[All] GREN NEWS: Region's Clean Energy Potential, Divestment Update etc.

Sat Oct 16 18:59:50 EDT 2021

Hi folks!
I've been busy but lots of exciting news to send your way here. Let's begin with the most amazing news yet! 

Waterloo Region has do-able clean energy options

WR Community Energy has mapped out the opportunities for large-scale renewable energy production in the region including the best places for ground mounted solar, where best to capture heat from wastewater, and places to implement geoexchange.
A study showed it was possible to heat and cool the city’s innovation district using geoexchange because we have an aquifer with a constant 10 degree temperature we can use to heat or cool. This technology can cut green house gas emissions by 53%. The city has now put out a request for proposal for a designer to develop the idea.Other renewable initiatives include, among others, local hydro electric power plants, and the BioEN research and development facility in Elmira which generates power from organic waste. Full story here: 

Waterloo Region is uniquely situated to locally source much more of its power

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Waterloo Region is uniquely situated to locally source much more of its ...

We spend billions to import energy in to the region, and almost half of that is wasted
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Pensions and Climate Divestments
I've been focusing heavily on the economics behind climate change and participated in onilne Webinairs with the Ontario Federation of Labour to help workers transition as Fossil Fuels are phasesd out and to help expose and remedy the too close for comfort links of Carbon free investments to tech who in turn invests in Fossil Fuel sectors.  There has been research to expose the staggering power that Asset Managers have today. BlackRock alone can purchase 4 times the shares of the entire UK system. The voting power alone is staggering. Here is the website I created to relay the details from the OFL meeting and it outlines who we should be appealing to in order to affect changes.

Thread by @lulex on Thread Reader App

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Thread by @lulex on Thread Reader App

Thread by @lulex: Transition Plan for Workers can Prevent Unemployment as Fossil Fuels are Phased Out centreforf...
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Another thing I learned at the meetings was the anthropogenic damage to soil health and how it impacts carbon storage in the developed areas of the Boreal Forest where mining, fossil fuels, extraction sectors and manufacturing are having an impact via pollution. The three maps in the attachments show the issue quite clearly. Something to consider as we work to protect food security and our economy bound to it,  in the age of climate change. 

Climate Impacts and impact on Military Communities

US Department of Defence Climate Adaption Plan is now released. 
The first page, the forward states: We in the Department of Defense (DOD) know first hand the National Security Risk posed by climate change because it affects the work we do every day. 

(The way I see it, the US military has funds to invest into designing adaptation strategy so why no glean their logic to improve how we advance too? It's public info.) 

https://media.defense.gov/2021/Oct/07/2002869699/-1/-1/0/DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE-CLIMATE-ADAPTATION-PLAN.PDF?source=GovDelivery

The various risks of Climate Change and Defence departments can vary widely. Here are past published articles that tap into various risks they face

The crew of a British nuclear submarine nearly died in 140F temperatures after air-conditioning got clogged with crabs and barnacles in Indian Ocean.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2649074/Crew-British-nuclear-submarine-nearly-died-140F-temperatures-air-conditioning-got-clogged-crabs-barnacles-Indian-Ocean.html
Over 100 military bases are experiencing water shortages.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/12/02/more-100-military-bases-now-risk-water-shortages-gao-finds.html

Military already identified over 401 areas in the US conntaminated with PFOS/PFOA otherwise known as "forever chemicals". 
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-05/documents/dod_presentation_epa_summit_pfos_pfoa_may2018_final.pptxx_.pdf

In spite of all the work being done there appears to be a shortage of flood risk maps regarding US bases. We might wish to check on that in Canada as well. 
Lack of Flood Maps at Many U.S. Military Bases Creates Risks

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Lack of Flood Maps at Many U.S. Military Bases Creates Risks

By Dr. Marc Kodack The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required that for any proposed major or mi...
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Military bases in the US are at risk due to increased flooding, drought, and wildfires; thawing permafrost; rising rivers and coasts; and other effects of climate change. A GAO report from 2019 said the Pentagon was failing to use climate projections in planning. It named bases most at risk. These should be concerns looked at in Canada too. We may need to ask, is it worth it to maintain or do we simply need to rethink the whole set up. 
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2019/06/these-are-us-military-bases-most-threatened-climate-change/157689/

Canada's Oil for Weapons connections via Irvings
Oil and weapons are linked.“We have a sort of arms for oil arrangement,” says Anthony Fenton, PhD candidate at York University. “Buying oil from Saudi gives leverage in accessing the Saudi arms market, important for Canada’s arms manufacturers.”
What is the link between Irving Oil, Saudi arms and the war in Yemen?

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What is the link between Irving Oil, Saudi arms and the war in Yemen?

“We have a sort of arms for oil arrangement,” says Anthony Fenton, PhD candidate at York University. “Buying oil...
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Personally speaking the Irvings were behind the push of both Line 9 and Energy East. They receive the oil from Saudi and have no intention to stop that flow regardless of any new pipelines built and have publicly said that. https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/irving-oils-president-says-it-would-keep-saudi-imports-even-if-energy-east-goes-ahead
They are the only firm slated to receive product from BC's pipelines be it oil or gas and they have permission to ship Alberta's product through the Panama Canal to the East Coast for shipment to Europe and/or Asia. First shipment of Alberta oil arrives in Saint John after journey through Panama Canal | Globalnews.ca

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First shipment of Alberta oil arrives in Saint John after journey throug...

The arrival of the tanker off the Saint John coast is being celebrated by Cenovus Energy, who welcomed their "fi...
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There is no East Coast refinery that can process bitumen. this fact was well understood since 2013. Irvings uses a cracking system. It can't process this stuff. https://thenarwhal.ca/oil-export-tar-sands-bitumen-cannot-be-refined-eastern-canada/

An interesting report was published by CBC on September 10, 2018 because Saudi wasn't buying as much military equipment from Canada as people thought. The report stated these two very interesting passages: 

"Saudi Arabia — in part because of low oil prices and in part because of corruption and mismanagement of its own economy — has a large budget deficit," said Thomas Juneau, a University of Ottawa assistant professor and former National Defence analyst.
The kingdom has projected a budget deficit of $52 billion US this year and the country's finance minister said last spring it is on track to cut spending by seven per cent.

On April 15 2021 we saw this published by Alan Freeman at IPolitics who wrote: 

Here’s the latest bumph from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ website. “Despite having the world’s third-largest oil reserves, Canada imports oil from foreign suppliers. Currently, more than half the oil used in Quebec and Atlantic Canada is imported from foreign sources including the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Ivory Coast.”

Too bad it’s not true.

Guess how much crude Quebec’s two oil refineries imported last year from those supposedly awful places? Zero. And that’s for the second year in a row. 

According to the Canadian Energy Regulator’s latest analysis, Canadian crude oil imports tanked in 2020 because of low demand due to the pandemic, falling 20 per cent to just 550,000 barrels a day. An overwhelming proportion of Canada’s oil imports came from a single source, the United States of America, making up 77 per cent of crude imports, including all of the oil imported into Quebec and Ontario.
Full article here. 
https://ipolitics.ca/2021/04/15/good-news-about-canadas-crude-imports-the-oil-patch-would-rather-you-not-know/

So there ya go. We don't need Saudi Oil at all. We haven't needed it for years. 

Have a great weekend folks. 

Lulu 

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