Addition Engagement activity and information can be obtained from https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/climate-plan-overview.html
Fee On Carbon Pollution
At a time when good policies and credible information are desperately needed - a few premiers and federal party leaders who are asking to ‘Axe-the-Tax’ appear to be ignorantly blind:
to the costs imparted by fossil fuel-produced green house gas emissions – which causes an increase in the intensity of storms, drought, flooding, sea level rise and more
to the costs and health risks of tailpipe emissions containing sooty particulate matter, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, volatile organic compounds (toxic air pollutants like benzene, acetaldehyde and butadiene), nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and in some occasions sulfur dioxide
to the reductions in the cost that transitioning to the world of electric and cleaner energy can provide. For an example, see this months PG EVA email which shows I pay 1.6 cents per km to fuel my EV, while others are paying 14.1 cents per km to fuel their comparable gas or diesel vehicle which gets 30 mpg (9.4 litres per 100 km) fuel efficiency. (Subscribers to the PG EVA will receive this months newsletter in a couple of days).
In addition, these individuals are not offering alternative policies to reduce emissions at the same low cost as carbon pricing.
An open letter from more than 100 economists indicates:
You can read their letter: https://sites.google.com/view/open-letter-carbon-pricing?mkt_tok=MTg4LVZEVS0zNjAAAAGSR7z6GZz_8LBg6jsj1AL5iN9L7lRKaDkUvjKw87wgAfgUa3Zgc18RYNifRsM3D0MY03X-sO8mVXUyZEn4GJDf0eBpwe4jZ53Tjv868-_uPTDT
“The Carbon Tax Lie”, Episode 10 of “The Environment in Canada” Podcast produced by the Sierra Club of Canada,tries to place the carbon tax into context https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yB384SYOveNUCRim2ZnIN (45 minutes).
Remember - the most effective way to ‘Axe-the-Tax’ is to not emit carbon!
FORTIS Gas Taken To Court For Greenwashing
Lawyers from Ecojustice and Slater Vecchio LLP, along with the organization Stand are partnering with two B.C.residents to file a first of its kind lawsuit that will hold FortisBC accountable for greenwashing and force the FORTIS to clean up its act.
https://act.stand.earth/page/65494/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=email-kick&utm_campaign=safe_cities_&utm_content=textlink&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email-ea&ea.url.id=2435606
This article includes a 1 minute video https://globalnews.ca/news/10385305/bc-lawsuit-fortis-greenwashing/?mc_cid=382928cf1f&mc_eid=974f9ac839
Treated Hydro Poles May Be Hard To Obtain In 2 Years
While it is terrific to see that another source of harmful chemical transmission is to be halted, we need to be aware of the potential ramifications.
Health Canada has placed a ban on pentachlorophenol (PENTA), an oil-based chemical pesticide used to protect and preserve some utility poles. The ban is to take effect within 2 years.
Some entities are complaining that Health Canada did not ‘add’ any ‘new’ alternative treatments to take the place of using the oil-based PENTA.
If you are thinking of upgrading the BC Hydro service to your home, you may want to ensure the upgrade is completed within 2 years, or be prepared for an unspecified delay due to potential hydro pole shortages.
Better still, seek out less harmful water-based treated hydro poles before you initiate your upgrade.
As it appears the water-based treatment is not suitable for all tree species, there may end up being a shortfall in the supply of hydro poles, a shortage which may be compounded with the probable upcoming increased demand for hydro poles.
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/shortage-of-wooden-hydro-poles-threatens-reliability-of-grid-say-electricity-producers/ar-BB1kA3gU?mc_cid=382928cf1f&mc_eid=974f9ac839
Another Potential Source Of Lithium
About 40 miles north of the California/Mexico border is a landlocked lake known as the Salton Sea. If new extraction technologies work this site may provide 40% of the worlds demand for lithium.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/04/the-salton-sea-could-produce-the-worlds-greenest-lithium.html?mc_cid=382928cf1f&mc_eid=974f9ac839
The Battery Revolution
The Journal of Nature published an interesting article on February 8, 2024 titled THE ELECTRIC-CAR BATTERY REVOLUTION, by Nicola Jones https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00325-z. Let me know if you would like a full copy of the article. Most of the article discusses possible future technologies.
Following are extracts from the 4 page article:
Car batteries have a stiff list of requirements. They need to pack a lot of energy into as little material and weight as possible so that cars can go farther on a single charge. They need to provide enough power for acceleration, recharge fast, have a long lifespan (the common standard is to withstand 1,000 full recharging cycles, which should last a consumer 10–20 years), work well across wide temperature ranges and be safe and affordable.
Researchers have toyed with replacing lithium with plenty of other charge carriers, including magnesium, calcium, aluminium and zinc, but work on sodium is the most advanced. Sodium lies directly beneath lithium in the periodic table, making its atoms heavier and bigger, but with similar chemical properties. This means a lot of the lessons from lithium battery development and manufacturing can be copied over to sodium. And sodium is much easier to source: it’s about 1,000 times more plentiful in Earth’s crust than is lithium. “Sodium is just unbelievably abundant,” says Ceder, who thinks sodium batteries could end up costing around $50 per kilowatt hour.
Sodium batteries are already in production (see go.nature.com/3tnwdgt). Chinese conglomerate BYD— which in early 2024 replaced Tesla as the world’s largest EV manufacturer —has broken ground on its first sodium-ion battery plant. And Chinese car makers Chery, JMEV and JAC have all announced budget cars powered by sodium-ion batteries in their line-up for China this year. List prices for these small cars are expected to be around $10,000 [$US, plus shipping and import duties].
Pellet Energy In The News
https://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/2024/new-investigation-shows-drax-has-sourced-logs-from-british-columbias-rarest-old-growth-forests-for-its-pellet-mills/
Carbon Based Fuels Cause Mortality
Research published April 2021 in the Elsevier Journal of Environmental Research estimates 10.2 million global excess deaths in 2012 due to PM2.5 from the burning of carbon based fuels (i.e. coal, gas,diesel).
This assessment examines mortality associated with PM2.5 from only fossil fuel combustion, making use of a recent meta-analysis of newer studies with a wider range of exposure. We also estimated mortality due to lower respiratory infections (LRI) among children under the age of five in the Americas and Europe, regions for which we have reliable data on the relative risk of this health outcome from PM2.5 exposure. We used the chemical transport model GEOS-Chem to estimate global exposure levels to fossil-fuel related PM2.5 in 2012.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487
EMC Response To C.D. Howe Analysis Of Canada’s EV Availability Standard
This 19 page response to the C.D. Howe Analysis of Canada’ Electric Vehicle Standard is an informative read https://emc-mec.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/In-response-to-C.D.-Howe-February-2024.pdf
1954 Oil Company Funded Research
