Additional facts regarding Mr. Farrell’s and Mr. McCutcheon’s posts on EVs. Where is the EV market booming? SE Asia expects to distribute 23 million units. The UK loves EVs. Europe too.
Decarbonizing energy
By making ordinary hills suitable for energy storage, the technology could dramatically expand the number of viable pumped-hydro sites. RheEnergise promises that its system is cost-effective and able to integrate seamlessly with any grid infrastructure. Partnered with wind and solar, it could also be used in remote areas now unserved by the grid.
Why not geothermal?
Los Angeles-based Critical Energy is developing modular power plants that can be mass-produced in factories, transported in sections by 18-wheelers, and installed in as little as two weeks to meet soaring electricity demand from AI data centres. The AI boom is intensifying interest in modular generation and geothermal energy as data centre operators need dependable, around-the-clock power.
Underwater data centres, part 2
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence may force us to choose between imperfect alternatives. If demand for computing power continues to rise, policymakers have to weigh the environmental and social impacts of locating data centres above the ocean surface against those of placing them below.
Wind and solar — the cheapest energy sources
Contracted energy costs for wind and solar projects in Canada have fallen to half of what they were 10 years ago, new analysis shows. Now, they’re the lowest-cost form of new electricity generation.
Distributed energy resources (DERs)
Clean Energy Canada published an important report for this province. It is titled BC Distributed Energy Resource Potential Study. It seems the best examinations of this province’s energy needs come from public interest groups, not from our multi-billion dollar public utility.
BC’s clean energy strategy is less than clean
I have listened to Powering the Future a few times. There is much information to be gained, and a little misinformation was politely ignored. Check it out. BC Hydro Chair Glen Clark should be applauded for joining the panel for a 90 minute conversation. Fellow panelists Jae Mather and Markham Hislop showed their broad knowledge of energy matters.
Powering the future
Canada West Forum is presenting an online event available without cost on a Zoom livestream, Monday, March 9, 10:15 a.m. Moderated by filmmaker and environmental journalist Damien Gillis, the panel features three highly regarded individuals. They are Glen Clark, Chair of BC Hydro, renewables expert Jae Mather, and energy jounrlist Markham Hislop of Energi Media. The panel will examine the future of energy supplies in British Columbia and the key decisions that must be made to meet rising demand.
Just have a think about energy
The latest report from Ember, a global energy think tank, says the way we measure energy can distort our understanding of the transition now underway. The paper highlights why accurate energy accounting matters for public policy and decision-making. In the video below, Dave Borlace distills Embers’s work and helps us gain understanding of an issue that affects us all.
Clean renewables—the cheapest way to create electricity
Too often, the default approach is to maximize immediate wealth from non-renewable resources and defer the long-term consequences. That choice effectively transfers environmental, economic, and social costs to future generations. The question is not whether better pathways exist. They do. The question is whether governments are prepared to act on them with the same urgency shown in protecting established industries.
BC Hydro must prioritize low-impact renewables
If B.C. is serious about building a resilient and forward-looking energy system, its public utility must invest more decisively in the innovations already being studied here at home. The University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus has the Laboratory for Solar Energy and Fuels. It is working to develop materials and devices that can convert abundant solar energy into clean electricity or storable fuels. BC Hydro is not listed as one of its research partners.
Making heat pump installations more efficient
Dave Borlace of Just Have a Think explains heat pumps. He discusses how one British Company is helping heat engineers deliver the most efficient ways of heating a home with clean energy.
Terawatts of clean energy
American company Quaise Energy is developing a new way to access the largest untapped energy source available. It will use established production methods of the fossil fuel industry, but the technology employed is new. Quaise intends to use beams of energy to vaporize bore holes through rocks and access deep geothermal heat.
The Efficiency of Electric vs Fossil Fuel Economies
Markham Hislop and Professor Mark Jacobson dive into the rarely discussed fact that the electric economy is significantly more efficient than the fossil fuel economy, and therefore, less energy is required to power it.
Geothermal, Eavor present energy
Months ago, I wrote Geothermal — clean, non-destructive renewable energy. It was about Calgary-based Eavor and the company’s use of unique drilling technology to realize geothermal energy. I have followed Eavor’s activities and noted recent developments, particularly in the Bavarian town of Geretsried…
Game changers
The global battery market is now valued at around C$220 billion. That number is expected to be near half a trillion dollars in five years. Even that estimate may be conservative. Very conservative. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Company (CATL), the world’s largest battery maker, recently made an astonishing announcement. One was that its new Shenxing sodium-ion battery could add 520 kilometres of driving range in just five minutes of charging time. The total range is said to be 800 km…
Canadian politicians recklessly blazing a path toward unprecedented climate change
Canadian climate journalist Geoff Dembicki wrote an opinion piece published by the New York Times almost six years ago. Canada’s Perverse Climate Change Policy: Gas Up. It was subtitled: Pushing toward the worst scenario despite better options for the future of the environment.
We have a problem; we have the right solutions
British Columbia has been reliant on hydroelectricity for generations. However, climate change is threatening that supply. Persistent dry conditions have become a reality. BC Hydro has spent tens of millions of dollars to add capacity and upgrade generating equipment at its hydroelectric dams. But this 28 year record reveals a problem. The output per MW of capacity was 54% higher in fiscal year 1997 than in FY 2024.
Ending fossil fuels benefits all
Many people in Canada are employed in fossil fuel industries. Were production of carbon-laden, climate damaging products to decline or end, many towns would be disrupted. However, quality of life would improve since toxic contaminants are by-products of oil, gas, and coal production. Overall employment would increase and stable populations would lead to safer communities…
Batteries…
Large reductions in the cost of renewable technologies such as solar and wind have made them cost-competitive with fossil fuels. But to balance these intermittent sources and electrify our transport systems, we also need low-cost energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries are the most commonly used. Lithium-ion battery cells have also seen an impressive price reduction. Since 1991, prices have fallen by around 97%. Prices fall by an average of 19% for every doubling of capacity. Even more promising is that this rate of reduction does not yet appear to be slowing down.
in-sights.ca 
“If we continue on the current path … we are basically playing Russian roulette with humanity.” — Yoshua Bengio, professor…