Sustainable Energy in the News

Back when the automobile was young, many cars ran solely on electricity. At a time when you had to manually crank a gasoline engine to start it, battery-powered models offered the ease of simply pushing a button.

Cadillac’s introduction of an effective gasoline engine self-starter in 1912 changed all that. But today, concerns about fuel prices, oil reserves and the environment have automakers looking at a variety of vehicles that use electricity either alongside or instead of gasoline.

B.C. could pay off its entire debt by developing large, untapped sources of clean energy and selling the power to the U.S., says a new report.

B.C. Citizens for Green Energy say the province should be moving quickly to bring electricity on stream from wind turbines, small run-of-river hydro projects and geothermal and biomass sources.

BC Hydro's plans for rate increases totaling 15 per cent in the next two years and projections of more increases to come have lit up the debate about private power development and the government's push for electricity self-sufficiency.

Documents released with Tuesday's provincial budget show projected increases that would total a 33 per cent increase by 2013 if all the rate hikes were approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission.

Praised in the past as the greenest government in Canada, British Columbia came under fire from environmentalists yesterday for a budget they say negates the impact of clean-energy initiatives by offering bigger subsidies to the oil and gas industry.

One of the biggest sponsors of the Winter Olympics is also bullish on investing in British Columbia's green energy sector. General Electric has huge corporate presence at the 2010 Games, as a service provider, as a sponsor and as a broadcaster. Senior GE officials have also found the time to make some announcements regarding investments in the 2010 Olympics' host province.

The intensifying focus on environmental issues by governments at all levels, and the infusion of federal stimulus funding, is increasing the number of green jobs opening up across the country.

"With the stresses being put on governments to be more environmentally conscious and represent their constituents, they are taking the environment very seriously," says Grant Trump, president of the federally funded Environmental Careers Organization Canada.

Yvo de Boer, the UN's climate chief, has announced his resignation. In the wake of an unsuccessful summit in Copenhagen he plans to leave diplomacy altogether and join a big-business consultancy as a climate expert. German papers aren't sure what's worse -- his departure from the UN, or the disappointments of Copenhagen.