I’ve not written for awhile. Writing good blogs is hard! Hats off to the dedicated blog writers who keep up with the evolving situations of their subject matter. When it comes to energy and the environment (and the economics and the politics) this is a seriously challenging topic to write about to begin with. Never…

The life-saving, community-building potential of resilience-based renewable energy development has so far remained in the shadows. With the accelerating nature of catastrophic change taking place on a global scale, the time for putting this strategy front and center for maximum survival benefits is now. Many excellent models exist around the World today. First Nations, for…

Hey Alberta; Its time to wind-down the global oil & gas industry. Or certainly make it drastically more lean, innovative and productive (ie finished fuels, products, biofuels, geothermal), that are higher value and also help guarantee Canadian supplies. Yes, in and from Alberta, where else. Keystone XL will be built, and the North American supply…

The results of Alberta’s renewable energy tenders and climate action program of the past four years, combined with a deregulated electricity market, continue to drive forward the province’s renewable energy build-out.  Though support for solar energy at the residential level has waned, the new government’s updated carbon pricing policy (TIER), maintains a $30/tonne level of…

As we hurtle towards a global climate catastrophe, the importance of renewable energy and resource resilience for society becomes dramatically more important. One of the most critical emerging growth areas of the sector appears to be in community-led energy systems.  Renewable energy installations co-located with villages, towns, or cities provide a hefty double benefit; along…

The singular driver behind the market rise of operationally emission-free renewable energy is the profoundly distressing existential threat posed by climate change (driven by human carbon dioxide and the carbon cycle). It puts an extraordinary onus on those of us who have been active in the renewable energy industries for a while now, and how…

Look to your home-fires. Following climate change and renewable energy for the past 14 years, seeing the steadily increasing real-world impacts, technological progress, and, ever so slowly, public concern and engagement, punctuated by brain-numbing climate conference wrangling…it feels like we may be at the edge of a major shift in focus. A return to the…

Since last writing my observations in June of this year, a lot has happened in the North American climate and renewables space, much of it not good. On the positive side; Corporate renewable energy procurement in the US is way, way up. Battery energy storage continues to make strides and market traction. Sales of EVs…

  Over the past 15 years, as utilities, companies, and consumers have answered the call to transition to non-emitting forms of energy, costs for implementation have fallen dramatically, especially for wind and solar energy. This is a profoundly positive development.  Concurrently, the PPA (power purchase agreement) rates that underpin the financing and construction of many…

One of the images I’ve held in my mind over the past 12 years of taking an interest in renewables is the big shiny solar farm, with a half-dozen or so full-scale wind turbines standing like sentinels on the north side of the facility. This application has been experimented with for years, primarily in industrial…