The One and Only Climate Change thread...

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The Winds of Change are Blowing...

Looks like we have confirmation of life elsewhere. Google "Journal of Cosmology" and have a look at the paper. Bacteria identified in chondritic meteorite. Science story of the century if it pans out...

[Gary Ruben]

The Winds of Change are Blowing...

Here is some of the things I've been reading recently.

Click Here...

Here's more.

Click Here...

Interesting articles.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

That's great! Nothing wrong with damming rivers and splitting atoms. Wind 10%? I guess McGuinty is planning on sticking around for a while. How do you generate power through conservation?

Easy. You raise the price of power and taxes to the point where business can no longer be profitable. They close up and either move to another jursidiction or go out of business. Industry and manufacturing are large power users. So you have conservation.

I think if McGuinty sticks around will depend on the voters. The people who have to decide if they can afford HST on their utility bills and gasoline costs.

In Toronto, Ford wasn't leading the polls when the election started but he pounded on the cost cutting and won handily.

[Peter McKillop]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

... Solar was 0% back in 2003. It's up to ... well, zero in 2010. And in 2030? A whopping 1.5%. For the record, the amounts projected are: Nuclear 46%, Water 20%, Conservation 14%, Wind 10%, Gas 7%, Solar PV 1.5% and Bioenergy 1.3%. Even 19 years from now we are still going to be damming rivers and splitting atoms to keep warm, it seems.

That's great! Nothing wrong with damming rivers and splitting atoms. Wind 10%? I guess McGuinty is planning on sticking around for a while. How do you generate power through conservation?

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Recently in my mailbox I got a copy of "Electricity prices are changing. Find out why." by the Government of Ontario (presumably the McGuinty Liberals).

There's three nice colourful pie graphs on the inside front cover. They are titled "2003 Generation", "2010(?!) Projected Generation" and "2030 Projected Generation".

Solar was 0% back in 2003. It's up to ... well, zero in 2010. And in 2030? A whopping 1.5%. For the record, the amounts projected are: Nuclear 46%, Water 20%, Conservation 14%, Wind 10%, Gas 7%, Solar PV 1.5% and Bioenergy 1.3%. Even 19 years from now we are still going to be damming rivers and splitting atoms to keep warm, it seems.

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

I think that this may happen as long as the Republicans and Conservatives are out of power; with them in power solar will likely be squashed again by fossil fuel interests and status quo thinking.

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Ray Kurzweil thinks that solar will solve the climate change problem. His argument is that the growth rate will allow it to supply 100% of our energy needs in 20 years (about 10 doubling periods; like a Moore's law for solar)...

[Garland Best]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

I was listening last week to CFRA (the local talk radio station). Iggy was skating on the canal as a photo op. One of the local Ottawa Liberal MP (or candidates, I forget which) was caught on radio saying to the media "Well, you can tell by the way he skates he's not REALLY Canadian."

I'm waiting for that quote to make the Conservative ads.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Global warming had better get here quickly or the windmills won't work in Canadian winters.

The environmentalists seem to only worry about the birds which get caught in the oilsands and not the ones which are sliced and diced by the windmills. I wonder why. :)

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

The ones that I saw have quotes from Iggy's past which were not the brightest things to say if you wanted to come back to Canada and run for prime minister one day. Most were done on television or in fairly well known magazines or newspapers. Its not like he can disavow them in any way without looking pretty stupid when the clips are played on tv. What can he say? "That was my evil twin" probably won't cut it. Iggy's only chance is if the Conservatives win another minority and he can combine with the other parties in a coalition like Dion tried to do. That is probably the plan. A majority for the conservative will be the end of most of the parties financing from the taxpayer other than tax deductions for party donations.

Iggy could go back and find some of the things Harper has said and/or written.

Let's look at those attack commercials. Personally, I view them in light of Ignatieff's father being a diplomat, a Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations and President of the United Nations Security Council in the late 1960's.

He said in the TV clips, which I figure are taken out of context, he loved the republic in which he was living. I loved Manitoba when I lived there. It's not a big deal in my mind. He made no comparison to Canada.

Then there's the part where he says the U.S. is as much someone elses nation as it is his. Living and working there I'd assume he paid taxes there. I don't know if he ever had dual citizenship. In any case, if I were paying taxes and living in another country I'd feel it was just as much mine as anyone elses.

In view of the service of his father to Canada, the suggestion which goes with the statement he would have to ask Harper to allow him to come back to Canada is ridiculous.

That said, I won't be voting liberal because I don't think I can afford them. The best they can hope from me is the Conservatives will field an unacceptable candidate in this riding, again, and I'll stay home election day.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Wind and solar are both alive, growing strongly, and not going away...
Until the next Ontario election or maybe when the class action suit for people living next door to windmills hits the manufacturers. Or when the free trade complaints about the provisions of Ontario's energy act hit the free trade tribunals. Obviously we can't afford to pay twenty to thirty times the going rate for the somewhat useless electricity that they generate which we then have to turn around and pay the Americans and Quebec to take off our hands.

Apparently the only hope for the people subjected to the noise of windmills to avoid well known reactions of insomnia, irritability and other debilitating side effects is to move away. Perhaps they need to build a few of those eyesores near the apartment buildings in Toronto instead of the hinterlands of Essex County. It would save on transmission losses. We could see how long the program would last then. Another article in the paper talked about the problems that windmills have with dealing with snow and ice from winters in the maritimes. Global warming had better get here quickly or the windmills won't work in Canadian winters.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Have you seen the ads the cons are using against the libs? Personal stuff against the leader. The ads are nasty and not something I particularly like to watch. However, the libs aren't replying and I can't help but think that if the leader won't stand up for himself what chance would I have for him to stand up for me. Maybe others see it differently.

The ones that I saw have quotes from Iggy's past which were not the brightest things to say if you wanted to come back to Canada and run for prime minister one day. Most were done on television or in fairly well known magazines or newspapers. Its not like he can disavow them in any way without looking pretty stupid when the clips are played on tv. What can he say? "That was my evil twin" probably won't cut it. Iggy's only chance is if the Conservatives win another minority and he can combine with the other parties in a coalition like Dion tried to do. That is probably the plan. A majority for the conservative will be the end of most of the parties financing from the taxpayer other than tax deductions for party donations.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Gary, here is a link in todays paper that talks about a number of studies indicating that the frequency of weather extremes is on a sharp rise (which is my view)...

The wind moratorium is for offshore wind only and is temporary; while the solar only applies to a few isolated areas that already have a large excess of electricity supply, and nowhere close by to send the excess to.

Wind and solar are both alive, growing strongly, and not going away...

I guess there are a lot of theories out there. Sounds like the one in the article needs more study. Of course, droughts have been known to happen. Like in the 1930's I think it was. Heat, dirt blowing in the wind, etc. Grass hasn't been growing for the entire life of the earth. I forget how long ago it's thought grass appeared. We can assume many dust storms before the grass bound the dirt together.

People worrying about the environment have to have some concerns about the growth in population. The higher the population the more infrastructure and pollutants from the food production. It's not one of my worries but I'd assume you've given it some thought.

We'll have to see what happens with wind and solar in this province. If France and Germany can afford it then they should go for it. With the hundreds of nuclear reactors on the drawing board and being built I can't understand why they would want the expensive alternative energies.

"Temporary" doesn't have a time frame. Also, those people spent a lot of money on that solar to be told they can't tie in.

The next provincial election will be interesting. We'll have to see what the Conservatives offer. The Liberals run on their record.

Have you seen the ads the cons are using against the libs? Personal stuff against the leader. The ads are nasty and not something I particularly like to watch. However, the libs aren't replying and I can't help but think that if the leader won't stand up for himself what chance would I have for him to stand up for me. Maybe others see it differently.

One afterthought. We sell a lot of coal to other nations. I understand environmentalists don't like coal. Whose more at fault for the pollution from that coal? We who are selling the coal or the nations who are buying and using the coal? After all, if they didn't have coal they couldn't burn it. We supply both metalurgical coal and thermal coal.

[Paul Beckwith]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Gary, here is a link in todays paper that talks about a number of studies indicating that the frequency of weather extremes is on a sharp rise (which is my view)...
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Su...236/story.html

The wind moratorium is for offshore wind only and is temporary; while the solar only applies to a few isolated areas that already have a large excess of electricity supply, and nowhere close by to send the excess to.

Wind and solar are both alive, growing strongly, and not going away...

[Gary Ruben]

Re: The One and Only Climate Change thread...

Gary, thanks for the link to the article on extreme weather; I will need to investigate the source papers that it is based on as it pertains directly to some of my work. Thanks again.

Regarding solar, if you have a south facing roof make sure you laden it with panels before the microFIT program reduces the payments...

No problem. In case you haven't heard Ontario has put the wind on hold and also solar. Won't let them tie into the grid, I think it is.

Here's the solar article:

http://www.thestar.com/business/arti...ts-put-on-hold

Here's the wind article.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/...nd-power-plans

It's starting to look like a new reality. The winds of change are a'blowing in the wind. :)