March 4, 2010 by admin.

August Review
The Global Elite Research Letter

Smart Grid: The Implementation of Technocracy?

By Patrick Wood, Editor
March 2, 2010

Introduction

According to the United Nations Governing Council of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP),  “our dominant economic model may thus be termed a ‘brown economy.” UNEP’s clearly stated goal is to overturn the “brown economy” and replace it with a “green economy”:

“A green economy implies the decoupling of resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth… These investments, both public and private, provide the mechanism for the reconfiguration of businesses, infrastructure and institutions, and for the adoption of sustainable consumption and production processes.”  [p. 2]

Sustainable consumption? Reconfiguring businesses, infrastructure and institutions? What do these words mean? They do not mean merely reshuffling the existing order, but rather replacing it with a completely new economic system, one that has never before been seen or used in the history of the world.

This paper will demonstrate that the current crisis of capitalism is being used to implement a radical new economic system that will completely supplant it. This is not some new idea created in the bowels of the United Nations: It is a revitalized implementation of Technocracy that was thoroughly repudiated by the American public in 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression….(Full Story)

Posted in Energy Issues, Community & Industry, Energy Purchases | Print | No Comments »

December 23, 2009 by admin.

DECEMBER 23, 2009

Last-Minute Gift Ideas: Old Stadiums

Some of These Facilities That Sit Mostly Idle Could Possibly Be Had for a Reasonable Sum

By HANNAH KARP

Associated Press

The Pontiac Silverdome is shown last month.

Most sports fans assume that once a stadium or arena is replaced by a newer model, the old house is immediately blown to smithereens in a pyrotechnics show that would make James Cameron proud. But many more than you think are still around. Some have historical value, while others are still bringing in funds to cash-strapped municipalities. Who knows, some may even be available to well-heeled holiday shoppers looking for a last-minute gift. Here are a few:…(Full Story)

__________
We all know by now that the powers-that-be are hard at work to add the Edmonton Rexal Centre to the impressive list of covered stadiums fallen into disuse throughout the world that the Wall Street Journal put together.

Do we need to wonder whether efforts like the Bruderheim Multiplex will be added to the list?

The concern, of course, is that in the end it is only the taxpayers that must foot the bill for such white elephants by design, whether they remain in use forever or not.

However, wait a couple of thousands of years or so… such white elephants can perhaps turn into tourist attractions.  It worked out that way with the Coliseum in Rome, even though the debts incurred in operating the culture of bread and games became a major contributor to the Roman Empire’s ultimate collapse and demise.

Posted in Community & Industry | Print | No Comments »

December 15, 2009 by admin.

We have come to know that Enron’s manipulations that came crashing down some years ago were firmly built on fraudulent energy- and carbon-trading schemes of the world energy market.  It was Enron-style manipulation, for example, of Alberta’s energy market that led to the deregulation of the utility industry and to the doubling and tripling of energy prices.

We have come to know that Al Gore, when he was the vice-president of the US, had been involved in promoting Enron’s manipulations, although he appears not to have raised his great current wealth from that involvement.  Nevertheless, we have come to know that he is not an uninterested party in promoting the carbon cap-and-trade insanity, as he has an active interest in that promotion and increased his wealth from about $2 million, when he left government services, to about $200 million now.

Now comes another astonishing revelation.  U.N. climate chief Rajendra K. Pachauri, too, is not an uninterested party in promoting the schemes for creating great wealth from irrational and destructive carbon fears. In the process of pushing his very personal interests in creating profits from the U.N.-promoted carbon fears, Pachauri, a railroad engineer from India, stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars for himself.

U.N. climate chief turns carbon to green

In lucrative carbon trade ‘all roads lead to Pachauri’

Nobel Peace Prize winners Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri on the balcony of Grand Hotel, Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2007

NEW YORK – Further examination of U.N. climate chief Rajendra K. Pachauri’s resume shows more extensive international business relationships through which he stands to profit from global warming activism.

WND reported last week A Mumbai-based Indian multinational conglomerate with business ties to Pachauri, the chairman since 2002 of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, stands to make several hundred million dollars in European Union carbon credits simply by closing a steel production facility in Britain with the loss of 1,700 jobs..

Now, the head of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, is warning governments that failure to reach a deal at the U.N. Climate Summit in Copenhagen could lead to a collapse of the carbon market. He says rich countries, therefore, should commit up to $100 billion to finance a climate deal that would benefit the developing world.

Pachauri chairs the Asian Development Bank Advisory Group on Climate Change….

(Full Story)

Posted in Energy Issues, Climate Change, Fines & Penalties, Community & Industry | Print | No Comments »

September 17, 2009 by admin.

Wind energy is a renewable alternative energy source whose alleged capability to serve as an acceptable and even desirable solution to the problem of ever-increasing fossil-fuel consumption is much touted by politicians who would like to demonstrate that with the help of billions of dollars in tax revenues they will save the world.

Regardless of their continual history of lack of success in implementing global policies, things like that are relatively easy to do for politicians.  Politicians make money for themselves whether the solutions they propose and try to push through are realistic or not, whether those solutions can be made to pay for themselves or lose trillions of dollars in gross domestic product.  Usually — the climate hysteria is a case in point — the greater the failures of politicians and the losses caused by them, the more the politicians stand to gain, and the more we — the ordinary people trying to make a living — stand to lose.

The political system is a growth industry that is being supported by a cancerously-growing, ravenous bureaucracy and ever increasing taxation.

It would be a great thing if Mother Nature’s bounty, as in the case of “free” wind energy, would help to offset the losses caused by the grand schemes rammed through by politicians, but wind energy is not free.  Wind energy is much more expensive than to generate energy by burning fossil fuels.  Wind energy generating capacity installed must be matched by corresponding generating capacity that is based on hydroelectric-, nuclear- or fossil-fuel-powered power generation.  In other words, as far as the utility of large-scale wind energy generation goes, it is as useful as tits on a boar and as precariously and potentially harmful as a second functioning steering wheel on a car.

A September 2009 study report by CEPOS (Center for Politiske Studier), “Wind Energy — The Case of Denmark” makes for fascinating reading. It addresses the illusions that anyone should hold regarding wind energy.  The study report should be of interest to a wide variety of people, such as tax payers, electrical systems operators, politicians and policy makers.

Here is the executive summary of the study report.

Executive summary

PART 1: The real state-of-play and its hidden costs

Denmark generates the equivalent of about 19% of its electricity demand with wind turbines, but wind power contributes far less than 19% of the Nation’s electricity demand.

The claim that Denmark derives about 20% of its electricity from wind overstates matters. Being highly intermittent, wind power has recently (2006) met as little as 5% of Denmark’s annual electricity consumption with an average over the last five years of 9.7%.

In the absence of large-scale electricity storage, any modern electricity system must continuously balance electricity supply and demand, because even small variations in system voltage and frequency can cause damage to modern electronic equipment and other electrical equipment.

Wind power is stochastic [that is, “random”, essentially difficult or impossible to predict], especially in the very short term (e.g., over any given hour, 30 minute, or 15 minute period). This has created a completely new challenge that transmission system operators (TSOs) all over the World are only now learning how to handle. Some draw from Denmark’s experience. But Denmark’s special circumstances make its experience of limited transferability elsewhere.

Denmark manages to keep the electricity systems balanced due to having the benefit of its particular neighbors and their electricity mix. Norway and Sweden provide Denmark, Germany and Netherlands access to significant amounts of fast, short term balancing reserve, via interconnectors. They effectively act as Denmark’s “electricity storage batteries”. Norwegian and Swedish hydropower can be rapidly turned up and down, and Norway’s lakes effectively “store” some portion of Danish wind power.

Over the last eight years West Denmark has exported (couldn’t use), on average, 57% of the wind power it generated and East Denmark an average of 45%.The correlation between high wind output and net outflows makes the case that there is a large component of wind energy in the outflow indisputable.

The exported wind power, paid for by Danish householders, brings material benefits in the form of cheap electricity and delayed investment in new generation equipment for consumers in Sweden and Norway but nothing for Danish consumers. Taxes and charges on electricity for Danish household consumers make their electricity by far the most expensive in the European Union (EU)[1]. The total probable value of exported subsidies between 2001 and 2008 was DKK 6.8 billion (€916 million) during this period. A similar amount was probably exported prior to 2012[2] and larger quantities will be exported following the commissioning of 800 MW of new offshore wind capacity in 2013.

The wind power that is exported from Denmark saves neither fossil fuel consumption nor CO2 emissions in Denmark, where it is all paid for. By necessity, wind power exported to Norway and Sweden supplants largely carbon neutral electricity in the Nordic countries. No coal is used nor are there power-related CO2 emissions in Sweden and Norway.

Wind energy has replaced some thermal generation in Denmark. It has saved an average emission of about 2.4 million t per year CO2 at a total subsidy cost of 12.3 billion DKK or an average cost of 647 DKK (€ 87 or $124) per ton CO2. Wind power has proven to be an expensive way to save CO2 emissions[3].

The cost of Denmark’s wind capacity to Danish consumers is exacerbated by its inability to use so much surplus electricity. The surplus will increase in 2013 when 800 MW of new offshore capacity is commissioned, increasing Denmark’s wind production by 2.7 TWh per year. Nearly all the additional wind power will be exported and this will further depress prices; nearly all the subsidies paid by Danish consumers will also be exported without achieving any significant fossil fuel use nor any CO2 reduction. Achieving own-consumption of all its wind power is technically impossible in the short term and will remain entirely hypothetical until electricity consumption rises and new technical and demand-side solutions have been developed and implemented. In most cases, these have yet even to be invented, let alone proven and costed.

Notwithstanding its many disadvantages, wind power’s one striking advantage is that, like nuclear, its marginal costs of operation are very small once the capital has been paid. However, unlike nuclear, many ten to fifteen year-old turbines are past their useful life. By contrast, most conventional rotating power plant can enjoy a working life of 40 to 60 years, as evidenced by most power plants in Europe today. This puts into question the strategic, economic and environmental benefits of a power plant that may have to be scrapped, replaced and resubsidized every ten to fifteen years.

The Danish Parliament reached a political consensus during 2008 that in 2025 50% of Denmark’s electricity demand must come from renewable resources, mostly wind power. The Ecogrid Study Group has concluded4 that if the extra wind power is to achieve this aim, drastic re-engineering of the whole energy system will need to take place, including the retirement of much expensive, high quality, existing capacity. Wisely, it has not tried to estimate the costs of doing this. In any case, Sweden and Norway will be unable balance the extra wind capacity planned that is also planned for Germany and Netherlands.

PART 2: Wind Energy’s effect on employment

Denmark has been a first-mover in the wind power industry for over ten years, and its leading wind turbine manufacturers have been able to maintain a very strong global position. This has been a consequence of a concerted policy to increase the share of wind power in Danish electricity generation. The policy has only been made possible through substantial subsidies supporting the wind turbine owners. This indirect subsidy has in turn generated the demand for wind turbines from the manufactures. Exactly how the subsidies have been shared between land, wind turbine owners, labor, capital and shareholders is opaque, but it is fair to assess that no Danish wind industry to speak of would exist if it had to compete on market terms. This paper documents the experiences gained in Denmark with regard to the employment effect of subsidizing the wind industry.

Substantial subsidies have been directed to the Danish wind mill industry over years. From 2001-2005 the yearly subsidy has been 1.7-2.6 billion DKK.

The Danish Wind industry counts 28,400 employees. This does not, however, constitute the net employment effect of the wind mill subsidy. In the long run, creating additional employment in one sector through subsidies will detract labor from other sectors, resulting in no increase in net employment but only in a shift from the non-subsidized sectors to the subsidized sector. Allowing for the theoretical possibility of wind employment alleviating possible regional pockets of high unemployment, a very optimistic ballpark estimate of net real job creation is 10% of total employment in the sector. In this case the subsidy per job created is 600,000-900,000 DKK per year ($90,000-140,000). This subsidy constitutes around 175-250% of the average pay per worker in the Danish manufacturing industry.

In terms of value added per employee, the energy technology sector over the period 1999-2006 underperformed by as much as 13% compared with the industrial average.

This implies that the effect of the government subsidy has been to shift employment from more productive employment in other sectors to less productive employment in the wind industry. As a consequence, Danish GDP is approximately 1.8 billion DKK ($270 million) lower than it would have been if the wind sector work force was employed elsewhere.

________________

1. 1. According to the OECD, Denmark has the World’s highest tax burden. This applies across a slew of tax sources, including personal income and value added tax.
   2. The wind power subsidy arrangements before 2001 were made directly by Government and are not available to the public.
   3. The “value” of European emission allowances since the European emission-trading scheme (ETS) started has varied between € 1 and €30 per ton of CO2.
   4. http://www.energinet.dk/en/menu/R+and+D/EcoGrid/EcoGrid.dk.htm

(See full study report; 2.8 MB, 39 pages,  PDF document)

The population of the Province of Alberta  (3.6 million) is comparable in size to that of Denmark (5.5 million), while its area (661,848 km²  or 255,541 sq mi) is 15.4 times larger than that of Denmark (43,098.31 km² or 16,640 sq mi).  It follows that the politicians’ push to create wind-energy generating capacity in Alberta will come at a considerably higher cost per capita than it does in Denmark, at considerably more than the Danish experience of $49 in GDP loss per annum per capita in Denmark.

The pursuit of the illusion of “free” wind power comes at a very real cost that we would be wise to avoid.

Posted in Energy Issues, Alternative Energy Sources, Climate Change, Community & Industry | Print | No Comments »

July 29, 2009 by admin.

Just a couple of minutes ago, a television reporter, accompanied by a camera man, showed up at our door and wanted to interview me regarding yesterday’s NRCB decision in favour of HAZCO’s application for the construction of a sulphur processing and shipping facility just 3 km east of Bruderheim and 6 km NE from the Town of Lamont.

By the way, the Edmonton Journal article on the NRCB decision (Jul. 29, 2009, bottom of page B3) gave incorrect distances to Bruderheim (2 km) and Lamont (10 km) from the HAZCO sulphur facility, but that reflects no more than the shoddy journalism that we have become accustomed to on this issue over the years.

Shoddy journalism is not necessarily the only reason why I refused to be interviewed on camera, but the CBC reporter was obviously inadequately informed to be able to perform an interview.  I explained that I had been working quite hard over the years on the HAZCO sulphur issue, that it appears that for all intents and purposes the Friends of Lamont County had given a fair and accurate presentation of the evidence at the NRCB hearing in April, and that on the balance of the evidence the decision should have gone against the HAZCO application.  However, now the decision has been made, and the development will most likely go forward.

There is nothing more I wish to do on the issue.   One heart attack is enough for me.

Aside from that, the CBC reporter was ill prepared to conduct an objective and informed interview.  She knew virtually nothing about the issues at stake and had obviously not made much of an effort to educate herself.  I did not ask her whether she had read the NRCB decision, but it appeared that she had not read it nor that she ever heard of or looked for the website in support of the Friends of Lamont County, at http://www.folc.ca. Nor did she even ask who I was or what my involvement in the discussion over the years had been.  Even though I gave her a number of leads that should have been part of an in-depth interview, it seemed that she was looking for nothing more than an opinion survey spiced up with sound bites.

I did tell her that I was not opposed to a sulphur processing and shipping facility, provided that it would be located a minimum of ten to 15 miles away from populated areas or population centres.  She did not ask what I base my preference on.  That illustrated to me that she did not have a clue as to how critical the distance of such a sulphur facility from residential properties is, and how much of a risk the facility poses to Bruderheim and area.

If you are a concerned resident of Lamont County, you may wish to refresh your memory on that.  Check the following links:

• Proposed Waste-Sulphur-Storage and -Handling Facility
• Environmental Impact of SulphurHealth-Impact of Sulphur
• Sulphur Poisoning
• Sulphur Fires

When the NRCB decision on the HAZCO sulphur facility will now be approved by the provincial cabinet, it will be nothing more than one of the first steps that will lead to a general exodus of residents, such as that which has been in progress in Strathcona County and led to the depopulation of the Industrial Heartland there over an interval of about 30 years.

Instead of promoting the thriving of rural life in the County of Lamont, the imposition of the creation of the Lamont-County portion of the Alberta Industrial Heartland and the licensing of oil-industry-waste processing facilities such as the construction and operation of the HAZCO sulphur facility will be the death of rural life and agricultural industry in the vicinity of Bruderheim.

Bruderheim and surroundings will gradually come to be seen no longer as an oasis in the vicinity of the petrochemical industrial area of Alberta (the largest such area in the world) but will come to be seen as being threatened by being at the centre of waste-processing facilities associated with Alberta’s petrochemical industry.

The only thing to do that is left to me and the members of my family is to make sure not ever to cast our votes for any party or political entities who made that happen.

Let’s hope that, when the music stops and the dance is over, there will be enough money to repair the damages.  It appears that the NRCB decision will not make certain of that.

Posted in Community & Industry, Hazco | Print | 2 Comments »

July 25, 2009 by admin.

Watch New Documentary: ‘Policy Peril: Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself’

The reference to the indicated video was found at http://www.climatedepot.com/.

Posted in Energy Issues, Climate Change, Community & Industry | Print | No Comments »

April 11, 2009 by admin.

The NRCB hearing of HAZCO’s application for the construction of a sulphur-forming, -storage and -shipping facility between Bruderheim and Lamont (less than two miles east of Bruderheim, SE of the junction of Highway 45 and Range Road 2002) will begin April 14, 2009 and last an estimated four days.

The location for the hearing: Lakeview Inn & Suites, 10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan

The start of the hearing: 9:00 a.m., April 14, 2009

Here is an important note by FOLC’s lawyer, Richard Secord, dated April 08, 2009:

…We heard back from the Board this afternoon and we have been given 2 hours to present our direct evidence.

Best regards,

Richard C. Secord, B.A., LLM

Barrister & Solicitor

The NRCB hearing is crucial to the future of the people who live in Lamont County.  What is at stake is essentially whether Lamont County — at the very least the areas that have been rezoned Heavy Industrial, and the areas adjacent to them — will within the space of a few years become as devoid of residences as is the Industrial Heartland in Strathcona County.

HAZCO’s sulphur facility poses a threat to residents within a large radius from its location (including the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont).  That is what is at stake at the NRCB hearing beginning on Tuesday.

It is in the best interest of every single resident of our county to attend.  It is especially in the interest of the residents of Bruderheim and Lamont to attend.

A good number of concerns by Lamont-County residents have not yet been addressed satisfactorily.  It is our health, our lives and our wellbeing that is at stake.

Make sure you are there!

 Lakeview Inn & Suites

10115 - 88 Ave, Fort Saskatchewan,

April 14, 2009, 9:00 a.m.

Posted in Community & Industry, Pollution: Health Issues, Hazco | Print | 1 Comment »

April 4, 2009 by admin.

Calgary Herald

April 3, 2009

Oilsands giant must pay $850,000 after pleading guilty to environmental violations

By Hanneke Brooymans, The Edmonton Journal

Energy giant Suncor was handed the largest fine in Alberta history for environmental violations Thursday after pleading guilty in Fort McMurray provincial court to charges stemming from two different incidents.

The oilsands company was fined a record $675,000 for failing to install pollution control equipment at its Firebag facility near Fort McMurray, and for failing to tell Alberta Environment about the oversight.

The company was penalized another $175,000 for failing to properly supervise a camp operator that allowed inadequately treated wastewater to flow into the Athabasca River. The fines add up to $850,000….(Full Story)

Posted in Community & Industry, Pollution: Health Issues, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

April 4, 2009 by admin.

Tampa Bay Business Journal

April 3, 2009

Florida governor makes federal case out of ‘Chinese drywall’

By Michael Hinman, Staff writer

Gov. Charlie Crist is seeking federal help in dealing with the growing concerns over certain drywall used in homes throughout Florida, calling on both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to step in….(Full Story)

Posted in Community & Industry, Pollution: Health Issues, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »

March 29, 2009 by admin.

Today I found a March 7, 2009 article about a train derailment in Louisiana.  It is a prime example of serious misconceptions about the environmental dangers of sulphur.

The article is mostly comprised of statements that describe unreasonable concerns or actions based on misconceptions about the dangers of a sulphur spill.  It is not that sulphur, especially in liquid form, doesn’t pose dangers, but the reactions described in connection with the spill of liquid sulphur in the train derailment in Louisiana are excessive and irrational.  Those reactions are about as irrational as is the decision by someone who fears accidents and as a result of that decides to remain in bed, so as not to have to face the dangers of life — while the reality of that is that most people die in bed.

Those comments do not mean that sulphur spills do not pollute the environment.  They do, but unless spilled sulphur contains a large portion of hydrogen-suphide gas (that is deadly in very small concentrations), or unless it became ignited and produces sulphur-dioxide gas (also deadly in very small concentrations), spilled sulphur does not pose much of an immediate and imminent danger to anyone.

In the case of the derailment at Plaquemine, Louisiana,

1. Emergency responders from the Department of Environmental Quality continue to take air and water samples at the site of a train derailment at the Bayou Plaquemine bridge in Plaquemine. Air monitors have been stationed at several areas around the derailment and there have been no readings to indicate any issues with air quality. (Note by folc.ca: It was a good thing that air quality was being measured when the sulphur began to flowfrom the leaking rail car into the bayou, but if there were no readings of hydrogen sulfide tobegin with, those readings will not very likely show up any time later.)
2. DEQ responders continue to take water samples at various points along the bayou. Real-time water samples and field analysis show no ill effects to the environment as a result of the incident at this time. However, DEQ will take additional water samples for further analysis. (Note by folc.ca: There is no way to tell from that what a field analysis would be, but to take water samples right now was and is a waste of time and effort, not unless the sulphur that flowed into the bayou would be left to deteriorate there without any further action.  If that is done, then the water in the bayou will without a doubt turn acidic over time.)
3. The department also brought in its Mobile Air Monitoring Laboratory to take additional samples. The MAML has the capability to take real-time samples as well as take readings from air canisters used at the site. The emergency responders are headquartered at the DEQ Mobile Command Center which has been deployed for this incident. (Note by folc.ca: It does not matter how or by whom air samples are taken in this case, a waste of time remains a waste of time.)
4. Early Saturday morning, five railcars derailed near the bayou. One railcar, containing molten sulfur, is leaking. The molten sulfur is leaking into the bayou where is solidifies and sinks. Presently, releases to the environment and any potential impacts are being contained at the site of the accident. There is little flow in the bayou and cleanup contractors have set out booms. (Note by folc.ca: Of course the molten sulphur solidifies and sinks when it comes into contact with the water.  It is heavier than water and will therefore not float, for which reason there is nothing to catch by the booms set up by the clean-up contractors (which contractors are nevertheless being paid handsomely for their useless efforts), but the sulphur will of course also be cooled down to the water temperature and therefore solidify.)
5. A Best Western hotel in Plaquemine has been evacuated. There is a limited shelter-in-place for residents near the scene of the derailment. Louisiana Highway 1 is closed near the bridge over Bayou Plaquemine. (Note by folc.ca: Those measures are overkill. Unles the escaped sulphur would have begun to burn, none of those measures were required.)
6. LDEQ, GOSHEP, Louisiana State Police, Iberville Fire Department, Plaquemine Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana National Guard, Union Pacific Railroad, Dow Emergency Services and Plaquemine Parish OEP are all currently at the incident site. (Note by folc.ca: What did they all do there, other than stare, talk and twiddle their thumbs?)
7. The State Police, National Guard and local law enforcement are directing traffic to alternate routes around Plaquemine. (Note by folc.ca: Why? There was no reason for doing so, unless the liquid sulphur was covering the road.)

Why was all of that done?  Was it to put on a show, to hide something, or do the officials in Louisiana truly not know any better?  What would they do if there would ever be a real emergency involving a sulphur fire?

Posted in Derailments, Community & Industry, Emission Incidents & Issues | Print | No Comments »