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The new climate gameby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, April 10, 2010 Climate scientists play a good game of whack-a-mole. Read the full story. ...
Arctic ice at high pointby Lawrence Solomon, Energy Probe, April 6, 2010 The Arctic ocean has more ice today that it did last year at this time, more than it had the previous year at this time or the year before that or the year before that. More ice, in fact that at any time since the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, using a sensor launched on a NASA satellite in mid 2002, began tracking the extent of Arctic ice. Read the full story. ...
New CAFE standards are a potential cash cow for the US Treasuryby Aldyen Donnelly, April 5, 2010 US regulators appear to be planning/budgeting for a high level of non-compliance with the proposed new CAFE standard. This planned non-compliance will generate significant new tax revenues for the US Treasury. Canadian manufacturers will take a hit, as they'll account for more than 15% of the new US Treasury revenues from fines. Read the full story. ...
How U.S. policy affects other countries' tax ratesby Jonas Elmerraji, SFgate.com, April 7, 2010 According to Probe International, an independent advocacy group, foreign aid provides financially unsound countries with a crutch -- and gives little incentive for reform as long as free money is flowing in from other parts of the world. But thanks to politicking from U.S. leaders who are eager to cut back on payouts to foreign nations, as well as the unpopularity of aid in general in Pakistan, the chances of an improved tax situation look very real.
Read our new column, Gangrene EconomyWithering In The Spanish Sun For the past two years Spanish solar companies working in once-gritty city of Puertollano were soaking up the rays of government subsidies -- creating what one paper called a 21st century gold rush. But just as quickly as the rush began, the sun set on the subsidies, leaving the city dotted with low-quality, poorly designed solar plants. Now it's the time of reckoning. Read the full story. ...
France to hold official debate on climate changeby Lawrence Solomon, April 03, 2010 At the suggestion of France's science minister, Valérie Pécresse, France's National Academy of Sciences will hold an official debate on climate change to try to defuse this newly explosive issue. Read the full story. ...
A closer look at California's vehicle emission standardsby Aldyen Donnelly, March 30, 2010 If/when we normalize the per capita road fuel trends to reflect differences in GDP trends and urbanization or population density rates, there is no evidence that California's regulated tailpipe emission standards have outperformed the US federal standard. Read the full story. ...
Don't bet on the Bloom Boxby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, March 28, 2010 If governments didn't so distort the energy marketplace, most of the variables that potential Bloom Box consumers and investors would need to consider would disappear, making the risks involved in a Bloom Energy IPO much more knowable. Without the distortions, in fact, the Bloom Box could already be economic in niche settings, such as in some remote regions, in some military applications, and as a backup to the grid in settings where space (but not money) is an issue. Read the full story. ...
Playing with fire: the price tag for not complying with Kyotoby Aldyen Donnelly, March 25, 2010 Friends of the Earth wants Canada to be legally bound to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. But doing so would come at a cost. How much? At least $50-billion, with much of this money going to companies in the developing world that are being subsidised to produce a chemical so environmentally-damaging that it is illegal to produce in Canada. Read the full story. ...
Help Haiti build a real governmentby Patricia Adams, The Mark, February 22, 2010 Aid makes governments unaccountable to their own people — with devastating results.
The great carbon conby Brady Yauch, Probe International, February 23, 2010 Optimists say the carbon market could one day be worth as much as $2-3-trillion dollars if countries like the United States implement a legally-binding cap-and-trade system. But those numbers may be wildly optimistic in the wake of the scandals involving scientists and research centres supporting climate change and the recent political back-tracking on implementing cap-and-trade schemes. More realistically, the carbon market is struggling just to stay relevant.
Carbon markets deflating in the wake of Copenhagenby Brady Yauch, Probe International, February 22, 2010 After political leaders failed at December's climate summit in Copenhagen to agree to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the price of carbon has been slowly deflating. Many investors are now wary of pouring more money into a scheme that depends on political will, rather than economic fundamentals.
Faith in fissionby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, February 20, 2010 Environmentalism is the religion of the left, but many on the right blindly follow a misguided dogma of their own: nuclear power.
A dying initiativeby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, February 22, 2010 The Western Climate Initiative's cap and trade market may soon need to be renamed The Canada Climate Initiative.
Is there absolute truth about anything?by Ross Andrews, The Tillsonburg News, February 17, 2010 Beneath the climate change hysteria are voices urging careful examination of the arguments behind the rush to so-called green energy. Laurie Goldstein is one of these voices. Lawrence Solomon is another. Their columns are attacked by writers of letters to the editor who ignore their messages and spout the original alarms, even after the scientists have been caught cooking the books.
The oil sands should be shut down, right? Part IIby Aldyen Donnelly, February 22, 2010 More on the debate surrounding gasoline produced from Alberta's oil sands.
Who am I?by Lawrence Solomon, February 13, 2010 Who am I? Whenever I wonder, I check in on Wikipedia, to get the latest surmise. At different times I've been described as a writer, blogger, coffee-shop owner, global warming denier, astroturfer and entrepreneur. One description I haven't usually found on Wikipedia, at least not over the last 18 months — is of me as an environmentalist, the only occupation I've continually engaged in over the last 30 years. Read the full story. ...
Closer look at US-style GHG limitsby Aldyen Donnelly, February 12, 2010 EPA issues first US Federal Facility permit to include legally binding GHG limits for a proposed new gas-fired power plant in California. This is a breakdown of the project. Read the full story. ...
The West wants out of the Western Climate Initiativeby Lawrence Solomon, February 14, 2010 The Western Climate Initiative's cap and trade market may soon need to be renamed The Canada Climate Initiative. Read the full story. ...
IPCC: Beyond the Himalayasby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, February 7, 2010 Climategate is one of many known failings by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
IPCC faces another desertion -- its own past chair!by Lawrence Solomon, National Post, February 8, 2010 The past chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has joined the growing list of IPCC critics. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Rajendra Pachauri, the disgraced current IPCC chair, now faces criticism from his immediate predecessor, Robert Watson.
Campus climate orthodoxyNational Post, February 4, 2010 Lawrence Solomon's column, "Keeping Canadian Students In The Dark On Climate," has provoked some interesting responses, reports the National Post. Some of this feedback has been reproduced in the following article, edited for grammar. Real names, where available, have been used, but some are signed only with online handles. Read the responses. ...
Yesterday's WeatherSnow in Baltimore leaves residents unfazed As the snow continues to pile-up in Baltimore, Maryland, the city's residents seem unbothered -- a far cry from previous snowstorms that caused a run on milk, bread and toilet paper. Maybe it's because they’re getting used to it. In December, the city suffered through record-breaking snowstorms -- leaving it with the most snow on record since 1883. And for the winter as a whole, the city has been "blessed" with 33.7 inches of the white stuff -- far more than the 18 inches it typically sees throughout the winter. And the show's not over yet. According to one meteorologist, the city may get dumped with as much as 18 inches of now this weekend. Read the Yesterday's Weather archives. ...
Cap and trade: A historyby Aldyen Donnelly, February 2, 2010 Every time the US has implemented a cap and trade regulation -- the first one was in 1977 -- its primary political objective was trade protectionism. And every time the US has done so, the measure has successfully drawn investment capital away from nations on which Americans have traditionally relied for imports into the US. Read the full story, here. ...
Yesterday's WeatherScotland weather worse than usual Scots have suffered through the coldest December and January on record, according to the country's Met office. The average temperature for the two months combined was 0.2 C -- making it the coldest in records going back to 1914. December's average temperature was 0.3 C -- 2.7 degrees lower than average. Worse still, the brutal winter is showing no signs of abating, as residents in the east of Scotland are once again digging themselves out of another heavy snowfall. Read the Yesterday's Weather archives.
Tonight at 8:00: Energy Probe's Norman Rubin on The AgendaOnce again the Ontario government is looking to show the world it is serious about creating a "green" economy. Its most recent move towards this end was to sign a massive renewable energy deal with Samsung. Energy Probe's Norm Rubin will appear on TVO's "The Agenda" tonight at 8:00 p.m. to discuss the Samsung deal and its merits, or otherwise, for the province. Joining him will be: Brad Duguid - the Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Liberal MPP for Scarborough Centre. Randall Denley - columnist with the Ottawa Citizen. Tom Rand - the Cleantech Lead at the MaRS Discovery District and author of, Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit. Kristopher Stevens - the Executive Director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association.
Keeping Canadian students in the dark on climateby Lawrence Solomon, January 30, 2010 To my knowledge, no Canadian university has ever sponsored a formal debate on climate change involving a skeptic.
Pending N.B. report on power deal with Quebec dismissed sight unseen by Toriesby Keith Doucette, January 31, 2010 A provincially appointed panel will release its opinion Monday on a controversial deal to sell major NB Power assets to Hydro-Quebec, but New Brunswick's Opposition leader is already dismissing its work.
Yesterday's WeatherSnowed In Maybe we should start calling some of the recent weather, "The Little Ice Age: Part II". According to a recent report from the Des Moines Register, the last time there was more snow in Des Moines, Iowa in December and January, the world was emerging from a several-hundred-year era of cold temperatures dubbed the "Little Ice Age." According to the report, residents of Des Moines have had to deal with 41.4 inches of snow since December 1—topping the 37.2 inches that fell in Des Moines during the same period in 1897-1898. The large snowfalls over the past two months are becoming all too common—and not just in Des Moines, but across the state. According to one climatologist, four of Iowa's snowiest December-January periods dating back to the winter of 1887-88 have occurred in the past 10 years. Read the Yesterday's Weather archives here. ...
Cap-and-trade may be big scam - Probe Internationalby Chemical News & Intelligence, January 13, 2010 Cap-and-trade schemes to curb global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions may turn out to be a "big scam" because they are impossible to properly police, a Canadian environmental advocacy group said on Wednesday. Read the full story. ...
Tonight: Energy Probe's Lawrence Solomon on The AgendaEnergy Probe's Executive Director Lawrence Solomon will appear on TVO's "The Agenda" tonight at 8:00 p.m. The topic of discussion: the current debate surrounding climate change with four other panelists. Joining him will be: Janice Stein - Director, Munk Centre Hadi Dowlatabadi - Professor of applied mathematics and global change, University of British Columbia Jeff Rubin - Former chief economist at CIBC and author of "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller" Dale Marshall - Climate Change policy analyst, David Suzuki Foundation
Global warming dead last in pollby Lawrence Solomon, January 26, 2010 A Pew Research Center poll released today shows that few Americans consider global warming to be a top priority, so few that global warming came in dead last among 21 issues. "I'd like to ask you some questions about priorities for President Obama and Congress this year," the Pew questioner asked the public. "As I read from a list, tell me if you think the item that I read should be a top priority, important but lower priority, not too important or should it not be done." Read on. ...
UK Parliament announces 6th Climategate Inquiryby Lawrence Solomon, January 25, 2010 A UK parliamentary committee, the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons, on Friday announced an investigation into the Climategate e-mails, entitled "The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia." This is the sixth body known to have opened investigations into Climategate, and the first parliamentary body. Read on. ...
Wind power a viable, but unreliable source of energy in quake shattered Haitiby Sunny Freeman, January 25, 2010 Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister is eyeing the potential for wind power along Haiti's coastline as part of the effort to improve the earthquake ravaged country's capacity for power production.
UK Parliament announces 6th Climategate Inquiryby Lawrence Solomon, January 25, 2010 A UK parliamentary committee, the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons, on Friday announced an investigation into the Climategate emails, entitled "The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia." This is the sixth body known to have opened investigations into Climategate, and the first parliamentary body.
Winds of changeby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, January 23, 2010 Premier McGuinty has committed Ontario to a generous deal for a soon-to-be forgotten energy source.
Inside Ontario: Ontario Signs a Massive Green Energy Deal with Samsungby Mark Brosens, TVO, January 24, 2010 A media round-up of the reactions to the renewable energy deal Ontario recently signed with Samsung. Some, like Lawrence Solomon are challenging the wisdom of it.
Who's Watching the Climategate Gatekeepers?by W.R. Wansley, American Thinker, January 18, 2010 In a Jan. 16 article in the National Post entitled "Better off with Bing", Lawrence Solomon documents a devastating statistical account of how Google censored news accounts of Climategate.
Better off with Bingby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, January 16, 2010 Googlegate: The search engine may be standing up to Chinese censors. What about Google’s own censors?
Ask the DeniersQ: The orbits of the Sun and Earth are elliptical and constantly changing. This combined with the Sun's varying energy output has what relationship to climate change? Read the answer here. ...
"Making Bail: Helping Canada's Water Utilities Out of a Bad Spot"
In the January/February 2010 issue of Water Canada, Elizabeth Brubaker writes:
Canada's municipal utilities are in trouble, and it seems increasingly unlikely that the provinces will bail them out. Federal aid seems equally unlikely, given the finance minister's warnings that there will be no major new spending initiatives in the 2010 budget. But our utilities need not despair. Although public money may be scarce, private investment and pricing reforms can provide sustainable solutions to the problems they face.
What was going on in Haiti prior to the earthquake?by Nicholl McGuire, Axis of Logic, January 17, 2010 "Scientists have warned for years that the island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, was at risk for a major earthquake," according to CNN.com. Back in 1988, the Haitians were protesting a planned dam project that would flood their homes in the Artibonite River Valley - an area known as Haiti's breadbasket, according to Probe International's Patricia Adams. "Backed by foreign aid agencies the dams would destroy almost ten thousand acres of prime agricultural land, a scarce commodity in food-short Haiti. As a result the project sparked a widely-based 'alliance of resistance'. Groups opposed so the project included local farmers, church activists and rural development workers, as well as human rights organizations and environmentalists outside Haiti." If there was a dam being built near or along the fault line, would it have caused an earthquake, uproar from local Haitians and pressure from scientists, government officials and others to stop work in the area?
Better off with Bingby Lawrence Solomon, National Post, January 16, 2010 Googlegate: The search engine may be standing up to Chinese censors. What about Google's own censors?
Ask the DeniersQ: The orbits of the Sun and Earth are elliptical and constantly changing. This combined with the Sun's varying energy output has what relationship to climate change? Read the answer here. ...
BBC drops top IPCC source for climate change databy Lawrence Solomon, National Post, January 18, 2010 The British Broadcasting Corporation has put its weather forecasting contract out to tender – the first time since its radio broadcasts began in 1923 – after taking heat from the public for a string of embarrassingly inaccurate long-range weather forecasts. The UK Met Office, the government-owned meteorological department that has had the BBC contract for almost 90 years, is a partner with the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University of Climategate fame. CRU and the UK Met Office jointly provide the climate change data that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change relies on.
Australia may be backing away from cap and tradeby Lawrence Solomon, January 14, 2010 Before the Copenhagen conference on climate change, many believed that carbon trading, already underway in the EU, would sweep the western world, with Australia being the next country carbon-trading country. After Copenhagen ended in chaos, it became clear that the U.S. wouldn’t adopt carbon markets and that Canada, which is determined to follow the U.S.’s lead, also would not. Now, all bets are off in Australia, despite gung-ho Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who has staked his reputation on pushing through carbon trading. Read the full story. ...
Ethanol versus biodieselby Aldyen Donnelly, January 13, 2010 In regards to biofuels, I have gone on record for years that once we fully consid er the impacts of ethanol—not just from corn, although corn ethanol is the worst of the ethanol options—it will become socially unacceptable to deal in ethanol at all. Biodiesel is a different story. Read the full story. ...
Yesterday's WeatherMexico is experiencing one of the most severe winters in more than 124 years. The Mexican National Meteorological Service recently said temperatures below 5 C degrees had been reported in 20 states across the country—with temperatures expected to plummet to -3 C degrees at the Ajusco Volcano, south of Mexico City. The government of Mexico City has already issued a cold weather alert and strengthened public shelters to take more homeless people. Read the Yesterday's Weather archives.
The next big scam: carbon dioxideby Patricia Adams, Financial Post, January 13, 2010 Attempts to create markets for tradeable CO2 are shaping up to be the next Oil-for-Food-sized fraud.
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