The multifaceted consequences of man-made climate change are real,
they are growing in scope and scale,
they can be remediated if we really choose to do so,
and fixing planetary warming will actually cost less financially than living (and dying) with the current path.

That's the point of this website. One person making small efforts isn't enough.
Why not save yourself some money, and make the planet better for your future?

As time permits, I'm going to put the esoterica I encounter related to climate change here rather than trying to update the various pages. So this will be in reverse chronological rather than logically organized within the structure of the rest of this website. Please don't rely on this as a consistent and current source for climate change information updates. Sadly, we cannot rely on our corporate-controlled mass media for good information on this, and my time is limited.

Past blog pages:
2019: May    June    July    August    September    October    November    December   
2020: January    February    March    April    May    June    July [COVID gap]
2021: [COVID gap] October-December
2022: January-February    March    April    May-August    September    October    November-December
2023: January    February    March-April    May-July    August-September    October-November    December
2024: January    February    March    April    May    June    July    August    September    October    November    December   
2025: January    February    March-May    June-July    August-September    October    November-December   
2026: January    February    March    April    May    June   

2026.08.11 A message of hope - the premise of this site is to show the reality, suggest changes that work, and give people cause to try.

Today, I got a message seeking support for The Guardian. I like their coverage on climate change; it aligns with what I'm trying to do here. Whether you choose to support them or not is your decision. (I'm not seeking financial support; this is my contribution to a world that our grandchildren might survive on.) However, I thought I would share the message from George Monbiot.
"Dear reader,
There are many reasons to despair: our green and pleasant land is parched and brown, reservoirs are depleted, and wildfires are wracking the UK, Europe and the US. But there are many more reasons not to despair: despair is self-fulfilling; despair is disempowering; despair is what the bastards want you to feel. But above all, despair is irrational. Let me explain why.
"However sophisticated our forecasting tools may be, we simply have no means of knowing what comes next. Like the climate, like every ecosystem, society is a complex system. Its properties and adaptive responses cannot be predicted by studying its components in isolation, regardless of the brilliance of social scientists and futurologists. Things happen – unexpected things – sometimes at astonishing speed. In other words, society has tipping points. It can quickly flip from one equilibrium state to another.
"Take Ireland, to give just one example. Until a few decades ago, the Republic of Ireland was a Catholic theocracy. It had been that way for centuries. If anything, during the first 70 or 80 years of the 20th century, the Catholic church seemed to tighten its grip. Breaking that grip was almost unimaginable. But then a number of events combined in unexpected ways. A series of appalling scandals came to light: systematic sexual violence, the kidnapping of women and children, slave labour and mass mortality in church institutions. Travel and mass media allowed Irish people to see what social and sexual liberation looked like in other countries. The media and international forums allowed brave activists, whose voices had long been suppressed, to be heard more widely. The walls fell faster than anyone could have guessed. Before long, equal marriage and the right to abortion were both legally sanctioned: a shift that had been almost unimaginable. "The same can be said for the collapse of state communism, and the end of just about every empire and monarchy that once looked unassailable. The fossil fuel empire is not exempt.
"The complex system we call society has two equilibrium states: impossible and inevitable. The change we want always looks impossible. Votes for women? You must be off your rocker. Independence for India? Britain will never let it go. Civil rights? Ridiculous! But with sustained pressure, a bit of luck, a change in circumstance, bang!, the impossible happens. Then everyone says, "Well, that was inevitable, wasn’t it?"
"I think we could be approaching a tipping point on climate breakdown. For years we’ve been told, “You're asking for the moon. Fossil fuels are here to stay.” Part of me has believed it. But now, as the Guardian’s reporting has shown, suddenly fossil fuels are far more expensive than renewables. Suddenly it is green technologies that are generating vast employment and income. Suddenly, technological barriers that looked insuperable have come tumbling down. Suddenly, fossil-funded politicians look outmoded, ridiculous, corrupt. Suddenly, we are waking up to the need for urgent action, as heat shocks hammer the message home.
"The trouble with a tipping point, whether positive or negative, is that you never know in advance where it might be. You can see it only in retrospect. If we have already caused so much global heating that the Atlantic current system is destined to collapse, or cascading failure of the Amazon rainforest is locked in, we don’t yet know. But similarly, if the conditions required for a major social shift have already lined up, we won’t know until the system flips."

As Keith Addison would have said, 'Strength to your arm".

2026.08.10 If you think oil prices will go up as strategic reserves are depleted, what's your plan?

Oil in U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls below 300 million barrels, lowest since 1983 (CNBC)
Thinking that U.S. reserves aren't a problem if you live elsewhere? It's a global market.
Diesel prices surge on tightening global supply (Reuters 2026.08.10)
How do you think your food gets to the store where you buy it? Almost certainly diesel trucks.
Do you need a fossil fuel exit strategy (FFES)?

2026.08.10 Presumably now that NOAA has reported some truth, the U.S. Administration will shut it down

Contiguous U.S. breaks its record for hottest month ever, NOAA says (CBS News)
Even if you hear these kinds of news items from around the world often enough, will you ever be convinced that climate change is real, here now, and a threat to you, your family, your friends and community now? Not centuries from now, actually happening now in North America, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. The feedback loops are real and accelerating. The primary driver is burning fossil fuels, and now massive wildfires are contributing as well. And if you acknowledge the reality, are you prepared to act?

2026.08.10 Will this change encourage British electricity consumers to start making their own? Like data centres?

Millions in Great Britain could face emergency power cuts at short notice (The Guardian)

2026.08.09 If you are contemplating solar panels for your FFES, tuck this away for future use

3 Ways To Make Your Home's Solar Power More Efficient (BGR)
If you already have photovoltaics, give this a read now.

2026.08.06 If you read nothing else today, read this article. 4 minutes. Stark and concise, what we know but back-burner

The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing The World's Climate (Current Affairs)

2026.08.06 Climate change is changing how wildfires behave, including reigniting burned ground

As Forests Burn Again, BC Is Changing Tactics 'On the Fly' (The Tyee)

2026.08.05 [FFES] This is oil demand destruction that won't be coming back. Investment decisions are being made quickly.

Germany's Energy Demand Falls as High Prices Hit Oil Consumption (OilPrice.com)
As for the transmission bottleneck to slowing renewables adoption, why not just skip the bottleneck?
The fastest solution to transmission bottlenecks is to put renewables production at or near the high demand areas. Wind turbines beside factories, solar panels on warehouse roofs, storage batteries at substations.
Utilize household PV generation and house batteries into virtual power plants (VPP), like Vermont. That just uses the existing distribution wires networks more efficiently and within their existing handling capacity.

Those investment decisions will lead to long-term impacts on global energy trading and systems, and just as well as refined oil capacity, refined oil products production and transport are all suffering long-term damaage right now, from Russian refineries and export points, to U.S. mismanagement of the Venezuelan production reducing output, to Trump's self-contradictory senile ramblings about the Iran conflict causing global uncertainty and more attacks on oil production in the Middle East, there isn't much evidence in sight that oil production and delivery is going to recover anytime soon.
In fact, U.S. oil product inventories are continuing to shrink - so how does that align with dropping fuel prices in North America in early August 2026? It doesn't.
And what's up with Saudi Arabia dropping its oil exports to the U.S. to zero as of July 2026 for the firtst in 40 years? Market mayhem.
What's your Fossil Fuel Exit Strategy (FFES)?

2026.08.05 PV plus storage is replacing coal in Minnesota, because of better financials and deployment speed, not a better environment

Minnesota's largest coal plant is being replaced by 1.7 million solar panels and giant batteries (TCD)

2026.08.05 Free fuel for decades to come, fast and cheap to deploy, no emissions, no fossil fuel addiction

High bills, cheap panels drive a Philippine solar surge (Agence France)

2026.08.05 Over 50% of overall generation was from renewables, with solar being the leader for the first time

Solar power was Portugal's main source of electricity in July - a first for the country (euronews)

2026.08.04 Note the rate of acceleration for PV adoption: 68 years, then 2 years, and 2 years again per Terawatt

The World Adds a Third Terawatt of Solar Power (Yale Environment 360)

2026.08.03 What if you could run a train without diesel or coal, but using emissions-free, cost-free fuel?

Argentina's solar train brings zero-emission travel to an ancient trade route (electrek)
This isn't fantasy stuff. Switzerland is installing solar PV panels between the rails on some tracks. Train car roofs are sun-facing pretty much all the time a train is operating (a few tunnels creating shadow). The braking of electric trains can regenerate electricity to feed back into a rail connected energy storage system. Batteries are increasing in capacity by mass and volume continuously now, and their weight can be positioned below the cars to add to stability. Most subway and LRT trains now operate on electricity using grid connections. Fast charging can be deployed anywhere the train will stop for more than a few minutes, which is typical of stations where passengers embark or disembark. However, it faces one immense obstable: decision-makers without the vision, intelligence, patiency and courage to embrace a lower-cost, cleaner, safer, more passenger-friendly future. Until then, fares will keep increasing as diesel fuel and maintenance of aging equipment continue to rise.

2026.07.31 This data centre got it mostly right with battery storage and local generation

Veolia to operate 350MW gas-powered microgrid for Ohio data center campus (Data Center Dynamics)
This is close to my idea of a rational approach to power supply for the supposed coming massive crop of computer centres to support vendor-dependent 'AI' solutions. They have paid attention to water use, and a strategy to reduce that. They are planning to implement their own microgrid independent of the local legacy electrical grid (and riling up the neighbours with sucking their grid dry as many other 'data' centres are doing in the U.S. now. They are installing a large storage battery, presumably to cover any on-site power failures and possibly pull power from the local grid if that price is lower than the fossil fuel they will be burning (e.g. overnight most days in most of the U.S.). But from a financial and risk point of view, relying on the U.S. natural gas supply seems short-sighted and unwise. Natural gas prices are rising in the U.S. due to increased demand for air conditioning and exporting LNG, and some major U.S. gas fields are declining. There is a backlog of orders for gas turbines in North America due to these same demand factors. IMO, they would be smarter to implement a PV 'farm' locally as they are faster to deploy than NG turbines, provide the lowest life cycle cost for electricity today (zero ongoing fuel costs), and there is currently a glut of PV panel production globally. They're already installing a large battery system anyway for power continuity.

2026.07.31 [FFES] "An energy transition born not from abundance, but vulnerability". Post-Hormuz, that feels familiar.

From crisis to capability: Lessons from Denmark on how to quit fossil fuels (Renew Economy)

2026.07.31 Not immediately obvious, but this is oil demand destruction driven by erratic supply and rising price concerns

A wind turbine blade can run beyond 170 feet, and when it wears out a Tennessee company bakes the whole thing down to recover the clean glass fiber the industry once paid to bury (News Flow)
First it was EV batteries cause more pollution than gas and diesel-burners and overwhelm landfills. Those were lies.
Then it was Compact Fluorescent Lights were extremely dangerous. In reality, not so much given they lasted longer than incandescents reducing falls risks (health issue), and used less electricity reducing pollution.
Then it was wind turbines are huge bird killers. Exaggerated, coming in far behind domestic cats, windows in buildings and vehicle collisions, pesticides and pollution.
Recently, it's old wind turbing blades. However, people got creative with repurposing big sections of non-rusting, non-rotting sections of composite materials for park benches, big sign-posts, marking land boundaries, etc. And now it turns out that the stuff the turbines are made of can be recovered and reused.

2026.07.28 [FFES] VPP based on stored electricity reduces dependence on fossil fuels for peak demand

2026.07.27 As aged-out wind turbine blades are starting to appear in small volume, people are figuring the recycling value chain

Oil Market's Glut Narrative Just Blew Up (Oilprice.com)
Trump's oil war is starting to bite. Supplies are constrained and strategic reserves are being depleted. Prices are being artificially constrained, but the tipping point is approaching. The U.S. has doubled down on more oil consumption as Doug Ford has doubled down on burning more American natural gas.
How do you see this going? Higher oil prices AND a global recession? Canada betting on increased oil sales 10 to 15 years from now? When the world will have quit the oil games.
What if China switches from supplying oil from its reserves to buying to restore it's reserves? Oops, already happening.
What's your fossil fuel exit strategy? [FFES]

2026.07.27 If you're considering an EV or hybrid as part of your Fossil Fuel Exit Strategy, read this article

Now, I should provide some context. The car is over 9 years old with over 102,000 km on it. This is the first major service on it; the first time it has disappointed us. It was the original 9-year-old accessory battery that failed. (How long do the 12-volt batteries in your gasser last? I never got that in any of mine.) The main traction pack tested as within warranty range performance (degradation is expected over time). We are on the second set of summer and winter tires, and this is likely the last year for these summers. Wiper blades are an annual event (autumn), and we buy washer fluid 16 litres at a time. We have replaced brake pads front and rear - once. Regenerative braking is amazing. The car still looks good; a few rock chip impacts have flecked off some paint. $634 looks big today, but if I think of it as $70 a year over the time we have owned it, that brings a different perspective. If you're looking at something new now, remember the 2017 Leaf is primitive technology with a tiny battery compared to most of what you will find available today.

2026.07.27 Curiously, while Doug Ford keeps chaining Ontario to U.S. natural gas, he ignores Ontario's natural gas

• the escaping gas (both H2S and methane) are health hazards
• Ontario imports huge quantities of fossil methane ('natural gas') from the U.S. contributing to a Canadian trade deficit and dependence on U.S. supply
• the methane emissions from the leaking abandoned wells are significant GHG emissions contributors
• capturing and processing this gas would enhance Ontario's methane processing capacity, and could be used to displace U.S. imports
• that same processing capacity could be used for raw biogas to add that methane to the Ontario distribution system, displacing U.S. imports and saving Ontario consumers money and reducing dependency on an unreliable supplier

It would take a significant show of support from Ontarians to make this happen, as it would likely be inconvenient (read: an additional cost) for Doug's preferred energy importer - Enbridge).

2026.07.26 The oil games continue. Are you betting on global recession, gasoline rationing in the U.S. or U.S. withdrawal from Hormuz?

Oil Market's Glut Narrative Just Blew Up (Oilprice.com)
Trump's oil war is starting to bite. Supplies are constrained and strategic reserves are being depleted. Prices are being artificially constrained, but the tipping point is approaching. The U.S. has doubled down on more oil consumption as Doug Ford has doubled down on burning more American natural gas.
How do you see this going? Higher oil prices AND a global recession? Canada betting on increased oil sales 10 to 15 years from now? When the world will have quit the oil games.
What if China switches from supplying oil from its reserves to buying to restore it's reserves? Oops, already happening.
What's your fossil fuel exit strategy? [FFES]

2026.07.26 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements continue. The business computer with 4 monitor and other peripherals consumes an average of 46 watts based on 48 hours of monitoring.

2026.07.22 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements continue. The main floor LG refrigerator with freezer consumes 70 watts average based on 17 hours of monitoring.

It isn't surprising this is the big load so far. It gets opened a lot, and it is tasked with making ice. It may be the last device to be powered by this arrangement, not because it's the big consumer, but because the wiring run would be the most complicated.

2026.07.21 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements continue. The broadband modem + WiFi hub consumes 18 watts average based on 26 hours of monitoring.

2026.07.20 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements continue. The second chest freezer also consumes 44 watts average based on 60 hours of monitoring.

2026.07.20 Just when I thought Ontario had taken the top spot for dumb electricity decisions, Alberta steps up

2026.07.19 This data point from Australia may not map directly to other countries - unique circumstances apply

2026.07.17 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements continue. The first chest freezer consumes 44 watts average based on 20 hours of monitoring.

2026.07.16 Got your Fossil Fuel Exit Strategy [FFES] ready yet? The price of oil is about to get truly expensive globally (and so is the cost)

This article sets out a few triggers for higher oil prices, but misses a few big ones: the U.S is net crude oil importer and its consumption rising; Russian oil exports are falling due to timorous, on-again off-again sanctions by the U.S. easily gamed by China, India and others; the Russian Northern Sea Route isn't as easy as they thought it would be; and Ukraine is increasingly effective at reducing Russia's oil infrastructure (extraction, refining, transport, storage, and delivery to export terminals and its own domestic market).

Canada doesn't have enough refining capacity for its own needs, so if those that export gasoline and diesel to us experience difficulties or choose to reduce supply to us, our gas and diesel vehicles will become driveway ornaments.

There is no indication I can see that Canada is building or planning more refineries.

A reminder that most of the natural gas used in Ontario (a Doug Ford forced dependency) comes from Pennsylvania, and the industry bet on LNG exports from Canada and the U.S. along with increased demand for electricity (gas-fired generation) due to hotter summers and higher air conditioning load plus coming demand for AI computer centres are going to increase that demand and price.

You can bet I'm wrong and pay the higher prices, or you can take some small actions to protect yourself and household. Your call.

From a Canadian economic and security perspective, Canada makes it's own electricity, and exports a surplus routinely to the U.S. From a household perspective, you can produce your own electricity (e.g. with solar panels), but you can't make your own gasoline.

2026.07.16 MIT thinks climate change could increase energy failures by as much as 500 percent by 2050 in a BAU scenario

Step 1 Where are the reliability vulnerabilities felt most now?

Step 2 Where are they likely to be keenly felt in the next 50 years? E.g. centres served primarily by hydro generation and the supply rivers are drying up.

Step 3 Plan to put more distributed generation in or near those vulnerable centres. E.g. rooftop solar designed for hot season cooling of the buildings beneath them, floating off-shore wind turbines for coastal and freshwater shoreline communities.

Step 4 Install more energy storage at the periphery of the vulnerable centres along the existing transmission lines to provide interim supply when the supply line is interrupted (generation outage like natural gas generating stations in Alberta which fail in cold weather, or transmission line degradation in very hot weather or failure due to storm damage including flood washouts).

Step 5 Install new heavy loads like AI compute centres and factories where there is surplus power now because data fibre and electric trucks are cheap by comparison, and can be deployed faster.

Step 6 Seriously implement measures to improve energy efficiency like efficient lighting, heat pumps, heat and coolth storage, and stop burning stuff that makes massive amounts of waste heat like nuclear fission electricity generation.

2026.07.16 More global oil demand destruction; this specific trend won't be limited to China

Typical refining process gets about 45 litres of diesel (and 80 litres of gasoline) from a barrel of oil. Ignoring the gasoline component for this specific item, 500 million litres of diesel displaced would elimnate the need for over 11,000,000 barrels of oil to be produced, shipped and refined. Those latter steps account for at least 10% of the energy in that diesel, so the net impact will be more in the order of 12,000,000 barrels of oil not needed. (Yes, the gasoline component is also important, but as the world outside the U.S. is shifting away from increasingly expensive gasoline, that market demand is also shrinking.)

2026.07.16 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements begin. The Woods refrigerator consumes 58 watts average based on 26.5 hours of monitoring.

2026.07.16 From abandoning climate change action to gifting oil pipelines to industry that says is doesn't need them, it's hard to argue with this one

2026.07.16 PV price rises falter - making the clean transition more affordable

2026.07.16 Now we know the real reason Carbon Capture funds were retained by the current U.S. Administration

2026.07.15 [GDLS (drivers)] The rate jump wasn't the only issue. There's also the increasing number of outages.

The outages are not generally long - a couple of minutes to a couple of hours. However, we remember the Ice Storm outage of 1998, in this house (City of Ottawa). Recent flooding due to a record setting rainfall with many houses flooded in our area triggered that - imagine if that had fallen as freezing rain.

Step 2: how much power do they use - average and peak? Time for some measurements and label reading. Now, where's that Kill-A-Watt? More later, as I expect to be monitoring each device for 24 hours to get a feel for the power requirements.

2026.07.16 Now matter how much the energy robber barons try to green wash it, burning stuff never ses to be a green solution.

2026.07.16 [GDLS] The power consumption measurements begin. The Woods All Fridge consumes 60 watts average based on 26 hours of monitoring.

2026.07.15 Local utility jumps rates along with more outages - what's a lowly consumer / ratepayer (and enviro energy geek) to do?

Hydro Ottawa customers to be zapped with higher bills in 2026 (CTV). $5.87 a month, plus a $1.80 a month retro fee for the next year, plus taxes. Call it $8 monthly. It seems impossible to figure out how much of a percentage increase this is, as the "Delivery fee" is based on a formula that the utility does not explain on their website. So, I figured as this was an annual increase, I could start by comparing the Delivery fee from a year ago to the most recent bill and figure it out. June 14 2025 $48.04 June 15 2026 $58.25 or a 21% increase. But my consumption was higher, so that probably isn't a valid comparison. Still, the core issue is the bottom line number on the invoices, so reducing consumption would resolve my $7.87 a month issue.

Given my on-peak rate is $0.40 a kWh, shaving 20 kWh out of the most expensive time of day over a month (20 weekdays), cutting out 1 kWh per day average between 4-9 p.m. weekdays would do the trick. Balcony solar might cover some of that, but it's not legal here. Reducing my household electricity demand at peak demand times will allow Ontario Power Generation to use less fossil fuel, as peak demand is largely powered by natural gas here. I'm beginning to appreciate a little step into grid defection might have some merit here. Stay tuned for some [GDLS] posts.

2026.07.15 Sales of zero-emission vehicles soared almost 20 per cent in May, according to Statistics Canada, with more than 18,000 sold across the country.

2026.07.14 This approach could work for Canada - on the Great Lakes, the east and west coasts, and in the next 20 years, the Arctic Ocean

2026.07.14 Batteries are also faster to deploy than new-build turbines as they are generally custom-built and back-ordered globally

2026.07.14 We need more towns and communities taking control of their own energy resource agenda to lower costs for residents and reduce pollution

2026.07.13 The cost of PV installation has risen 18% due to the rising demand to get off fossil fuels, but the fuel is still free

and Solar costs jump 18%, but remain the cheapest generation to build, Lazard says (Reuters).
However, the costs of fossil fuels are also rising, and PV remains the new build electric generation technology which is the lowest cost and fastest to deploy, and produces green energy with minimal maintenance for decades. With intelligent use of agrivoltaics, it can even enhance food production on the land where it is installed.

2026.07.13 The average temperature in France appears to be abut 10 degrees C.

Today the highest temperature in the country was 35 degrees C. That's a difference of just 15 degrees C. France shuts down nuclear reactors as heatwave intensifies (euronews).

Now consider the situation in Ontario, which is pushing ahead with one of the most aggressive nuclear fission build-outs in the western world. Average temperature in southern Ontario where most of the stations will go (using Toronto data) is about 10 degrees C. The high forecast for tomorrow is 35 degrees C, pretty much the same. When will Ontario's nuclear plants start shutting down due to heat?

2026.07.09 Having played a role in saving the Beaufort Sea Project Reports and Technical Papers from the Harper knowledge purge, I applaud this.

How Canadian scientists are stepping up in the race to save climate data (National Observer).

2026.07.09 What's the valuation of a house which will be in a desert 50 years from now?

"Imagine a city that's pollution-free:" (The Driven).
Volvo delivers first 10 Australia-made battery electric trucks, with 700 km range, 40-minute recharge
Look Ma, no hydrogen fantasy here, just truly clean, cost-effective heavy-haul land transport being delivered in quantity, today.

Yes, diesel is lighter than batteries, but the CO2 produced in the trip is not. 300 gallons of diesel burned produces about 3 metric tonnes of CO2, or about 10% of the load capacity of the truck.

2026.07.09 Study in Amazon finds past models provided severe underestimates and manmade methane emissions are roughly double those from natural sources

Airborne Observations Reveal Underestimated Riverine Methane Emissions Across the Amazon (AGU Geophysical Research Letters).
The letter repeats the long-standing undercount of methane GWP100 as 25 (it's 28), but more seriously ignores the GWP10 number of 104 or higher, which is more relevant as the life of methane in the atmosphere is about a decade, not a century.

2026.07.06 You think there could be connection to the biggest wildfires and heat-related deaths there, too?

Western Europe has hottest June on record [2026] (WMO).

2026.07.06 What's the valuation of a house which will be in a desert 50 years from now?

US Cities Projected To Become Deserts In 50 Years (Yahoo).

2026.07.06 Note the caveat "high-quality" carbon credits/markets - so much being flogged is questionable

Carbon Markets Just Had Their Most Important Moment in Years (OilPrice.com).

2026.07.04 The global energy landscape is shifting - away from the instability caused by Trump and Netanyahu

Asia Bets on Biofuels to Dodge Middle East Oil Shortages (OilPirce.com)
Domestic biofuels production is more secure than importing oil and oil products. Another lesson from Hormuz and Russia leading to more substitution, seeking more efficiency and reducing demand for expensive and unreliable imported LNG and oil products. Canada west of Manitoba should be paying close attention.

2026.07.02 [FFES] Sigh, more hydrogen hot air as excuse for 158-turbine onshore wind project in NS

Nova Scotia approves plans for the province's largest onshore wind farm (CBC)
Germany isn't going to buy green hydrogen from Canada; it's going to increase it's own renewable energy production because it's cheaper and it means they won't be trading one set of supply-line vulnerabilities (Russian gas, middle-eastern LNG, U.S. oil products) for a new one (Canadian hydrogen). In the short term, it might take some Canadian LNG via swaps because the geography doesn't work.

So the worst case scenario is that NS Power might have to use this renewable energy itself, and possibly export some to the U.S. Free fuel makes a compelling argument as data centre demand for electricity and water currently appears to be infinite. NS could even choose to burn less imported coal for electricity production. Coal which comes primarily from the U.S. and South America, because climate change isn't real, right Juan and Fiona?

2026.07.01 [FFES] Ontario gets a renewable natural gas (landfill gas) facility (read ASAP, posts here disappear quickly)

MEDIA ADVISORY: Waste Connections of Canada to Celebrate Opening of Renewable Natural Gas Facility in Chatham-Kent (Yahoo)
As Doug Ford's government is hooked on fossil methane (aka 'natural' gas), and his chosen dealer Enbridge brings in its supply from the U.S. for Ontario to snort, any shift to displace the GHG emissions from U.S. fossil gas with domestic renewable gas is likely a step in the right direction. In the case of landfill gas, it even destroys methane that would otherwise vent into the atmosphere, doing 100 times the damage of carbon dioxide in a 10-year period.

There's even a Canadian federal incentive program for landfills to retrofit for biogas capture and destruction (usually burning).

There are other sources of renewable methane available in Ontario: waste water treatment plants; biodigesting of farm waste like manure and crop residues which will also yield sludge suitable for composting and fertilizing crops and municipal food and other organic waste. And there's my wild idea, but it makes too much sense for governments.

2026.07.01 [FFES] Home batteries will reduce fossil fuel use in most cases, but these rising costs are the wrong reason

US home battery installations hit record high on rising electricity costs (Ars Technica)
The price is rising due to inflated demand, and most of that is because the AI merchants are trying to lock up existing stable supply in long-term contracts, which means utilities are looking for more infrastructure than U.S. industry is prepared to supply (copper, aluminum, steel all subject to illegal 25% to 50% import tariffs) for wire, cable, transmission towers, transformers, power electronics ...) When the prices go up due to the hiked prices, the costs will get pushed onto regular ratepayers because the big AI consumers got themselves cushy long-term deals.

Governments at all levels should be preventing big, new customers from getting legacy priced electricity while regular ratepayers get stiffed. Governments should be requiring that new for-profit data centres actually pay the real costs of their energy and water use. In fact, the data centres should be required to bring their own electricity and water supplies, as they have no loyalties to the towns and rural areas they are invading with minimal ongoing jobs just because they have water supplies and legacy electricity generation.

However, until that happens, homeowners may want to make their household electricity supply more robust with batteries and renewable energy generation as the new big power users will make their local grids less reliable and more expensive for everyone else.

2026.07.01 Big mistake! Big! Huge! Let me count some of the ways

Gas plants for US data centers to be major source of climate change-linked emissions, report says (OilPrice.com)
1) Speed to deploy - serious gas and coal power generation require very precisely manufactured steam turbines. World-wide the waiting list for a complete generation station is now measured in years. That's why the tech bros are so busy trying to fleece small utilities into providing preferential supply, long-term, low-costs supply deals. Bad news for their existing customers who will shoulder the cost increases and outages as the big customers get first call on available electricity.
(If your local utility starts talking about this, start looking at your power security options ASAP. You might even be able to reduce your ongoing electricity costs with small investments in efficiency, conservation and micro-generation. If the question comes up locally, argue for legalization of 'balcony solar' plug-in systems.
2) Business opportunity window - in my opinion, the AI thing is a bubble with stock prices being manipulated via media coverage and the tech bros may end up with much less revenue than they're forecasting and a lot more gear than they need to meet the demand. If the gear isn't running at capacity, it shouldn't need as much electricity to run the equipment and more importantly, cool it. Also watch out for water demand, local river levels and ground water tables may be lower.
3) Cost to deploy - the tech bros would be better off financially to use renewables and energy storage (coolth and electricity) than fossil fuels - because wind and sunlight are free, and right now, solar panels in bulk are cheaper than new build fossil fuel plants for the equivalent capacity (going with 3 times the nameplate for solar as a fossil fuel plant). Also, are the tech bros planning on how they're going to provide electricity if their primary generation goes down for maintenance and they don't implement storage?
4) Cost to fuel - the tech bros may not have noticed, but natural gas and oil prices are going up right now as a result of depletion of fields in the U.S.; the Trump-initiated Strait of Hormuz fiasco; Ukraine's success in reducing Russia's ability to export natural gas and oil; and basic greed in the fossil fuels industry. The price of sunlight and wind remained unchanged - free.
5) Health impacts for for residents downstream and downwind from the new fossil fuel generation plants. The world doesn't need any more sacrifice zones and cancer alleys. Solar panels could even reduce cancer (melanomas) by providing people with shade if installed in locations based on intelligence.

2026.06.29 [FFES] This isn't much of a price hack; it's just using the price signal - but you can't do that with an oil-burner.

When is the cheapest time to charge an electric car at home? (Drive)
I have written about this before in the Ontario context. The ULO rate is $0.04 per kWh vs. $0.40 for the On Peak rate. It's a real financial incentive to shift your electricity use from expensive electricity to cheap elecricity when it's on sale every day at 90% off. Not just for EVs, for any electrical load, like A/C, water heating, drying laundry, running the dishwasher ...

Why does this matter for climate change? Because if you shift from using fossil fuels to electricity for your ride, the amount of fossil fuels burned is reduced. And, because in most places, if there is a discounted electricity period, it's because renewables are supplying more power than the grid actually needs so that's likely green electricity you're using. Further, in most places if there is a high on-peak rate, it's because that's when the utilities are bringing their most expensive electricity online, typically coal and natural gas, which create GHG emissions. So, take the hint, buy the cheap electricity, save your money and reduce upstream GHG emissions.

2026.06.29 [FFES] Update on our hot water energy consumption (another win: nearly free hot water)

For background, check my May 26th (long) post
Due to a household anomaly, we finally had a day where the hot water heater tank (resistance electric) was the only major electric load from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. (no EV charging, no electric clothes dryer running, no dishwasther on).
Reviewing data over a few days before, Hydro Ottawa's smart meter reporting (hourly) shows our house has a baseline consumption of approximately 0.75 kW (computers doing charity work, fridges, freezers, phantom loads, etc). At ULO rates, that's about 3 cents an hour, so it's worth shifting load into the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. period daily (and hard to justify heroic measures to reduce consumption during this period).
During this opportunity to isolate the power consumption of just the electric resistance hot water tank, the data showed a blip up for an hour: to 0.84 kWh in the first hour, and back to baseline in the following hour (0.76 kWh) and remained there for the rest of the overnight period.
Conclusion on this one-time data collection: the energy use for water heating in our house for a day is 0.08 kWh (the hot water tank is on a timer which only allows heating from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.).
At $0.04 per kWh, the total cost for a day of hot water is now $0.0032 - a third of a cent. Effectively: FREE. (OK, it's 10 cents a month.)
The simple seasonal solar-assist pre-heating is free.
For comparison, our last full-month natural gas bill based on real readings (not Enbridge estimates) - which was entirely about hot water heating as the gas furnace was removed last November leaving hot water as the only natural gas use in the house - was $42.67. As that was a 30-day billing period, the daily cost was $1.42.
Savings box score: net savings on energy use for hot water: $42.57 per month.
End of gas water heater tank (replaced by purchased electric hot water tank) rental savings: $29.23 per month.
End of household dependence on fossil fuels: priceless.

2026.06.29 [FFES] Time for a Cdn CBAM equivalent for all imports, starting with U.S., fair game if CUSMA is not extended

2026.06.29 [FFES] Somebody in the Philippines is thinking with a future view - rehab for fossil fuel addiction

2026.06.29 [FFES] This is NOT V2G - stop confusing the terminology and stories

2026.06.27 Juxtaposition - as German roads fail due to hot weather ...

2026.06.27 Agrivoltaics is evolving to embrace regenerative mixed use farming

2026.06.23 [FFES] Sometimes the real wins are unexpected and a long-time coming

2026.06.16 Bad news for Ontario electricity ratepayers, the PC government has locked into U.S. natural gas and U.S. nuclear technology.

2026.06.15 Global sea level rise - it's the heat, even more than the melting glaciers

Bing Bing Bing! Finally, support for what I thought was obvious (but that paper's title really submerges the lede.)

People don't really think of water as expanding, but it you ever put a completely full pot of cold water on a stove and turn on the heat, if you're paying attention, you'll see it overflows the rim before it gets to a boil. (If you plan to try this at home, be prepared to prevent scalding injury when the reflex to mop up kicks in. Perhaps start with a tall, very stiff aluminum foil container in a dry pot, putting water only in the aluminum container. That way, the spilled hot water just ends up in the pot, not on you. Use a medium heat so the pot doesn't get damaged, the objective isn't to boil the water (evaporation losses), but to observe the thermal expansion.

Short form, if you want to protect your magnificent ocean coast property (or city or country), stop heating up the ocean.

2026.06.13 [FFES] Looking at our electricity bill

Now that our house is off fossil fuels, it's time to have a closer look at our electricity bill. For the past month, it came to C$147.93. That may seem like a lot to some people, but remember our situation is not typical for Ontario. We use no natural gas, so our heating shows up on the electrical bill (heat pump). We have two daily driver EVs, so extremely low gasoline cost (about $30 for the past month due to a couple of longer trips. No gasoline powered tools.)

(Numbers are approximate for convenience.) Of the total, $27 (18%) is taxes and regulatory fees. Not much we can do about that in the short term other than reduce the bill related to consumption. For us, a big part of that is time-shifting our electrical loads where possible from very expensive times of day ($0.40 / kWh from 4-9 p.m. weekdays) to low cost times (11 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily at $0.04 / kWh), a factor of 10 difference. We used about 98 kWh during On-peak times over the month, or about 5 kWh per weekday average, or 1 kW continuously during those hours. That's about $35 of our bill before taxes ($121) or 29%, for 10% of the total electricity we used. Given the 300% price premium, yes, I would like to pare down our electricity use during the most expensive time of day.

At the other end of the price scale, we consumed 522 kWh for $20 before taxes, or about $0.039 per kWh.
54% of our electricity used is just 17% of our bill, because it is used overnight.
That's when we charge our electric cars, which get about 7 km per kWh. Or about $0.006 per km (including taxes). By comparison, our remaining gasser, which is fairly fuel efficient, currently costs about $0.11 per km, ignoring ongoing maintenance costs like oil changes. That's 18 times more expensive per km than using ULO charging at home in our EVs. At 16,000 km per year, that's about a $1,664 saving per vehicle.
Thinking about an exit strategy for your vehicle's fossil fuel use now?

2026.06.12 What do big truck fleet operators in India kow that you don't?

2026.06.12 LNG is about as dirty as coal, and the market time-line is heading towards a glut (and price collapse)

2026.06.12 [FFES] Obvious solution: more storage to meet this specific demand situation (which will be repeated). Count on the fossil foolers to find campaigns against more battery storage.

2026.06.11 [FFES] Worldwide, half the countries have passed peak electricity generation using natural gas, shifting to less expensive renewables

2026.06.11 Gains to date are mostly due to U.S. agricultural subsidies for road vehicle engines to use ethanol blends starting decades ago.

2026.06.10 [FFES] Could car-pooling save you fuel, vehicle wear and tear, and driving stress?

2026.06.10 I4PC is shutting down after concluding that its advocacy is insufficient to drive change without regulatory backing

2026.06.09 [FFES] Energy efficiency: it's kind of cool when doing the right thing saves you money

2026.06.08 What's your fossil fuel exit strategy? [FFES] Don't you think you should have one by now?

2026.06.04 This isn't a light read, but if you are one who can still read and think independently, please give it a go.

IMO, as I have written before, the starting points are:

• clean air / sufficient oxygen in the atmosphere (impact in minutes);
• sufficient drinkable water (impact in hours);
• stable, local food supplies (as supply lines become more fragile) (impact in days to weeks);
• adequate shelter for climate conditions (which will be more feasible if we stop raising the temperaure) (impact minutes to years);
• freedom from aggression (impact minutes to years); support for education for all (impact generational).

2026.06.02 Canada has the natural gas for LNG exports, but 2 things are missing; robust infrastructructure and a rational financial plan.

2026.06.02 Does NB really need a fossil fuel generating station using U.S. natural gas, or would a less expensive, zero-fuel option be viable?

Past blog pages:
2019: May    June    July    August    September    October    November    December   
2020: January    February    March    April    May    June    July [COVID gap]
2021: [COVID gap] October-December
2022: January-February    March    April    May-August    September    October    November-December
2023: January    February    March-April    May-July    August-September    October-November    December
2024: January    February    March    April    May    June    July    August    September    October    November    December   
2025: January    February    March-May    June-July    August-September    October    November-December   
2026: January    February    March    April    May    June   

You can find many earlier postings (going back to year 2000) related to climate change at:
Keith's List Archive and
the Sustainable Biofuel List Mail Archive.

I present a lot of information in this blog and on this website. If you need some help sorting through the noise level and getting a forward-looking, proactive approach to climate change for your business, I can do that work for you via my consulting business. Contact