March 1, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

It is cold today.  In central Alberta, at Elk Island National Park, the source of the “local” official temperature values that are being shown for the communities of Andrew, Lamont, Chipman, Mundare and Bruderheim, the temperature reading at 9 a.m. was -39°C.  At the same time, 14km away from Elk Island Park, our thermometer in our backyard in Bruderheim showed -28.5°C.

The winds were slight, about 1-2 kmh.

It will stay cold for some time. It will also most likely snow a bit within the next few days.

There will not be much wind, which is a bad thing for those who have the illusion that wind power is a good thing and that it will be available when they need it most.

(Click on image to see source.  That web page is being updated every two minutes.)

That means that, although of the total Alberta generating capacity a full 5.8% is supposed to be derived from wind turbines, at 11:20 am only 0.022%  or 2.2 hundredth of one percent were being generated from wind power.

The reality of wind power is that a lot of power stations right now are working all-out to produce the increased power required due to the extremely cold weather and are being fueled by natural gas at peak prices, probably at a cost of about $0.07kWh, which means that the cost to consumers will be in the order of about $0.20 to $0.70kWh right now.  Yes, regardless of what rate you pay for what you use right now, the cost of a kWh is around $0.20 to $0.70 right at this moment, and that cost needs to be paid.

So how cold is it in all honesty where you live?  You still have to look up the thermometer in your back yard to get the correct answer for that.  Our thermometer says it is -28.5°C right now (at 9 a.m.) in Bruderheim, not -38°C, and that is a reading that is taken at some distance from the walls of our house, as those readings would be a bit “warmer” yet. as they would reflect more heat radiated by the house.

Many people watch the news to catch up on the weather forecast, or they check the Weather Channel on TV.  Few people take advantage of another feature that is available on the Internet, which feature will tell you everything you wish to know about the weather, without having to have it read to you by someone whose job it is to read it to you so that they can use that as a means to show you a bunch of commercials.

If you are happy with knowing the forecast trend (and historical weather trends many years into the past) at a level of accuracy that the pilots using the Edmonton Municipal Airport rely on, then here is a link to weather information at a glance, without commercials, a link you want to bookmark:

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=weather+forecast+Edmonton

The source of the information upon which the information at that link is based is the Edmonton Municipal Airport.

And by the way, is it getting warmer, as Al Gore and David Suzuki are threatening?  Not on your life:

In the mean-time, the makers of wind turbines, such as General Electric, Siemens and anyone else who is reaping copious profits from the climate craze are laughing all the way to the bank — and we pay.

Posted in Climate Craziness, Propaganda debunked, Corruption & Fraud, Alternative Energy Sources, Community & Industry | Print | 1 Comment »

February 27, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

After learning of my involvement with the utilities industry that lasted for more than 30 years, someone wrote to me and commented, “If you have some connections with some technical people in the utility business, that could be helpful.”

Yes, that is true. but only up to an extent, and most likely never to the extent where such connections would really matter.  Aside from that, it matters with which aspect of the utility business those technical people are involved.

I just read an ad by ENMAX (a Calgary-City-owned utility company).  The ad is one of those intrusive, targeted ones imposed by Google that pop up when searching the Internet.  It popped up in this case when I looked up the weather forecast for Edmonton.  The ad is intended to indoctrinate me into accepting that “With renewable energy playing a larger role than ever, the environmental future of Alberta has never been brighter” and is part of a currently massive advertising campaign in the mainstream media for which TV shows many commercials and for which even small-town newspapers feature whole-page ads that cater to the same theme.

Should one believe anything that comes from those quarters?

The mayor of Calgary concurs with ENMAX and with the theme of the massive propaganda campaign, but although his speech on energy issues was well received when he spoke at a recent ENMAX function (ENMAX is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the City of Calgary), he is not the best person to ask for an opinion on these issues.  He thinks that the pursuit of schemes for energy production from renewable sources is “the right thing to do”.

The Alberta government, which most definitely employs some technical people to be able to exercise its regulatory functions, is not likely to tell the truth about anything related to utilities.  They told me in 2001, when they deregulated the utility industry, that they were “committed to putting more money back into the pockets of Albertans.” I caught them out lying about many other issues. “The Alberta Advantage,” a slogan that Alberta politicians loved to mention on a daily basis and on every possible occasion, is not being mentioned much anymore these days, not since a number of businesses left the province or shut down on account of sky-rocketing energy prices.

How about someone in AltaLink?

As Canada’s only fully independent transmission company, we are responsible for the maintenance and operation of approximately 11,800 kilometres of transmission lines and 270 substations in Alberta. We own more than half of Alberta’s transmission grid and serve 85 per cent of its population. Additionally, we own the Alberta portion of the interconnection to British Columbia used to import and export electricity, connecting Alberta to the power grid in the Pacific Northwest. –AltaLink

Sounds great, but what about this?

AltaLink Enhances Reliability and Access to Green Power in 2010

February 25, 2011

During 2010, AltaLink improved system reliability by building and energizing new projects, and responding to increased demand from Albertans for wind generated electricity.

Sorry, they are neither an objective nor even an honest source of such information.  Then how about the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO)?  AESO is without a doubt very important, because, in their own words from their home page,

AESO leads the planning and operation of the power system, facilitates competitive electricity markets and ensures open access to the grid.

Well, if that would be a correct statement, then why the government- and industry-sponsored promotion of wind “farms” in Alberta that AESO facilitates?  Surely, with AESO “ensuring competitive electricity markets”, wind power would long ago have been laughed out of the market.  Of course, AESO is not an entirely independent organization.  It owes its very existence to the government and therefore a considerable psychological debt, if nothing else.

However, at the very least it is possible to obtain from AESO data on trends in electricity generation and consumption.

As to wind power, one of AESO’s operators wrote to me some time ago and complained that he is not happy about wind power and the serious threat it poses to the security, stability and quality of the electricity grid.  However, I do not recall that AESO ever spoke up officially against the promotion of escalating construction of wind power generating capacity.

The AESO seem to be the right party to get in touch with.  As to the sort of technical person one may want to contact at AESO, these search results for articles and papers on “wind power” at their website may provide ideas, but don’t get your hopes up too high.

The AESO is committed to integrating as much wind power as possible to the Alberta electric system without compromising reliability or the fair, efficient and openly competitive operation of the market. –AESO, Dec. 17, 2007 (Guide to wind power in Alberta, bottom of page 2)

There is a fundamental principle involved in all of this head-long rush for the promotion of wind power and energy generation from renewable sources.  It is a principle whose primary aim appears to be to rationalize the abrogation of common sense.  It seems that a fitting name for it would be Affirmative Action for Energy from Renewable Sources (AAERS).

AAERS does away with the requirement to be rational, logical, objective and fair when promoting government schemes for escalating tax revenues through tailored energy policies.  Instead, the promotion of AAERS needs no rationalization other than the assertion that “it is the right thing to do.”  That could well make it the ideal tool for politicians, because all checks and balances based on objective science no longer matter in decision-making relating to the utility business.  Moreover, no one will ever be able to hold anyone to account on any of this.  After all, even the most atrocious and most expensive utility boondoggles can be justified, simply because “they were the right thing to do.”

How can anyone argue against such a powerful tool, a tool that permits politicians and anyone else who can reap a profit from the utility business to get away with robbing the public in full public view?

______________
For related information on this, see Environmentalist Energy Concerns, February 25, 2011

Posted in Propaganda debunked, Corruption & Fraud, Energy Issues, Alternative Energy Sources | Print | No Comments »

February 25, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

This posting contains pointers to sources of information that set straight common misrepresentations and misconceptions in regard to commonly-perceived pieces of “wisdom” such as wind power, nuclear energy, carbon capture and sequestration, bio-fuels, and the current craze of replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps.

Here are the links, grouped in alphabetical order of the main subject areas:

Alternative Energy Production

• Evaluation of comparative alternative energy production

Bio-Fuel

• To conjure gasoline out of corn and tax credits?
• The Ethanol debate — Ethanol through agricultural production: A scam?

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)

• Topple the “carbon” fraud
• Weyburn, Saskatchewan: Land fizzing like soda pop
• No price too high for appeasing climate alarmists (Shell’s Quest CCS project in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland)

Incandescent Light Bulbs vs. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)

• The future of the light-bulb ban

Nuclear Energy

• Nuclear power generation alarmism overblown
• Nuclear Power — Comparisons and Perspective
• Energy from Thorium

Wind Energy

• Wind Energy — The Case of Denmark
• WindPowerFacts.Info, by John Droz

From that:

Master Resource is a good site for energy information. An example of the articles appearing there is one by Dr. Michael Trebilcock (a Law Professor at the University of Toronto, etc.) and his excellent testimony about a proposed Ontario RPS [Renewable Portfolio Standard] type legislation. He does a fine job of stating a case against industrial wind energy.

There are several reports that have been published about the Dutch experience with wind power, and why it is not what it seems. This September 2009 study is a good summary. Another informative one is authored by Dr. Vic Mason, an energy expert: Wind Power in Denmark (version 12/08). Still another worthwhile one was written by J. A. Halkema (M.S.E.E.), also a Dutch energy expert, and is titled Wind Energy Facts and Fiction: A Half Truth is a Whole Lie.

There is much more.  For example, have a look at this exhaustive and very informative discussion in the form of a slide presentation:

EnergyPresentation.Info (12/1/2010), by John Droz (more than 200 very interesting slides). E. g.:

Source: Slide 99 of 213 at EnergyPresentation.Info by John Droz (click on icon for “full screen”, in the lower, right-hand corner of image, in the menu bar below the image to be able to see full-sized image)

Posted in Propaganda debunked, Corruption & Fraud, Energy Issues, Alternative Energy Sources | Print | No Comments »

January 2, 2011 by Walter Schneider.

Energy from Thorium — A website and discussion forum devoted to the discussion of thorium as a future energy resource, and the machine to extract that energy–the liquid-fluoride thorium reactor.

This is about liquid-fluoride thorium reactors, a means of producing nuclear energy without weapons proliferation, producing it in an inherently safe manner, from fuel that is fairly abundant and cheap, without having to worry about long-term radioactive waste-disposal and -storage, at a cost per MWh that is an estimated 30 to 40 percent lower than that of energy produced from conventional nuclear sources, which would make it far cheaper than energy produced from coal.

All of which makes it more attractive than any other method of energy production on a small to large scale. More on the principles involved: Thorium and the Liquid-Fluoride Reactor: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Imagine what could be done to develop world-wide, secure energy production if the $1.2 billion slated for the useless Shell CCS Project were to be injected instead into development efforts for Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor technology.  This is not something totally new, but it is an issue that is being ignored in favor of wild-goose chases like trying to to the impossible, using CO2 as as a thermostat to regulate the global climate.   Take for example this article:

The Telegraph, 29 Aug 2010

Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium

If Barack Obama were to marshal America’s vast scientific and strategic resources behind a new Manhattan Project, he might reasonably hope to reinvent the global energy landscape and sketch an end to our dependence on fossil fuels within three to five years….(Full Story)

The article in The Telegraph is only one of the latest in a long line of such articles during the past couple of years or so.  Still, why would anyone expect the U.S. to take the lead on developing a secure energy future?  The headline for the article could just as well read: “Canada or the U.K. could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium,” or perhaps it should read “China”.

Is it “Big Oil” that calls the shots on this? Who knows?  Someone surely is putting on the brakes.

Nevertheless, the media are given to hype, and there is no conceivable good reason why Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) technology would kill fossil fuels overnight.  Cars, trucks, trains and airplanes still have to operate as always, and no one will be able to put an LFTR into everyone’s trunk or into every airplane (although one in every container ship or tanker is a distinct possibility).  Still, what would be wrong with coal-to-liquid-fuel conversion at a cost of $30 a barrel for synthetic crude, using cheap energy produced by a local LFTR that won’t even require an upgrade of the capacity of the transmission-line network to bring the electric energy to the point of crude production?

Would it be wrong to develop Canada’s lead in LFTR technology?  Why not?  We have plenty of thorium and, unlike uranium, more than we can ever use up.

Posted in Shell CCS Project, Energy Issues, Alternative Energy Sources | Print | No Comments »

December 25, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

Thanks to wattsupwiththat.com

T. Boone Pickens Abandons U.S. wind power

but Canada is eager to provide a home for the surplus wind turbines he will be left holding.  In a socialist regime it is much easier to lose common sense and ignore economics. After all, the ones making the decisions to lose money are not the ones who will pay for the losses.  The end-consumers will pay.

Check the whole story and the comments that are posted at wattsupwiththat.com.

Posted in Corruption & Fraud, Energy Issues, Alternative Energy Sources | Print | No Comments »

December 23, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

Carbon Sense *

20th December 2010

Time to Topple the Pyramid of Frauds

By Viv Forbes

One of the fastest growing industries in the world is based on a pyramid of frauds and its inevitable collapse will be worse than the sub-prime crash.

The Global Warming Industry is now fed by billions of dollars from western taxpayers and consumers. It is based on the unproven and now discredited claim that man’s production of carbon dioxide causes dangerous global warming.

The basic fraud is this:

There is no evidence that carbon dioxide controls world temperature – just a theory and the manipulated results from a handful of giant computer models that very few people have checked or understand….

…those who waste millions on projects designed to prove the feasibility of burying carbon dioxide are committing a fraud on taxpayers and shareholders. There are no benefits of burying atmospheric plant food from any source. With zero benefits and huge costs CCS can never be “economic” and it is fraudulent to pretend it can ever be otherwise….

Full Story  (70kB PDF file — Printer-friendly, includes links to information sources)

____________
* “Carbon Sense” is a newsletter produced by the Carbon Sense Coalition, an Australian based organisation which opposes waste of resources, opposes pollution, and promotes the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food.

Please spread “Carbon Sense” around.

For more information visit our web site at www.carbon-sense.com

Literary, financial or other contributions to help our cause are welcomed.

Viv Forbes MS 23, Rosewood Qld 4340 Australia. info@carbon-sense.com
07 5464 0533

A printer-friendly PDF (70kB) of this newsletter is accessible here:
http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/pyramid-of-frauds.pdf

Posted in Shell CCS Project, Alarmist Insanity, Corruption & Fraud, Alternative Energy Sources, Community & Industry | Print | No Comments »

August 1, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

Greenpeace and other Greens have for decades promoted an atmosphere of alarmism that has been the major cause of wide-spread bans on the development of nuclear power generation in many developed nations, while at the same time far more deadly, damaging and excessively-costly alternative energy-generation schemes were rammed through development.

The hype and hysteria fueling that alarmism is being brought to a well-reasoned and practical end in Belarus.

Belarus to Repopulate Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
by Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski
July 28, 2010

On July 23, Novosti, Interfax, Interia, other Belarusian, Russian, and Polish news agencies announced that the government of Belarus decided to resettle hundreds of thousands of people back into the 2,000 ghost-villages in the Chernobyl exclusion zone from which they had been hastily removed 24 years ago.  (Full Story, PDF file, 82kB)

Dr. Jaworowski identifies in his article that,

Calculating by unit of energy produced, the Chernobyl catastrophe caused 0.86 deaths per gigawatt-year of electricity produced, which is 47 times less than for hydroelectric power stations (40 deaths per GWe-year), including the 230,000 fatalities caused by the 1975 collapse of the dam on the Banqiao river in China.

(More on the negative aspects of alternative sources of energy)

Posted in Energy Issues, Propaganda debunked, Alternative Energy Sources, Community & Industry, Explosions & Fires, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

July 3, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

LAWRENCE SOLOMON

Catastrophism collapses by Lawrence Solomon

Saturday, July 3rd 2010, 6:20 AM EDT

Co2sceptic (Site Admin)

G20 leaders in Toronto tried to avoid the fate of colleagues felled by warming advocacy

(Full Story)

Posted in Alarmist Insanity, Alternative Energy Sources, Climate Change | Print | No Comments »

June 20, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

This does not exactly fall into the fraud and corruption category, but it is so mind-boggling and so nonsensical that it takes quite a bit of effort not to consider it fraudulent at least with respect to the lack of practicality as to the primary intention of coming up with better and effective ways of producing energy from renewable, alternative sources.

From wattsupwiththat.com:

Firms paid to shut down wind farms when the wind is blowing

Posted on
June 20, 2010
Britain’s biggest wind farm companies are to be paid not to produce electricity when the wind is blowing.
From The UK Telegraph.

Published: 9:00PM BST 19 Jun 2010

Energy firms will receive thousands of pounds a day per wind farm to turn off their turbines because the National Grid cannot use the power they are producing Photo: ALAMY

Energy firms will receive thousands of pounds a day per wind farm to turn off their turbines because the National Grid cannot use the power they are producing.

(Continue reading →)

Posted in Corruption & Fraud, Alternative Energy Sources | Print | No Comments »

June 18, 2010 by Walter Schneider.

This is a must-read:

A suggestion for meeting the UK Government’s renewable energy target because the adopted use of windfarms cannot meet it,

By Richard S. Courtney, Thursday 26th October 2006

Source: The 2006 Annual Prestigious Lecture to
The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers
and
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (North East)

On 2010 06 18, Richard S. Courtney posted an excellent and easy-to-understand illustration of the uselessness of windfarms to the blog of Anthony Watts, the most popular science blog in the world.  In that posting, Richard Courtney compares the reasons for constructing windfarms to the reasons for construction the Wall of China: Useless, impractical and extremely costly for meeting the ostensible purposes but very, very effective as widely-visible propaganda efforts.

Posted in Alternative Energy Sources | Print | No Comments »