By James Wood, TheStarPhoenix.com
REGINA — The Saskatchewan Party government will move forward with a climate change plan similar to Alberta’s levy on polluters, even as a national cap and trade system appears a near certainty.
The government’s own timeline for its plan — with a centerpiece “technology fund” — is to be released before the end of the legislative session in May.
“We’ll have targets and for those industries and companies that are unable to meet them, they’d pay into the fund and then that money would be turned around. Part of it would go into research and development and the rest would go back to industry to help them actually install or implement the technologies to reduce their emissions,” Environment Minister Nancy Heppner said Thursday.
Read More from WOODS HERE
Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Climate Change. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Scientists say a rock can soak up carbon dioxide
By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rock found mostly in Oman can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists say.
When carbon dioxide comes in contact with the rock, peridotite, the gas is converted into solid minerals such as calcite.
Geologist Peter Kelemen and geochemist Juerg Matter said the naturally occurring process can be supercharged 1 million times to grow underground minerals that can permanently store 2 billion or more of the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by human activity every year
Read More HERE
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rock found mostly in Oman can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists say.
When carbon dioxide comes in contact with the rock, peridotite, the gas is converted into solid minerals such as calcite.
Geologist Peter Kelemen and geochemist Juerg Matter said the naturally occurring process can be supercharged 1 million times to grow underground minerals that can permanently store 2 billion or more of the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by human activity every year
Read More HERE
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Green shift for a warming planet
Securing Saskatchewan's brightest future: The Green Shift levy on carbon pollution would apply at the wholesale level in the marketing process, which effectively spreads the impact broadly among both producers and consumers. It's not left to any one sector or region to carry the load.
But it's in the positioning of Saskatchewan as a brainy, progressive environmental performer that this province really stands to gain.
Ralph Goodale
Green Shift will make us efficient
But it's in the positioning of Saskatchewan as a brainy, progressive environmental performer that this province really stands to gain.
Ralph Goodale
Green Shift will make us efficient
The Wind at His back
‘Europe’s Al Gore’ has already revolutionized the energy grid in Germany. Now, Hermann Scheer is challenging Canada to do the same
From Vancouver Peak Oil Via: CHRIS TURNER
From Vancouver Peak Oil Via: CHRIS TURNER
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Pre-election debate heats up over tax proposal
Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, June 19, 2008
OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's proposal today for a national $10-a-tonne carbon tax sets the stage for a fierce political debate -- possibly the main issue in a federal election campaign -- over how much Canadians are willing to pay to reduce their reliance on fuels that cause climate change.
The Liberal carbon tax would rise $10 annually for four years, topping out at $40 per tonne. Income taxes would be lowered to compensate for higher prices for home-heating fuel, coal-fired electricity and other carbon sources. And a law would be proposed requiring every single penny of carbon-tax revenues be returned to taxpayers.
Gas at the pumps would not be raised, at least in the first year.
Taxpayers will be able to study the detailed plan and how it would affect them at http://www.thegreenshift.ca/ after Dion's anticipated announcement.
Read More From O'Neill HERE
Wall to promote carbon technology
Economic woes dampen G8 climate talks
Pros and cons of carbon tax
Carbon-tax plan may not cut emissions
Dion fouls the West for Grits
A bold attempt to shift us off our carbon addiction
OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's proposal today for a national $10-a-tonne carbon tax sets the stage for a fierce political debate -- possibly the main issue in a federal election campaign -- over how much Canadians are willing to pay to reduce their reliance on fuels that cause climate change.
The Liberal carbon tax would rise $10 annually for four years, topping out at $40 per tonne. Income taxes would be lowered to compensate for higher prices for home-heating fuel, coal-fired electricity and other carbon sources. And a law would be proposed requiring every single penny of carbon-tax revenues be returned to taxpayers.
Gas at the pumps would not be raised, at least in the first year.
Taxpayers will be able to study the detailed plan and how it would affect them at http://www.thegreenshift.ca/ after Dion's anticipated announcement.
Read More From O'Neill HERE
Wall to promote carbon technology
Economic woes dampen G8 climate talks
Pros and cons of carbon tax
Carbon-tax plan may not cut emissions
Dion fouls the West for Grits
A bold attempt to shift us off our carbon addiction
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Charred Earth Examined as Carbon-Storing Option
Jessica Marshall, Discovery NewsMay 1, 2008 -- If only we could put all that climate-damaging carbon somewhere other than in the atmosphere. One idea is to make it into dirt.
According to new analysis, this approach could be a way to make energy and store carbon at the same time.
Plants sequester carbon in their tissues through photosynthesis, but when they die, microorganisms decompose them,
However, when plants burn in forest or brush fires, part of the carbon ends up as charcoal, or biochar, which is resistant to microbial attack and can stay in the soil for hundreds or thousands of years.
Biochar could be a useful long-term
carbon storage option, especially because it can improve the fertility of the soil and enhance crop yields, according to Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Lehmann proposes that plant residue or crops grown for bioenergy could deliberately be turned into biochar as a way to store carbon, while making energy in the process.Biochar is made when it is pyrolyzed: heated with little to no oxygen. It is also possible to burn the resulting biochar for energy, which obviously produces more energy out of a given parcel of plants than putting the biochar back into soil, but it doesn't store any carbon.
Lehmann and colleague John Gaunt calculate that storing biochar produces 30 percent less energy, but avoids two to five times more CO2 emissions than burning biochar for energy.
Read More From Marshall HEREProvince ponders greenhouse gas law
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Food crisis could hit Canada, expert warns
Updated Thu. Apr. 24 2008 8:38 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Mel Fruitman, of the Consumers' Association of Canada, said that while food costs in Canada are currently among the lowest in the world, that will change.
"We are going to continue to be somewhat insulated for the next little while, but then the bubble is going to burst," Fruitman told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
"Competition between the retailers helps us as consumers keep the price of our food basket down, but it also puts increasing pressure on the farms, on farmers, and that can't continue. Somewhere along the way the dam is going to burst."
For Canadians, the rising cost of fuel will have particular impact on the cost of food, particularly when consumers have come to expect a year-round supply of fresh fruits and vegetables in their grocery stores, Fruitman said.
"Anything that is trucked in, flown in, that comes from farther away than our normal hundred kilometres, say, is going to cost that much more to get to us," Fruitman said.
"And of course, the cost of fuel affects the cost of production of that food, it affects the cost of feed for the various animals. So, we are on a rising curve, there's no question about it."
Read more From CTV HERE
World Vision cuts aid for 1.5 million people due to rising food costs
World food crisis puts spotlight on biofuels
Better get ready for $2.25 gas
Appetite and debate growing over biofuels
Mel Fruitman, of the Consumers' Association of Canada, said that while food costs in Canada are currently among the lowest in the world, that will change.
"We are going to continue to be somewhat insulated for the next little while, but then the bubble is going to burst," Fruitman told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
"Competition between the retailers helps us as consumers keep the price of our food basket down, but it also puts increasing pressure on the farms, on farmers, and that can't continue. Somewhere along the way the dam is going to burst."
For Canadians, the rising cost of fuel will have particular impact on the cost of food, particularly when consumers have come to expect a year-round supply of fresh fruits and vegetables in their grocery stores, Fruitman said.
"Anything that is trucked in, flown in, that comes from farther away than our normal hundred kilometres, say, is going to cost that much more to get to us," Fruitman said.
"And of course, the cost of fuel affects the cost of production of that food, it affects the cost of feed for the various animals. So, we are on a rising curve, there's no question about it."
Read more From CTV HERE
World Vision cuts aid for 1.5 million people due to rising food costs
World food crisis puts spotlight on biofuels
Better get ready for $2.25 gas
Appetite and debate growing over biofuels
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Deep Water: The Rising Seas
When it comes to global warming, are we getting in too deep? Here’s a look at the top 10 U.S. cities at risk from rising sea levels.
By Shiwani Srivastava for MSN City Guides
Global warming might be the current hot topic in the news, but the threat of rising sea levels can often seem distant, uncontrollable and even abstract. Just how soon can we expect to feel the impact? And is there really anything we can do about it?In December, the OECD – a Paris-based international organization that gathers and analyzes economic statistics and social data to benefit the global economy – released a report listing the cities worldwide that are most threatened by rising seas in the next 60 years, measured by population and property assets at risk. U.S. cities ranked surprisingly high on the list, capturing five of the top 10 spots, with all but one of the top 10 U.S. cities ranking in the top 30 worldwide.
See a slide show of U.S. cities most at risk
Read More from Shiwani Srivastava
Report: Climate change will threaten beer production
By Caroline McCarthy, CNET news.com
We all know already that climate change will affect everything from food prices to cute baby polar bears.But now it's really hitting home, folks. A report from a researcher at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand suggests that rising temperatures may threaten beer.An Associated Press report details the findings from climate scientist Jim Salinger, who presented his research at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling's annual convention in Wellington, New Zealand. The grim results? Climate change may affect the production of malting barley, an ingredient crucial to the tasty beers we all know and love.If we aren't careful, the regions in Australia and New Zealand in which malting barley can grow could experience some tragic shrinkage. Salinger's study didn't extend beyond those two countries, but he did warn that "similar effects could be expected" across the globe."It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up," the Associated Press article quoted Salinger as saying.One word: Noooooooooooo!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Plan makes B.C. a climate-change leader
'We're not just going to be talking about climate action. We are acting' - province sets carbon tax, takes aim at cutting emissions
MARK HUME
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Finance Minister Carole Taylor said the budget - which has a new, sweeping carbon tax as its centrepiece - is a historic turning point for the province, although critics pointed out it also contains incentives for oil and gas development and funding for new highways.
"It has been a dramatic turn, I think, for this province with this budget to say we're not just going to be talking about climate action. We are acting. We are putting in place the financial foundation that will make it possible," Ms. Taylor said in a budget briefing session as she focused on the carbon-tax initiative.
Read more HERE
MARK HUME
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Finance Minister Carole Taylor said the budget - which has a new, sweeping carbon tax as its centrepiece - is a historic turning point for the province, although critics pointed out it also contains incentives for oil and gas development and funding for new highways.
"It has been a dramatic turn, I think, for this province with this budget to say we're not just going to be talking about climate action. We are acting. We are putting in place the financial foundation that will make it possible," Ms. Taylor said in a budget briefing session as she focused on the carbon-tax initiative.
Read more HERE
Carbon tax focus of British Columbia budget
Campbell government introduces carrot-and-stock enviro-document in effort to curb greenhouse gases
JUSTINE HUNTER - February 20, 2008
VICTORIA -- The B.C. government introduced North America's first full-fledged carbon tax yesterday, an attempt to engineer a social movement aimed at getting British Columbians to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions.
The new tax will be tempered with matching income-tax cuts plus what is likely the province's largest-ever dividend to taxpayers.
Read the Full Story HERE
JUSTINE HUNTER - February 20, 2008
VICTORIA -- The B.C. government introduced North America's first full-fledged carbon tax yesterday, an attempt to engineer a social movement aimed at getting British Columbians to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions.
The new tax will be tempered with matching income-tax cuts plus what is likely the province's largest-ever dividend to taxpayers.
Read the Full Story HERE
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wall looks again at advantages
James Wood, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, February 14, 2008
For Wall, the biggest selling point of clean coal is its promise of making a big dent in Saskatchewan's greenhouse gas emissions -- the highest per capita in Canada -- and allowing his government to hit the emission targets it adopted from the previous NDP administration, which include a 32-per-cent reduction by 2020.
SaskPower is instead looking at pilot projects where one or more of the four types of clean-coal technology would be used in a retrofit of one of its existing coal-burning plants
Read the full story HERE
For Wall, the biggest selling point of clean coal is its promise of making a big dent in Saskatchewan's greenhouse gas emissions -- the highest per capita in Canada -- and allowing his government to hit the emission targets it adopted from the previous NDP administration, which include a 32-per-cent reduction by 2020.
SaskPower is instead looking at pilot projects where one or more of the four types of clean-coal technology would be used in a retrofit of one of its existing coal-burning plants
Read the full story HERE
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Enbridge leads push to trap, store carbon dioxide emissions in Alta.
Jon Harding, Canwest News ServicePublished: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
CALGARY -- Enbridge Inc., the country's largest pipeliner of oilsands crude, is leading a group of 19 energy companies in hopes of accelerating the development of a system to transport and store Alberta's carbon dioxide emissions.
The group, called the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP), first plans to identify suitable locations in Alberta for long-term storage of CO2 in deep saline aquifers.
Read more HERE
CALGARY -- Enbridge Inc., the country's largest pipeliner of oilsands crude, is leading a group of 19 energy companies in hopes of accelerating the development of a system to transport and store Alberta's carbon dioxide emissions.
The group, called the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP), first plans to identify suitable locations in Alberta for long-term storage of CO2 in deep saline aquifers.
Read more HERE
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Proposed rules would exempt some facilities
Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServicePublished: Saturday, January 26, 2008
OTTAWA -- The Harper government is proposing to exempt up to 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution from Canada's upstream oil and gas companies in its regulatory plan to fight global warming, Canwest News Service has learned.
Read more HERE
OTTAWA -- The Harper government is proposing to exempt up to 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution from Canada's upstream oil and gas companies in its regulatory plan to fight global warming, Canwest News Service has learned.
Read more HERE
Sunday, January 27, 2008
A warmer Arctic? Blame Mother Nature
For every article written about global warming there is an equal amount written against it. there is no doubt there is a human element to it, but at what level?
Lorne Gunter, National Post Published: Monday, January 07, 2008
Read that again and keep in mind the "the region" being referred to is the Arctic. The plain meaning is that the warming in the Arctic is not only -- or even mostly -- man-made. It is not the result of carbon emissions, no matter how often we have been warned that this past summer's melt was unprecedented and a foreboding harbinger of a coming global meltdown.
Click HERE to read more.
Lorne Gunter, National Post Published: Monday, January 07, 2008
Read that again and keep in mind the "the region" being referred to is the Arctic. The plain meaning is that the warming in the Arctic is not only -- or even mostly -- man-made. It is not the result of carbon emissions, no matter how often we have been warned that this past summer's melt was unprecedented and a foreboding harbinger of a coming global meltdown.
Click HERE to read more.
The short life of carbon taxes
Terence Corcoran, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Round Table, a federal outfit headed by former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray and a collection of green appointees, wants a carbon tax -- or, sorry, a carbon "price" -- that would promote carbon emissions reductions of up to 70% by 2050. The preferred phrasing is that the government can only achieve these dramatic reductions "by putting a price on carbon emissions throughout the entire Canadian economy, beginning as soon as possible."
Full story can be found HERE
The Round Table, a federal outfit headed by former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray and a collection of green appointees, wants a carbon tax -- or, sorry, a carbon "price" -- that would promote carbon emissions reductions of up to 70% by 2050. The preferred phrasing is that the government can only achieve these dramatic reductions "by putting a price on carbon emissions throughout the entire Canadian economy, beginning as soon as possible."
Full story can be found HERE
Gov't promises to take action on greenhouse gas
Angela Hall, The Leader-PostPublished: Thursday, January 17, 2008
Saskatchewan Party Environment Minister Nancy Heppner says the government is committed to "strenuous" greenhouse gas emission reduction targets introduced by the previous government.
Read More HERE
Saskatchewan Party Environment Minister Nancy Heppner says the government is committed to "strenuous" greenhouse gas emission reduction targets introduced by the previous government.
Read More HERE
Wall wants more gov't spending
Green technology:
James Wood, Canwest News ServicePublished: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said he will call for greater government investment in new technology to deal with greenhouse gas emissions as he meets with his counterparts in a meeting on climate change adaptation next week in Victoria.
That means money for areas such as "clean-coal" technology, carbon sequestration and nuclear energy, he said in an interview this week.
Read more HERE
James Wood, Canwest News ServicePublished: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said he will call for greater government investment in new technology to deal with greenhouse gas emissions as he meets with his counterparts in a meeting on climate change adaptation next week in Victoria.
That means money for areas such as "clean-coal" technology, carbon sequestration and nuclear energy, he said in an interview this week.
Read more HERE
Monday, January 14, 2008
Climate: sky is not falling
Leader-PostPublished: Friday, January 11, 2008
Re: Don Mitchell's Jan. 3 letter, entitled "Harper, Bush are to blame".
It sounds to me like the writer has totally bought into the "climate-change religion" and believes global warming is a result of man-made actions of the last few years -- and that the NDP now has the solution to affect "world wide weather". Really? Al Gore's supporters seem to have convinced a lot of people that this is true.
It is amazing the fervent dedication and zeal many show in defending this "the-sky-is-falling-and-we-need-to- prevent-doom-by-drastic-measures-right-now" philosophy.
Will our children and grandchildren ever forgive us for taking foolhardy action that would almost certainly bring our economy to a standstill, making things tough in their lives and jobs, etc.? One need only look back a bit in time to understand better the foolishness of the global debate.
In about 1975, there was similar talk: at that time, about the 30 years of global cooling and the possibility of an ice age.
Now 30 years of slight warming is unusual and alarming? And is it suddenly man-made? The fact is that world temperatures fluctuate. Look at a 120-year chart comparing solar activity and temperatures and you will see solar activity and temps perfectly correlated.
Solar activity up, temperatures up. Solar activity down, temperatures down.
A chart for the same 120-year period comparing CO2 release and temperatures shows no such correlation whatsoever, especially no unusual CO2 increase in the warming years to 1938 or no decrease in CO2 in the cooling years to 1975.
There has been a higher increase of CO2 in the last 40 years, but temperatures have not even gone up to the highs of 1938.
This pretty well tells the whole fairy-tale of man-made CO2 and the effects on global warming.
I think a lot of people agree we are lucky to have leaders like Stephen Harper and George Bush, who can slow down the insanity of foolish, drastic action until the real truth is understood by all.
Wally Schellenberg Regina
Re: Don Mitchell's Jan. 3 letter, entitled "Harper, Bush are to blame".
It sounds to me like the writer has totally bought into the "climate-change religion" and believes global warming is a result of man-made actions of the last few years -- and that the NDP now has the solution to affect "world wide weather". Really? Al Gore's supporters seem to have convinced a lot of people that this is true.
It is amazing the fervent dedication and zeal many show in defending this "the-sky-is-falling-and-we-need-to- prevent-doom-by-drastic-measures-right-now" philosophy.
Will our children and grandchildren ever forgive us for taking foolhardy action that would almost certainly bring our economy to a standstill, making things tough in their lives and jobs, etc.? One need only look back a bit in time to understand better the foolishness of the global debate.
In about 1975, there was similar talk: at that time, about the 30 years of global cooling and the possibility of an ice age.
Now 30 years of slight warming is unusual and alarming? And is it suddenly man-made? The fact is that world temperatures fluctuate. Look at a 120-year chart comparing solar activity and temperatures and you will see solar activity and temps perfectly correlated.
Solar activity up, temperatures up. Solar activity down, temperatures down.
A chart for the same 120-year period comparing CO2 release and temperatures shows no such correlation whatsoever, especially no unusual CO2 increase in the warming years to 1938 or no decrease in CO2 in the cooling years to 1975.
There has been a higher increase of CO2 in the last 40 years, but temperatures have not even gone up to the highs of 1938.
This pretty well tells the whole fairy-tale of man-made CO2 and the effects on global warming.
I think a lot of people agree we are lucky to have leaders like Stephen Harper and George Bush, who can slow down the insanity of foolish, drastic action until the real truth is understood by all.
Wally Schellenberg Regina
Scientists wary sprinkling iron into sea blunts carbon buildup
Margaret Munro , CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, January 11, 2008
Several commercial ventures are promoting ocean enrichment as a fix for global warming. One is Planktos Corp., backed by Skalbania, which bills itself as a "for-profit ecorestoration company based in San Francisco with offices in the European Union and British Columbia."
To find out more on this topic click HERE
Published: Friday, January 11, 2008
Several commercial ventures are promoting ocean enrichment as a fix for global warming. One is Planktos Corp., backed by Skalbania, which bills itself as a "for-profit ecorestoration company based in San Francisco with offices in the European Union and British Columbia."
To find out more on this topic click HERE
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