Believe the Facts, not the Fossil Fuel Industry

In a recent blog post, it was discussed that there is a common misconception that wind energy doesn’t actually reduce GHG emissions. Ultimately, I think this misconception is based on the fact that the wind doesn’t blow all the time, but in reality, there is very little evidence to back up these claims.

In the previously mentioned blog post (found HERE ), Bruce Wark, of The Coast , questioned if wind energy was even green at all. I’m not sure what helped form his misguided opinion, but it may have come from the millions of dollars the fossil fuel industry is spending to convince people that wind energy doesn’t reduce emissions.

Michael Goggin of the American Wind Energy Association recently posted a detailed and well referenced article disputing these claims and providing proof that wind energy reduces even more energy than might be anticipated.

That article can be found HERE

Within 6 months or so, Nova Scotia will have a number of new wind farms online. The Dalhousie Mountain wind farm came online earlier this year, and the Digby Wind Power Project, Nutby Mountain and Point Tupper Projects will all be online before the end of the year, while Shear Wind’s Glen Dhu will be online shortly after that. Based on the evidence put forth in the attached argument, Nova Scotia can look forward to real emissions reductions from these facilities, even more than we might have originally imagined.

What "Sustainable Prosperity Act"?

How quickly Premier MacDonald has forgotten his own party's work from the Spring Session. Our government was one of the first in North America to pass legislation focusing on Sustainability, yet our Premier has put his faith in the oil and gas industry to lead this province into the future. MacDonald wrote a column in todays Chronicle Herald (link) proclaiming that our "future looks bright" because Deep Panuke might happen. If Encana decides to proceed with this large offshore project, (which I imagine they will), they will spend 3 years building the facilities, and 13 years pumping Natural Gas from the ocean floor. This may seem like a long time, but every turbine that is installed in the next two years in response to NS Power's RFP will last longer than this offshore project.

The PC Government seems hell bent in pushing the oil and gas industry for more exploration off our coasts, going as far as traveling to Houston and Dallas (home of such sustainability experts as Exxon and Halliburton) to beg them to come to Nova Scotia. Do we want a Premier that is in Texas promoting Oil and Gas, or perhaps one that goes to Denmark and Germany to see how they became world leaders in renewable energy. The Sustainable Prosperity Act pledges that Nova Scotia will become a "world leader in environmentally sustainable technologies" (Bill 146 3b). Did Premier MacDonald think the Texas Oil Patch was the place to start looking for these technologies?

Our government's bias towards Natural Gas has been clear for a while. Earlier in the summer, Premier MacDonald and Energy Minister Dooks pledged $3Million to help Heritage Gas pay for infrastructure costs. Heritage Gas is now giving the KeyNote address at the Green Energy 2007 conference sponsored by the Department of Energy. Natural Gas isn't green, and it isn't sustainable.

Both the Natural Gas industry and the Renewable Energy industry are starting to blossom in Nova Scotia. If a government wanted to be environmentally friendly, and sustainable as well, which industry should it support? Our government has put it's money on the table: 3Million for basic Natural Gas infrastructure, $75 thousand for the NS Wind Atlas.

Minister Dooks recently added in the Chronicle Herald (link) that the Department of Energy has to "protect electricity consumers". Natural Gas is well known to be more expensive than wind energy for electricity production. All year, NSPower has been burning $80/barrel oil at Tuffs Cove because it's still cheaper than Natural Gas. (CORRECTION: since earlier in 2007, Natural Gas has been used instead of Oil, which had been used for the past few years). The argument that renewables must be contained to protect consumers is completely false... it's only the existing fossil fuel interests that it protects.

Despite all this, the funny thing is that the renewable energy industry doesn't need all the handouts and bait money the oil and gas industry gets. All that the renewable energy industry needs is access to customers, something our PC government promised it would do in 2002. My recommendation is to let our poorly funded and under-performing schools have the money, and let renewable energies lead this province into the future.

Turbines = Tourists

I haven't been able to write for the past couple weeks because of a work trip to Ontario, plus a trip to Quebec City for the 2007 CanWEA Conference. I'm still busy catching up with everything, but I wanted to pass this short piece on to you....

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about wind turbines in Nova Scotia, specifically around the effect they will have on their community. I'm a firm believer that wind turbines need to be designed with proper community input and using sufficient set-backs for noise (something that hasn't been done at some wind farms in NS), but a lot of the more subjective "affects" of turbines I'm not so certain about. One argument is that they are a visual "blight" on the landscape and that they will stop tourists from visiting already popular areas. This article posted earlier this week tells the exact opposite is happening in areas where wind energy is already being developed...

Turbine tourists blown away by country's wind farms

They're cropping up all over Canada and visitors get quite a charge out of seeing the electricity-producing windmills up close, writes Kathryn Young.

Kathryn Young, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Tuesday, October 02, 2007

So many drivers are gawking at the enormous wind turbines along Lake Erie that they're creating a safety hazard, while in Alberta, TransAlta Corp. responded to visitor demand by creating an iPod audio tour for people keen to learn more about its three wind farms.

Wind farms have surprisingly become tourist attractions across Canada, luring thousands of visitors -- some from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and Europe -- curious about the electricity-generating turbines.

Municipalities are responding by constructing viewing areas, opening interpretive centres, printing maps, welcoming tour buses and selling T-shirts, ball caps, windmill models, pins, aprons, photographs and postcards.... read more

First Round of Renewable Energy Proposals

On a somewhat historic day, Friday was the deadline for submissions in response to NS Power's Request for Proposals (RFP) of 130MW of renewable energy. This RFP is the first step from NS Power to address the Renewable Standards Portfolio that the NS Government implemented, which states that NS Power must increase the proportion of energy it gets from renewable sources by 10%. At the time, NS Power got 8.3% of its electricity from renewable sources, 7.3% of this was from small hydro energy, and 1% was from wind energy. It is commonly reported that NS Power has to increase it's renewable sources to 20%, but it is in fact only 18.3%. Read the story from the front page of the Chronicle Herald business section here

Projects from all over the province were proposed, and to my knowledge these projects were almost exclusively based on wind energy. The main reason for this, is that although NS Power was told to increase the amount of renewable energy it used, they were told how they had to procure that electricity. Once their legislative requirements are met, NS Power is responsible for the best interests of its shareholders. In order to maximize the profitability of their newly acquired renewable energy, NS Power will be deciding the results from this RFP almost exclusively on a "lowest cost basis". The Ecology Action Centre issued a great press release on the downfalls of this tendering process which was picked up by the Chronicle Herald here. Wind energy is the most cost effective source of renewable electricity, therefore, it is the renewable source of choice under this system. One issue that isn't addressed in the EAC article is that if we are truly committed to moving towards a completely renewable electricity system, we will have to develop a diverse portfolio of renewable energies such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and sustainable biomass. What is most cost effective today doesn't relate to what is most sustainable for the future.

Despite these drawbacks, this is generally still a positive step for Nova Scotia. Currently, there is about 60MW of wind energy installed in Nova Scotia, and projects from this RFP will add over twice that. These new projects will be enough to power 40,000 homes. NS Power has publicly committed to announcing the successful projects by October 1st.

I imagine that NS Power will try to use these new projects to promote themselves as being "green" or environmentally friendly. Their public image could certainly use some work. In a recent national survey, NS Power ranked second last in the country. Read all about it here. Despite all of these new projects, the new electricity will only be used to match the increase in electricity in this province, which is approximately 3%/year. NS Power's four coal burning thermal plants will continue to operate uninhibited, emitting enough Greenhouse Gases to make NS Power the 6th largest polluter in Canada.

Stay tuned to NS Power's promotional efforts surrounding these projects, as I'm sure it will be entertaining. October promises to be an exciting month.