Climate Change, Carbon Taxes, Decarbonization and ENGOs – Page 8

Can a tech billionaire squash Australia’s coal industry by buying it? – by Alice Klein (New Scientist – February 22, 2022)

February 24, 2022

https://www.newscientist.com/

Mike Cannon-Brookes, the third-richest person in Australia, has launched an audacious bid to buy the country’s biggest electricity company – and shut its coal-fired power plants. It is a bold approach to decarbonisation, but can he pull it off?

Australia currently produces the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world from burning coal for power generation. The country’s government is highly attached to fossil fuels. Not long before becoming the current prime minister, Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal to parliament and announced: “This is coal. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared, it won’t hurt you.”

Biden voices support for new U.S. mines, if they don’t repeat past sins – by Ernest Scheyder and Steve Holland (Reuters – February 22, 2022)

February 24, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday touted progress by government and private industry to boost American production of minerals used to make electric vehicles and other renewable energy products, but stressed that new mines must benefit host communities and not damage the environment.

Washington has grown increasingly concerned that low U.S. production of minerals essential for the construction of future technologies could leave it beholden to China and other nations that have heavily invested in mining.

Why nuclear power is the answer to our looming climate crisis – by David Olive (Toronto Star – February 19, 2022)

February 22, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/business/

It is worrisome that by 2050, humanity might still be relying on fossil fuels for about 70 per cent of its energy consumption, down hardly at all from 80 per cent today.

Renewables, including hydropower, solar, wind and biofuels, will account for just 27 per cent of energy consumption by 2050, according to projections by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

OPINION: Jason Kenney’s enthusiasm for coal mining makes little sense on most levels – by Ian Urquhart (Globe and Mail – February 14, 2022)

February 15, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ian Urquhart is executive director of Alberta Wilderness Association and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta.

Albertans have been waiting more than a month for the province’s Coal Policy Committee to release the results of its public consultations, along with recommendations for the future of coal mining in Alberta.

There shouldn’t be any doubt about what the public thinks. The chair of the committee signalled last fall that the public’s message was clear. Albertans, he said, are “strongly opposed” to coal.

The White House wants to transition to a green economy, which is tricky without mines – by Dan Kraker (NPR.org – February 8, 2022)

February 10, 2022

https://www.npr.org/

The Biden administration recently canceled a proposed mine. While environmentalists celebrated, it shows how hard it is to build a domestic supply of the minerals needed to switch to a green economy.

ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:

The transition to a low-carbon future will require a lot of metals like copper, nickel and lithium to build everything from solar panels to electric car batteries. The Biden administration’s recent decision to block a proposed mine in Minnesota shows just how tough it could be to develop a domestic supply for those metals. Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio reports.

Uranium ‘has to be part’ of electrification, says Dev Randhawa – by Henry Lazenby and Amanda Stutt (Northern Miner – January 31, 2022)

February 1, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

The continued industrialization and urbanization of the global economy have thrust energy security back to the fore. According to uranium industry doyen Dev Randhawa, it creates a perfect storm to bring nuclear energy back into its critical role as the baseline power supply in a world increasingly reliant on unreliable renewable power sources such as solar and wind.

“If you simply take the math of how much electricity we need, how fast China and India are growing, and we want to electrify everything we can, it [uranium] has to be part of it,” Randhawa said in an interview.

The West’s clean energy push empowered Russia and China – by Kelly McParland (National Post – January 28, 2022)

February 1, 2022

https://nationalpost.com/

The gospel on climate change has been that, first and foremost, fossil fuels must go. Coal, oil, gas (liquefied or otherwise)… out, out out. Close the oilsands, cancel the pipelines, end the fracking, get rid of the nuclear plants while you’re at it.

The imperative is all about ridding the world of supply, getting us off our existing addictions, whether or not there was an alternative available to take its place.

Canada needs a better strategy to transition to a low-carbon future – by Eric Newell and Perry Kinkaide (Troy Media – January 27, 2022)

January 31, 2022

https://troymedia.com/

Balancing energy, the environment and the economy is critical. Yet current climate policies and plans – including Canada’s – are designed to phase out fossil fuel production entirely as rapidly as possible, largely ignoring the several decades-long transition required to develop reliable alternative energy systems.

To be effective, climate plans need to broaden their focus from primarily just energy sources/mix to including a focus on energy availability/reliability and energy affordability. Otherwise, they will not secure ongoing public, investor and political support.

Demand is suddenly soaring for electric vehicle batteries. Can Canada seize the moment? – by Alex Ballingall (Toronto Star – January 30, 2022)

January 31, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

“It’s still a question mark as to whether these economic opportunities will be realized,” said one expert.

OTTAWA — Business is business, but it’s not Jamie Deith’s dream to sell his precious graphite to China.

The crystalline carbon mineral is among those required for electric vehicle batteries, a 21st-century technology that is sparking what some call a “global arms race” for supplies, refining capacity and manufacturing. But Canada, despite the federal government’s grand vision to get a piece of the action, is still standing on the sidelines of this exploding global industry.

Politics turning against copper mining – Freeport’s Adkerson – by Staff (Mining.com – January 26, 2022)

January 31, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

The copper market has cooled since touching record levels above $10,000 a tonne in May, but longer-term fundamentals for the bellwether metal remain bullish thanks to a global effort to electrify transport and shift to renewable power generation.

While there is consensus on demand growth, the supply side outlook is murky. Some 40% of the world’s copper production is controlled by just two countries – Chile and Peru – and political developments in South America are turning the tide against copper miners, Freeport-McMoRan CEO Rich Adkerson told investors in a conference call on Wednesday.

Europe Forced to Rely on Expensive, Dirty Coal to Keep Lights On – by Todd Gillespie (Bloomberg News – January 25, 2022)

January 26, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Coal will play a vital role in helping to keep the lights on in Europe this winter even as prices are jumping and lawmakers are doing their best to kill off one of the dirtiest power-plant fuels.

Northwest European coal for February rose more than 3% to trade at its highest in three months on Tuesday. The latest example of the fuel’s importance came on Monday as U.K.’s usage peaked at its highest level since March to help plug a gap in supplies early in the evening.

NIMBYism Is Global, And That’s A Problem For The Energy Transition – by David Blackmon (Forbes Magazine – January 23, 2022)

January 25, 2022

https://www.forbes.com/

It’s one of the grand ironies in the whole energy transition narrative: The same class of left-leaning activists who promote wind and solar and electric vehicles (EVs) as the solution also oppose the mining of the lithium and other critical minerals necessary to make them work.

EVs cannot displace internal combustion engine autos without lithium. The EV industry has irrevocably tied itself to lithium-ion technology for its batteries: Without plentiful and affordable supplies of lithium, the industry will fail.

The World’s Massive Need For More Solar Panels Has One Shiny Catch – by Clare Watson (Science Alert – January 21, 2022)

January 21, 2022

https://www.sciencealert.com/

There’s a major catch to the world’s need for solar panels, a new analysis suggests. The booming solar panel market – which is critical for a clean energy future – could demand close to half the world’s aluminum by 2050. Thankfully, there are ways we can mitigate this.

Unlike more precious metals, such as the lithium and cobalt used in rechargeable batteries, the scarcity of aluminum is not the issue; in fact, it is the most abundant metal on Earth. But the production of pure aluminum which is used in solar panel frames comes with a huge energy cost that could translate to bulk emissions.

Germany Quitting Nuclear Doesn’t Doom the Energy Transition – by Akshat Rathi and Will Mathis (Bloomberg News – January 11, 2022)

January 11, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) The last few months have been a rollercoaster for energy markets in Europe. Even before winter began, traders were freaking out that the continent might run out of natural gas before spring. Some even bought the fuel at 10 times the average price in 2020.

In the middle of all that, Germany moved ahead with a plan to shut off nearly 50% of its nuclear power plants, with the rest scheduled to close by the end of 2022.

Rushing headlong into electrification, the West is replacing one energy master with another – by Rick Mills (Ahead of the Herd.com – January 7, 2022)

January 10, 2022

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The United States and its allies, such as Canada, the UK, the European Union, Australia, Japan and South Korea, face a dilemma when it comes to the global electrification of the transportation system and the switch from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy.

On the one hand, we want everything to be clean, green and non-polluting, with COP26-inspired goals of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050; and several countries aiming to close the chapter on fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, including the United States which is seeking to make half of the country’s auto fleet electric by 2030.