Tilting at windmills

The wind farming debate continues in Ontario. Will the allure of a zero-emissions energy harvest outweigh concerns over the potential negative impact on migrating bird populations?

Full Story  [The Sault Star]

The green barrier to innovation

No one, including politicians is expecting that renewable sources like wind, solar and biofuels will ever replace oil consumption. The path that the Western world will take to an alternative energy future is still unknown.

Full Story [National Post]

Offsetting our carbon footprint

There are many valid carbon offset programs making a difference in the world today. But money can’t buy you a totally clear conscience. 

Full Story [Telegraph Journal]

Mo money, mo carbon

The why’s of rising gasoline prices have never concerned Canadians as much as their practical consequences — higher prices at the pumps and less money to be spent on life’s essentials. But while we all have to deal with the consequences of more expensive fuel, the distribution of those consequences isn’t necessarily equal.

As reported by the Victoria Times Colonist, a report by B.C.’s provincial government found 18 per cent of the province’s residents are living in “energy poverty.” With 17 per cent of their income diverted to energy costs, these low-income Canadians stand to be harmed disproportionately by increasing fuel prices.

But if the provincial government’s findings seem to indicate that lower-income Canadians are liable to trim their energy use in light of soaring costs, another report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) cautions that even low income Canadians have carbon footprints many times as large as those found in developing nations. Just as a select percentage of Canadians are being affected by rising fuel costs, though, another segment is using more than their fare share.

In that same report, the CCPA revealed that the richest 10 per cent of Canadians have carbon footprints a full 66 per cent higher than average Canadians (12.4 hectares per capita). With the lowest 60 per cent below the Canadian average of 7.5 hectares per capita, the highest 10 per cent enlarge their footprint in mobility, goods and services (55 per cent of their footprint), compared with lower-income Canadians’ emphasis on necessities like food and housing (70 per cent).

The two reports show that while Canadians may be unified in their distaste for paying more for a commodity we want to buy, the impact of those prices and the ways we use our increasingly expensive fuel are anything but universal.

Making the voluntary mandatory

On their surface, voluntary carbon reductions may seem like easy dodges. After all, while bodies like the Chicago Climate Exchange and the Western Climate Initiative have set laudable goals of their own (six per cent below 1998 – 2001 levels by 2010 for the CCX and 15 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 for the WCI), all it takes to avoid abiding by their rules is, well, refusing to abide by their rules. Or does it?

As the Globe and Mail revealed last week, the WCI has found a way to extend its reach beyond its already considerable member base — seven American states and three Canadian provinces (B.C., Manitoba and Quebec), along with nine “observers” to touch some folks who, up to now, not been interested in being part of the gang.

By placing a premium on Alberta’s “dirty” coal power, the WCI would essentially be placing Alberta’s power under the initiative’s cap-and-trade approach without Alberta’s explicitly joining the initiative. And all this comes after the provinces collectively failed last year to create a binding agreement between them on carbon trading.

The WCI’s move is no idle threat, given that B.C. is a net importer of power from the largely coal-fired Alberta grid. So, while the measure will have the effect of penalizing Alberta for continuing to produce about 5,840 mega watts of coal power a year, it will also have a direct effect on the cost of B.C.’s power. It’s an added premium that bears a comparison with the increased costs of B.C.’s carbon tax.

The first in the country, the carbon tax’s express purpose is to make consumers pay the full price for the energy they use. And given the WCI’s interest in increasing the cost of Alberta’s power, it seems clear that keeping those costs contained won’t be as simple as avoiding voluntary standards (a lesson the Canadian government has already started to learn).

Hybrid taxis hit Canadian roads

All across Canada, taxi companies are in the fast lane to going hybrid. With high gasoline prices as well as more provinces passing legislation that helps or mandates emissions reduction efforts, more and more taxi companies are getting a charge out of adding electric vehicles to their fleets.

For some cities, the pothole on the road to adopting hybrid technology is long winters, with cold temperatures, which can make for a difficult environment for battery-operated vehicles. One such city is Calgary, where drivers of existing hybrid taxis are starting to note benefits from using the environmentally friendly vehicles despite fears around cold weather. “They’re so good because they cut a driver’s cost of gas in half a night,” says the president of Associated Cabs Ltd. in this article.

In Ottawa, the roadblock has been a taxi bylaw that restricts the use of small taxis with minimal trunk space for luggage, a characteristic of hybrids. But, according to this article, Ottawa’s taxis may soon go hybrid after all, as one councilor works to put the brakes on the impeding bylaw. While concerns still abound about costs and how well the hybrids will fare in winter, the article shows interest in driving and riding hybrids among Canadians remains strong. The same article points to winter-wonderland Winnipeg as an example, saying that 70 per cent of regular sedans in the city’s taxi fleet are hybrids.

But in which Canadian city can you expect to hail a hybrid the most? Not surprisingly, try Vancouver or Victoria. Although B.C drivers can get a rebate of up to $2,000 for purchasing a hybrid vehicle, taxi companies on the coast are discovering that, regardless of government incentives, incorporating hybrids in their fleets simply makes good business sense.

Electric vehicles not so current

What is a hundred years old, has a thousand speeds and is a million times better for the environment? It’s the world’s earliest hybrid vehicle – the Owen Magnetic, which was in development as early as the 1890s.

That’s right, hybrids are not a new technology, having been built as early as 1832. The Owen Magnetic, for example, was also known as ‘The Car of a Thousand Speeds’ as it used a magnetic field to power an electric five-speed automatic transmission.

Sometimes in order to take two steps forward, we should take one step back. In early May we ran an editorial about the green practices that were commonplace 50 years ago. This environmental stuff isn’t new, which should be comforting to a society increasingly pressured to save the environment by adopting new lifestyles and habits.

Today, government and industry spend millions of dollars every year on researching and developing new technologies that mitigate damage to the environment. But the Owen Magnetic seems to prove that sometimes when it comes to innovation we need to look no further than the rearview mirror.

Gadgets a must for wanderlust

Missing your off-ramp is not a venial sin. But as your vehicle roams unfamiliar streets, your significant other now has another reason to get on your case… not only are you lost, but you’re contributing to climate change.

As summer fast approaches, amid record gasoline prices, Canadians are starting to think more about identifying wasteful travel habits and the need to preplan trips. While travelers are increasingly alleviating emissions guilt through a burgeoning carbon offsets market or purchasing hybrid cars, many are also realizing how today’s newest gadgets can keep them on the virtuous side of the road.

There is an array of nifty, and green, travel gizmos available. From using the latest hand-crank radios that don’t require juice-sucking outlets or chemical-leaking batteries, to installing a GPS unit that provides shortest distance turn-by-turn directions, these gadgets are a good first step on your journey to sustainable travel.

And as for your significant other, tell them to stay tuned for the next GPS model that has an automated “told you so” recording that chimes smugly when wrong turns are detected.

A win-win situation (until someone loses)

If the current concern over biofuels like ethanol can be boiled down to one essential point, it’s this: food should go in stomachs, not gas tanks.

Even those who defend ethanol tend to concede that corn might not be the best choice as a biomass, which is exactly why so-called “next generation” biofuels made from cellulosic materials seem like the perfect solution. Including tough, fibrous materials like trees, grasses and agricultural wastes, cellulosic ethanol doesn’t use the kinds of edible crops that raise food prices. What’s more, crops like switchgrass tend to use less water than their agricultural counterparts, making them natural conservationists.

It’s a win-win situation, until someone loses.

In this case, that loser might be the very same farmland we’re trying to preserve. According to a paper (100 KB PDF) by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP), “a number of the most commonly recommended species for biofuel production are also major invasive species in many parts of the world.” (Fittingly, one particularly infamous example of invasive alien species, the cane toad, is so named because of its use as a natural pesticide in sugar cane crops—another crop commonly used in biofuel).

The report calls for a level of caution that isn’t often associated with booming multibillion dollar industries fuelled by aggressive government subsidies, but with often-quoted crop substitutions like switchgrass on the list, and global panic rising in direct proportion to food prices, it’s worth wondering out loud whether caution will win the day. While many European governments have already rolled back their ethanol subsidies, for example, both the United States and Canada remain committed to some of the only concrete action either has taken on climate change.

If neither edible nor inedible plants belong in our cars’ gas tanks, what’s left to burn?

Eco-tainment takes the stage

The best weapon against climate change is your own imagination, according to World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF). The conservation organization recently released what they are calling the world’s first zero carbon commercial.

The commercial takes clips from a slew of annoyingly familiar TV ads and strings them together to create one new commercial – a barrage of clips that spells out one message: “To make the world’s first zero carbon emissions commercial we didn’t use a big film studio. All we used were these old film clips. And a little imagination.” The commercial leaves viewers with a final thought – Imagine what you can do to reduce global warming.

Those are profound words that use a powerful and, not to mention, imaginative approach – one that could, no doubt, be extended to other facets of the entertainment industry. Let’s ponder for a moment if such a technique was used in creating the world’s first zero carbon movie. It might look something like this:

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, there was a giant ocean liner called The Titanic that sank 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” said Martin Brody to his crewmate Spiderman. “With great power comes great responsibility,” he then said, turning to the military lawyer who was told he couldn’t handle the Inconvenient Truth…

Ok, enough of that. Thank goodness the business of eco-movie production is left in the capable hands of more adroit filmmakers. A recent two-year study by the University of California, Los Angeles revealed the entertainment industry is the second largest polluter in the city, next to the petroleum industry. Thankfully, carbon-neutral movie production appears to be a growing trend, with movies like Sweet Land, The Day After Tomorrow, An Inconvenient Truth, Nativity Story and Syriana using carbon offsets to make every stage of the production process greener.

Some in the music industry are going through even more extreme lengths to be green. The Dave Mathews Band, for example, has allegedly offset its CO2 emissions for its entire 15 years of performing, including all tours and television appearances. The band even makes special efforts to ensure fans reduce their own emissions when attending their shows by participating a ride-sharing initiative. It just seems to prove that, as the world’s first zero carbon commercial states, the only limit to our ability make life greener is our own imagination.

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