New data show Canadian investment in clean technology has cooled off over the past three years, despite myriad programs introduced by Ottawa to boost spending on green infrastructure and shift the country towards a lower carbon economy.
Canadian private sector investment in clean technologies have fallen by half since 2014, dropping to a combined US$9.4 billion over the past three years, compared with US$19.5 billion between 2012-2014, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Investments rose to US$3.3 billion last year, compared to US$2.3 billion, but is less than half of the peak in 2014. Investments in the first two quarters of 2018 appear to be below the fourth-quarter running average, BNEF data shows. […]
“Any time you have a ratcheting down of subsidies, in the immediate aftermath you see a total destruction of the market,” said Amy Grace, head of North American research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
h/t raid
http://www.countylive.ca/mpp-smith-announces-cancellation-of-turbine-project-in-prince-edward-county/
A start at least, this gives an indication that Ford means business with respect to Ont’s Wind scam initiated by McGuinty/Wynne.
This project has been fought relentlessly by Ministry of Environment against strong local opposition. They even tried a last minute approval during the campaign when even Wynne has admitted Liberals were finished.
great day for PEOPLEKIND:-)))
I strenuously object to the terms “clean energy” or “renewable energy” when referring to Solar or Wind energy.
First of all, they are not “clean.” The processes of manufacturing solar cells or wind turbines are very dirty. The Chinese mines for the rare earth metals that power solar cells are ecological disasters. A 2MW windmill requires 334 tons of cement and steel. And the weight to capacity ratio increases exponentially. And they are not “clean” to operate. Both windmills and solar farms kill flying animals as surely as if you spread poison over hundreds of acres. There is compelling evidence that the constant low frequency hum of a windmill causes a lot of health problem in humans. There is no study, AFAIK, how the constant ionization of the air around a solar farm affects the ecology.
Secondly, they are not indefinitely “renewable.” If an oil well contains 20 years of reserve (at the rate of harvest) no one would call it “renewable” for 20 years.
Solar cells do not last forever. Off hand I don’t have the data, but they suffer hysteresis with the constant heating and cooling as surely as any other metal. Also, even in regular use, solar farms require constant maintenance because mostly they are out in the desert, and suffer as anything else from that harsh environment.
Windmills burn up because of stuck gears or whatever regularly. And windmills built 20 years ago are rapidly going out of service, because the nacelle (gear box) wears out, just as a car’s transmission does … and would you believe, they don’t make the same gear boxes anymore (just like they don’t make car parts after 20 years.) Somehow they can’t use new gear boxes, and so the 20 year old windmills just stand idle. That is no different than the derrick of a 20 year old oil well standing idle.
And finally, they are not “green” energy. In fact, there has been a greening of the earth as the CO2 percentage in the atmosphere goes up. It can be seen from aerial views of jungles such as the Amazon, and from the ever increasing crop yields per acre. So in fact “fossil” fuels are literally green as they make the earth more green. At best solar and wind are indifferent.
A term that comes up at Jo Nova is “ephemeral energy”
If an industrial process cannot survive without being subsidized by government, then it should not survive at all. (Are you listening, Bombardier? – 85 government infusions and counting…). I am in private business and my point of view is this: God bless the government and keep it as far away from me as possible.
Ah, Bombardier.
The only Bombardier employee I have any personal connection to is the husband of a childhood friend of my wife’s. By all accounts he’s a pervert with a taste for sadomasochism, who gave his wife a venereal disease after forcing a former lover to get an abortion.
If I heard he styled himself a feminist I wouldn’t be at all surprised.
In any event, my tax dollars are paying the salary this scumbag squanders on motorcycles—the wife pays the bills. I couldn’t invent a better metaphor.
Faster please.
“Total destruction of the market”
Great headline. Trouble is, there never was a “market” to destroy. There was only a big pot of taxpayer money that was put out for the taking. Like leaving an open tin of tuna out for your cat to eat. Once the tin’s empty, the cat goes looking for food elsewhere.
Heh. The background of the capcha picture was a windmill farm.
Why is the wind always blowing? And then I figured it out. . .
Why is the wind always blowing?
In addition to cutting subsidies, governments should require electricity providers to be able to meet a reasonable threshold for dispatchable power and/or capacity factor. This would stop wind and solar from getting a free ride off of conventional baseload and peak power facilities.
Solar and wind have a parasitical relationship with conventional power – w&s are variable and intermittent power sources that would cause blackouts and grid failure without conventional power backup but w&s fatally weaken the profitability of conventionals because of government mandates and subsidies to “green” power. Conventional power, OTOH, meets all electricity needs without w&s (at a cheaper per MW produced cost). W&S should be required to provide the same reliability as conventional power *on their own dime*. Then see how (un)profitable and unaffordable wind and solar really are.
So..if you don’t build it they won’t come?
No, if you don’t subsuduze it, they will not build.
ever since the notion of wind and solar power came into my pervue, I always viewed it as a highly specialized, LIMITED APPLICATION in some isolated spot on the map where some engineering genius community that desired to combine their technical skills/purchasing power/desire fro privacy/whatever and did in fact manage to address their energy needs this way. aka investing huge amounts up front and huge amounts of time maintaining said specialized generators.
the LIEberal notion one could ramp this up to the scale of GIGAwatts and *replace*???????????? existing coal, hydro and nuke capability showed me just how bereft of necessary engineering, financial, etc skill set the LIEberals are.
aka ideology tramples common sense and basic physics again.
wynnedfarm personifies this abject ignorance like none other.
…wynnedfarm personifies this abject ignorance like none other….
No Question..the only ones not so ignorant were the Liberal Insiders who got filthy rich off of Taxpayer FIT Dollars.
We as Canadians must examine WHY it is that Politicians are the “untouchables” when it come to Collosul Fk ups like this…WHY?? Why do they have immunity from prosecution.? McGuintly, Smiterman, Wynne, Notley, Horgan & Lizzy May…every one of these SOB’s should be charged, prosecuted and JAILED….or disposed of. Add Justin to that list as well.
….although in his special case, an ending such as Nicolae Ceaucescu received would be eminently more fitting.
But as per usual, Canadians, bred for complacency, will bend over and take the next sized timber up their collective (_i_)’s
Immoral & Disgusting.
Long overdue for a Western Referendum on saying adios EASTERN Canada….as for BC, let the “BIG One” take em..
I always viewed it as a highly specialized, LIMITED APPLICATION in some isolated spot on the map
In my hometown, they’ve got a ton of parking meters that are powered by solar, use LED screens and have cell radios in them. You can pay for parking with your credit card, and they can turn anywhere into a parking lot because there’s no need for existing electrical or signal cable infrastructure. It’s a great use case.
Do they work in winter when snow falls on them? DO they work at night … after 5 years? Do the batteries work in winter? What temperature and other environmental extremes do they work under?
RIGHT ON!
We have comparatively mild winters in this area and we don’t get much snow; that plus the UHI means it doesn’t stick. They work fine at night; the solar panel charges the internal batteries during the day, and draw on the batteries is trivial for the rest of the electronics. And it’s still cheaper than digging up the pavement and running cable by a long shot.
Another use case that I worked on a few years ago was a 1m cube that used a solar panel to power an air intake/condenser unit to condense water out of the air. Useful for irrigation and cattle watering in areas where it wasn’t possible to run infrastructure. Add a purification unit and they could create potable water in disaster areas. Nice bit of kit.
Don’t let the Green energy scam turn you into a Luddite.
Super. Can you run a city on it, say about 1.5 million at latitude 51 degrees north or more? As for the condenser, how many cows can you service, say in an area where it takes 80 acres to feed a cow w/o irrigation? Does it work in -20 C? Is it cheaper than the newest coal-fired clean coal operation?
What the f*ck is wrong with you people?
The political class discovered free, and unlimited power – the wallet of their subjects. They also found that they could run a scam by re-distributing some of it and counting on the fact that the populace was too stupid to stop them from doing it.
This entire transfer of energy subsidies started when the eco-savior, sea-calmer, Obama was elected. His election meant the generation raised on Captain Planet cartoons – saving the world from evil developers, loggers, and drillers were now in power. This, coupled with an economic depression… and in an instant … my office stopped serving clients plastic bottled water in favor of a pitcher filled with tap water and hand washed (maybe) glasses. It was now chic to be environmentally austere. Of course it was all symbolic, shambolic, nonsense that made no appreciable change in the consumption of resources. But it fellllllllt as though we were ALL calming the seas … and living “lightly” on the planet.
Obama (and other leftist Western leaders) were now unleashed on our entire government. The draconian regulations started piling up, energy policies shifted toward PUNISHING the consumer … costs “necessarily” increased. Cap and Rape. Gas Tax increases. Utility fees higher … for electricity, gas, and water. And then came the subsidies for all things “green”. Rich folks received nearly $10k to help purchase their shiny new “eco” Tesla. And for their new solar panels … $checks from the government. On and on.
And if you want to study how tick populations are crashing due to global warming? You get a BIG $$$ grant. Thankfully … the US Voters grew weary of the eco FRAUD robbing them blind and punishing their businesses. MY President is reversing the eco-cartoons who have capered unmolested for nearly a decade.
It hilarious watching how the CBC does not understand Trumps jab at Germany for their Russian Pipeline Oil/GAS
He is saying “Don’t try to kneecap the USA with your Carbon fraud” while you are protecting yourself with Russia’s energy…
The little German/Canadian children will be so SAD.. Been a communist hypocrite is a bitch!
When Putin & Trump met expect Trump to ask for the Russian File on John Brennan & other A-holes
If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
If it stops moving, subsidize it.
It it never started moving by itself? Subsidize it.
A Liberal (ie my friend) owns it? Subsidize it.
Always about more power, and more control for the central authority.
If it would have never moved at all, in any direction, without a subsidy is called public “investment.”
Of course ridicule, recriminate and ruin anyone who dares to point that out.
Another thing Reagan said: “if fascism comes to America, it will come in the name of liberalism.”
I assume Regan meant the fake, called sunset dawn and pretend it’s getting lighter outside, hopelessly contradictory, actual antithesis, complete denial of the actual – liberalism they call progressivism, which of course is anything but.
It’s all collectivism, or statism if you want to see it’s transition from liberty; or as Hayek called it ” the fatal conceit.”
Fatal for us that is, not the gated apparatchiks fully protected from the revolting peasants.
It took “research” to figure out that an uneconomical activity would stop when no longer subsidized? I am shocked, I tell yer.
I wonder if it would even be possible to increase Canada’s non-emitting electrical production above the current 81% without replacing fossils and unreliables with more hydro and nuclear. I suspect that any increase in unreliables (requiring spinning back-up, IOW, gas) couldn’t add significantly more than their current net 1% contribution without increased costs of orders of magnitude to the grid users while contributing a significantly diminished reduction of CO2. This is where the dominant green theocracy relies on blind faith and ignorance to further the agenda.
Many of you canadians oppose these Bird and Bat maiming wind turbines because their also terribly noisie
…wynnedfarm personifies this abject ignorance like none other….
No Question..the only ones not so ignorant were the Liberal Insiders who got filthy rich off of Taxpayer FIT Dollars.
We as Canadians must examine WHY it is that Politicians are the “untouchables” when it come to Collosul Fk ups like this…WHY?? Why do they have immunity from prosecution.? McGuintly, Smiterman, Wynne, Notley, Horgan & Lizzy May…every one of these SOB’s should be charged, prosecuted and JAILED….or disposed of. Add Justin to that list as well.
….although in his special case, an ending such as Nicolae Ceaucescu received would be eminently more fitting.
But as per usual, Canadians, bred for complacency, will bend over and take the next sized timber up their collective (_i_)’s
Immoral & Disgusting.
Long overdue for a Western Referendum on saying adios EASTERN Canada….as for BC, let the “BIG One” take em..
Since 2009 NP’s Parker Gallant wrote a series of Articles called: “Ontario’s Power Trip”
He was 100% right on every article he wrote and he was the main reason I decided to return to Alberta in 2010 after a 3 yr GROSS waste of time/money in OntarIOWE. (Barrie)
I still to this day, do not understand how so many working poor managed to survive the McGuinty/Wynne reign
Ontario now over 330Billion in the shitter.
Doug has a hard row to hoe…but so far He looks great.
I wish him all the Best #fordnation
Anyway, One could see the writing on the wall. I did and acted – Zero Regrets other than seeing that Stupid Marxist Vulva gaining power in Ab….gone in 2019.