to try replacing all fossil fuel use with solar and wind.
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The Verge / Justine Calma / 02 January 2020
The solar power and electric vehicles we need to stop the climate crisis pose a different threat to people and the environment: a boom in mining. Moving away from fossil fuels depends on tech like batteries and solar panels that can provide alternative forms of energy. But digging up the raw materials can undermine human rights and destroy fragile ecosystems. As governments and industries try to tackle climate change by building up renewable energy, they’ll need to consider other problems unearthed in the process.
Policy experts writing in the journal Science warn that a more sustainable future could hinge on how leaders manage the demand for metals and minerals, including cobalt and lithium needed for rechargeable batteries.
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The Energy Mix / 29 November 2019
The success of Denmark’s rapid transition off fossil fuels over the last 10 years could point the way for “naysayers” whose “failure of the imagination” is holding off a similar shift in Canada, Globe and Mail European Bureau Chief Eric Reguly writes in a recent opinion piece.
“Going quickly from black to green in, say, electricity generation seems a megaproject too far, an unfathomable exercise in science fiction, theoretically possible but about as easy as building a colony on Mars,” Reguly writes, citing Ontario Premier and “Fossil-in-chief” Doug Ford’s evidence-free opposition to renewable electricity generation.
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The Tyee / Andrew Nikiforuk / 19 November 2019
To [esteemed Canadian energy analyst David] Hughes, the implications are clear: “What this means is that we have to look at downsizing, degrowth, using less. The math doesn’t work to keep the party going with renewables.” Ecologist [William] Rees delivered the same message a week ago in The Tyee.
Note that Hughes is not saying we shouldn’t build lots of renewables. What he is saying is that we need to radically reduce energy consumption and use renewables to actually retire fossil fuel infrastructure. (To date, the evidence shows that we have largely used renewables to consume more energy.)
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
A series of private sector-led projects in Alberta and Saskatchewan are evidence that profit-motivated entrepreneurs have already seen which way the wind is blowing.
