[Newsbot]

Title: No coal: Solar, wind, gas dominate new US generating capacity in 2016 | Ars Technica
Category: Environmental
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2016-03-02 05:10:33

[DrCaleb]

Related: How Canada could transition to 100% renewables.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/clean-dis ... -1.3470590

[andyt]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Related: How Canada could transition to 100% renewables.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/clean-dis ... -1.3470590

Not exactly a rosy picture for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Might be able to produce their own power with wind and solar, but you can't ship it to China. Again an article like this puts the sense of pipes to tidewater in doubt.

[BartSimpson]

Sooner or later the lawsuits against the giant bird-killing windmills will win and those eyesores will be hauled down.

http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/n ... ought.html

[BeaverFever]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Sooner or later the lawsuits against the giant bird-killing windmills will win and those eyesores will be hauled down.

http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/n ... ought.html

Yeah, because fossil fuels are more environmentally friendly and attract fewer lawsuits /sarcasm

[BartSimpson]

Fossil fuels aren't killing tens of thousands of endangered raptors every year.

[BeaverFever]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Fossil fuels aren't killing tens of thousands of endangered raptors every year.

I guess you've never heard of Exxon Valdez, the BP Gulf oil spill, Porter Ranch gas leak, etc, etc. And that's just the more famous disasters off the top of my head. Spills and leaks, large and small happen all the time and kill a lot more than just birds.

Also, smog from fossil fuels kills birds too.

[BartSimpson]

You should stand on your principles and boycott fossil fuels. That'll show 'em!

[Thanos]

andyt andyt:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Related: How Canada could transition to 100% renewables.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/clean-dis ... -1.3470590

Not exactly a rosy picture for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Might be able to produce their own power with wind and solar, but you can't ship it to China. Again an article like this puts the sense of pipes to tidewater in doubt.

Gas will rebound massively as coal declines and AB/SK historically made as much, or more, money off of gas as we did off of oil. The collapse in oil turned out to be a double-whammy because the gas market collapsed a decade ago as US shale gas came online. Eliminate coal altogether though, which should happen anyway because coal is filthier than oil sands + oil shale x a thousand, and the most logical replacement is gas. This is one of the reasons I haven't complained about the Alberta NDP as much as others have. They want to replace all of AB's coal-generated electricity with gas-fired. The jobs from this kind of construction, for the new plants and pipelines alike, will be huge and long-term.

[peck420]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Related: How Canada could transition to 100% renewables.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/clean-dis ... -1.3470590

Those clowns at Stanford should be ashamed of themselves.

Canada has immense geothermal potential. Far greater than our wind, hydro, and solar potential...even more so when you factor in land usage.

Allotting an abysmal 2% to geothermal is laughable. That should be our largest single source in any green-centric energy plan.

Same with wave (tidal generation). We have the largest coast line in the world. Tidal generation, specifically for the coasts and the north, should be source #2 on any green-centric plan.

[BeaverFever]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

You should stand on your principles and boycott fossil fuels. That'll show 'em!

The world should phase out fossil fuels wherever and whenever possible. That will show them.

[BartSimpson]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

You should stand on your principles and boycott fossil fuels. That'll show 'em!

The world should phase out fossil fuels wherever and whenever possible. That will show them.

And what if they don't want to? What then?

[andyt]

Thanos Thanos:

Gas will rebound massively as coal declines and AB/SK historically made as much, or more, money off of gas as we did off of oil. The collapse in oil turned out to be a double-whammy because the gas market collapsed a decade ago as US shale gas came online. Eliminate coal altogether though, which should happen anyway because coal is filthier than oil sands + oil shale x a thousand, and the most logical replacement is gas. This is one of the reasons I haven't complained about the Alberta NDP as much as others have. They want to replace all of AB's coal-generated electricity with gas-fired. The jobs from this kind of construction, for the new plants and pipelines alike, will be huge and long-term.

There's a pretty good argument being made to got with natural gas generation in BC as well. Much cheaper to construct than a dam, you can site the generation closer to where it's needed and build smaller plants that can come on stream as needed, not a big whack at once. The big thing is you won't destroy farmland the way site C would. Not as green, of course.

[DrCaleb]

peck420 peck420:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Related: How Canada could transition to 100% renewables.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/clean-dis ... -1.3470590

Those clowns at Stanford should be ashamed of themselves.

Canada has immense geothermal potential. Far greater than our wind, hydro, and solar potential...even more so when you factor in land usage.

Allotting an abysmal 2% to geothermal is laughable. That should be our largest single source in any green-centric energy plan.

Same with wave (tidal generation). We have the largest coast line in the world. Tidal generation, specifically for the coasts and the north, should be source #2 on any green-centric plan.

Geothermal is difficult with today's technology. It would be cheaper to put up wind instead.

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

And what if they don't want to? What then?

I think that the world will just leave them behind. Fully electric cars are becoming more and more mainstream. I even considered buying a BMW i3 as my next car, but it seems being half the price of a Tesla also means it's half as useful.

[BeaverFever]

$1:

And what if they don't want to? What then?

Eventually alternatives will be more attractive and the people who want to stay with fossil fuels will become like the people who wanted to stay with horse and buggies. It's not going to happen all at once, but slowly one-by-one, different fossil-fuel powered technologies in different industries will just gradually become obsolete as better technologies become available.