Cold Air from Wordpress

I started receiving messages last night on a sorta report by Environmental Defence (ED), and as I am still receiving them, I thought I'd write some thoughts - if only to simply copy a link when again asked for my thoughts. Here is how ED's Keith Brooks begins a blog post on their latest "work": Electricity prices in Ontario have risen in recent years, putting the squeeze on some Ontario residents and businesses. There are many reasons for the increase in electricity prices and renewable energy is one of them.  However, the role of renewables in diving up electricity bills has been vastly exaggerated. I wrote on a poor 2014 ED work and noted their new backgrounder contains a graphic  with the same information as Figure 1 of their 2014 work . Without acknowledging any level of competency in the compilation of data for either ED graphic, here's the elements of residential electricity bills as they report them for 2016 and 2014: Perhaps the "role of renewables...

If you follow my work you already knew of natural gas-fired power plants having their contracts essentially bought out. Antonella Artuso has provided the opportunity to read the story presented with the skill of a professional journalist - and she uncovered an estimate on the savings provided: "Atlantic Power Corp. has announced it is idling plants in North Bay, Kapuskasing and Nipigon but will be paid until the end of its contract on Dec. 31, 2017, while Northland Power’s Iroquois Falls facility says it will produce less power until April. TransAlta Corp. has stated that its new contract provides a fixed monthly payment until Dec. 31, 2018, with “no delivery obligations.”... The IESO will not provide information on how much the NUGs are paid, but told the Toronto Sun that the replacement NUG contracts will generate “ratepaye r savings of up to $53 million over the next two years. ” Included in my post on the same topic; Should numbers be disclosed, the value of the IESO's emp...

Great post from Parker Gallant

Judith Curry discusses 3 thought provoking articles - all worth a full read. "The truly astonishing thing about all this is how little climate heretics – such as myself, Roger Pielke, and Matt Ridley – actually diverge from the consensus science position: RP Jr. hews strictly to the IPCC consensus; Matt Ridley is on the lukewarm side of the IPCC consensus, and I have stated that the uncertainties are too large to justify high confidence in the consensus statements. RP Jr and Matt Ridley provide appalling examples of the personal and arguably unethical attacks from other scientists, journalists, elected politicians and others with government appointments. Scott Adams provides some genuine (and as always, humorous) insights into the psychology behind the dynamics of the climate debate. As to the question: to be or not to be a climate heretic? I’m planning a climate heretic blog post shortly after the first of the year. After seeing RP Jr’s title, perhaps I will title it ‘Happy Heret...

I'm often asked about claims from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, and I usually don't prioritize acknowledging them publicly. Privately I have, and because the topic continues to come up, I thought I'll post based on a quick e-mail I produced regarding this OCAA graphic - which is from a more comprehensive document where they reference the sources of most of the figures:

The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) has issued a decision today on guidelines for funding the expansion of natural gas delivery.  The ruling is extraordinary in adherence to sound regulatory principles - at least in light of the willful plundering that's been allowed to fall on electricity consumers for years, and which I noted was continuing just two days ago. Contrast the government's spend/contract first, do the math never, electricity experience with: This proceeding is a generic hearing convened by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to establish a framework within which natural gas service could be expanded to communities in the province of Ontario that are not currently served. ... Despite the benefits of natural gas, there are still areas of the province that are not being served. In most cases, these are rural and/or remote communities where there are challenges to building out natural gas infrastructure (primarily pipelines) in an economic way. Although the costs of building ...

I really don't mean this to sound ugly - but it is about race-based political policy, so I won't waste too much time prettying it up either. Brian Hill has produced another report on the Global News site:  Ontario hydro customers could pay $650 million to connect remote First Nations communities : Despite recent promises from the federal government of more than $185 billion in infrastructure spending over the next decade, Ontario electricity customers could soon be on the hook for up to $650 million toward the cost of connecting 16 remote First Nations communities to the province’s electricity grid. I've written on this transmission line, and want to recap here, hopefully as an addendum to Hill's work, and to demonstrate how stupidly Ontario's novice Minister of Energy, Glenn Thibeault, proceeded with this project. A timeline, for context: [caption id="attachment_4240" align="alignright" width="296"] image from National Post [/caption]...