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Air Water Land - Energy Evolution —September 12, 2005
The president of company based in Elmira, Ontario, that is installing about
1,000 residential geothermal heating and cooling systems a year, as well as
several large commercial systems, says the political and economic power of the
fossil fuel industry is standing in the way of wider use of geothermal
energy.
North America -- and, by extension, the rest of the world -- could
dramatically reduce its oil consumption by using composites and other
lightweight materials for passenger cars, heavy trucks and airplanes,
substituting biofuels for oil, and by the U.S. military leading the way in
energy efficiency, says a Colorado-based research institute.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (NLH) has been restructured specifically to
pursue new business opportunities in several areas, such as hydro developments
and investments in alternative energy as well as oil and gas.
J.D. Irving Limited has progressed to the next stage in an environmental
assessment process for a biomass-fired generating facility, while its Irving Oil
Limited division has gained air quality operating approval for its refinery in
New Brunswick.
An innovative and award-winning program in Edmonton that has had
participation from 70,000 people, and that has reduced energy use and greenhouse
gas emissions significantly, may die later this year if it can’t attract
new funding.
Auto industry observers say Canadian and American consumers probably
won’t rush to the showrooms of companies selling fuel-efficient vehicles
like hybrid cars or the pint-sized Smart Car, despite much higher gasoline
prices in the wake of the Katrina hurricane disaster.
Alberta, Canada’s fastest-growing province, is succeeding spectacularly
in terms of sheer economic growth but is failing its residents in terms of a set
of environmental and social indices, according to a Calgary-based environmental
organization.
A well-known Alberta political scientist and newspaper columnist, who is also
director of the Alberta arm of the right wing think-tank the Fraser Institute,
says LFE regulations announced this summer by the federal government are
"nothing more than a disguised carbon tax" that could fuel Alberta
separatism.
A Canadian weather expert says there’s no conclusive evidence to
support claims by some scientists that global warming is a major cause of
increasing incidences of devastating hurricanes, like that of Katrina, which
slammed into Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in late August.
It is expected that the extent of Hurricane Katrina’s affect on world
energy markets will linger for weeks and months, with prices for crude oil,
natural gas and refined produces spiking at the whim of those spooked by supply
and distribution concerns.
A senior economist with a Boston-based money management firm says higher
gasoline prices in the U.S. and Canada will hit the poor hardest, but if they
continue at high levels for a long period upper-income groups will also be
affected, yet it probably won’t cause a recession.
As Crown-owned and regulated utilities in other jurisdictions prepare for and
are enduring struggles at hearings to boost power rates, Manitoba Hydro-Electric
Board continues to tout its position as a low-cost electricity provider -- to
the point of withdrawing an already-approved increase.
Greenpeace, along with other Quebec groups, is calling for Premier Jean
Charest to permanently shut down the Gentilly-2 nuclear generating facility in
2010 and order an environmental assessment
The Alberta Balancing Pool’s mid-year report shows the operation
responsible for managing power generating station usage in the province is
headed toward an expected deficit.
The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) expects resources will
be adequate to meet demand over the next five years as long as system expansions
and dependability rules are followed.
With the expansion of mined and in-situ bitumen and East Coast offshore
production, Canadian crude output is expected to climb to 2.9 million bbls a day
by the end of 2006, says a new National Energy Board (NEB) study.
Natural gas production in the United States Rockies could grow by about 2.5
bcf a day to 16 bcf per day in 2012 -- roughly equal to current output from
Western Canada, Ziff Energy Group predicts.
It appears as though Powerex Corp. -- the energy market trading arm for BC
Hydro and Power Authority -- has finally shed the legal issues launched by the
California government over the 2000-2001 energy crisis.
Faced with increasing demand, Hydro-Quebec has filed to Regie de
l’energie seeking a three per cent rate adjustment and issued a call for
tenders (CFT) to meet short-term electricity needs between October this year and
December 2006.
A one-day stakeholder meeting on Sept. 19 is the next stage in the Natural
Gas Electricity Interface Review (NGEIR) process for the Ontario Energy Board
(OEB).
The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) is moving quickly to
transition to become the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) envisioned by
the United States government’s Energy Policy Act of 2005.
For the third straight month, exports of crude oil and equivalent
hydrocarbons took a smaller share of Canadian production, with June's
shipments out of the country using just 63.5% of the supply compared to 69.2% in
2004.
Sales declined for five of seven major refined product groups in July as the
overall total slipped by 2.2% compared to 2004, Statistics Canada reports.
World crude oil prices forced an increase in rates for all fuel products in
Nunavut, effective Sept. 1.
Terasen Inc. reports a filing has been made to the British Columbia Utilities
Commission (BCUC) for approval to increase rates charged for natural gas in many
sectors of the province in response to escalating market prices.
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