Two thirds of electricity in Canada now comes from renewable energy

[Tennis]

http://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/...le-energy.html

OTTAWA — Two-thirds of Canada's electricity supply now comes from renewable sources such as hydro and wind power, the National Energy Board said in a report released Tuesday.

Renewable energy production jumped 17 per cent between 2005 and 2015. The portion of all electricity in Canada generated by renewables is now 66 per cent, up from 60 per cent a decade earlier.

"I think people don't understand just how much of our generation is the renewables," said NEB chief economist Shelley Milutinovic. "Probably very few people would know Canada produces the second most hydro in the world."

In 2015, China produced 29 per cent of the world's hydroelectric power, followed by Canada at 10 per cent.

In terms of all renewable energy, Canada ranks fourth in production, behind China, the United States and Brazil.

Hydroelectricity accounts for the majority of renewable electricity, with 60 per cent of all electricity in Canada coming from hydro. Wind power accounted for 4.4 per cent, biomass power was 1.9 per cent and solar power was 0.5 per cent.

Biomass power comes from burning organic waste such as wood pellets or methane gas produced by landfills.

Non-renewable energy accounted for the rest, with 16 per cent coming from nuclear power, about 10 per cent from coal and nine per cent from natural gas.

Ontario fully phased out its coal plants in this decade, with the last one closing entirely in 2014, dropping coal's share of Canada's electrical supply to 10 per cent from 16 per cent.

Hydro generation grew eight per cent between 2005 and 2015 but its overall share of the power generated in Canada remained constant at 60 per cent.

Wind power saw the biggest growth in the decade. In 2005 Canada produced less than 2,000 gigawatt hours of wind power, which accounted for just 0.5 per cent of all power. In 2015, it produced 20 times as much, more than 28,500 gigawatt hours, which amounted to 4.4 per cent of power generation.

A gigawatt hour of power is the equivalent of one million kilowatt hours. A kilowatt hour of power is the amount used to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.

Canada is the seventh-largest producer of wind power in the world.

In 2005, Canada produced almost no solar power at all. In 2015 it produced more than 3,000 gigawatt hours. Ninety-eight per cent of all Canadian solar production is in Ontario, where financial incentives drove the installation of new solar power plants.

In 2015, Canada installed 600 megawatts of new solar capacity, the 10th largest increase in solar installations in the world. China, however, added 15,200 megawatts.

The cost of solar production is the main barrier to new installations.

Chris Barrington-Leigh, a professor at McGill University's School of Environment, has done an analysis of the potential for growth in renewable energy production in Canada, said 2015 was a record year for new installations of renewable energy around the world.

He called Canada's renewable growth "a good start" but said the aim is to get to 100 per cent.

Electricity generation was responsible for about 80 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. Hydro, wind and solar power do not produce emissions from generating electricity, although there are emissions associated with producing and installing the equipment.

Barrington-Leigh said Canada has a lot of land without a large population, which makes it an ideal country to be able to get to 100 per cent renewable energy.

The report notes the main barriers to expanding renewable energy is concern about the price for consumers, as well as reliability.

Great to see. You can't help but applaud countries which are moving towards supplying more of their energy needs through renewables.

[PACOX]

Im the US we're going to make coal cool again

[Sykol]

Then why the hell are my bills still so damn high?

[Tyrianth]

Ontario has been completely off coal for a few years now. 50% of my energy comes from Nuclear

[Ghostpanther]

Then why the hell are my bills still so damn high?

Lol! It is not cheap to make those sources of energy. But it is better for the environment.

New Zealand I once read, is 100% reliant on Hydro power? Which being a small country, is certainly more possible.

[Wyrt]

No! Need to invest in more coal for reasons.

[Tennis]

Im the US we're going to make coal cool again

Why? Coal is not clean energy. It has a negative effect on air pollution as well.

[NED funded]

Aren't hydroelectric plants incredibly disruptive?

[Tennis]

Then why the hell are my bills still so damn high?

I mean...you could get some solar panels on your roof if you want to cut down on bills.

- - - Updated - - -

Aren't hydroelectric plants incredibly disruptive?

New ones yeah. Most of ours have been around for a long time.

[Ghostpanther]

Why? Coal is not clean energy. It has a negative effect on air pollution as well.

Hehe. I think you missed the sarcasm.

[jackofwind]

Lol! It is not cheap to make those sources of energy. But it is better for the environment.

New Zealand I once read, is 100% reliant on Hydro power? Which being a small country, is certainly more possible.

BC (my province) is 100% hydro-electric as well.

- - - Updated - - -

Aren't hydroelectric plants incredibly disruptive?

Yeah they cause a lot of problems when you first put them in, but ours have been around for a long time and the environment has adapted around them.

[Ghostpanther]

BC (my province) is 100% hydro-electric as well.

- - - Updated - - -



Yeah they cause a lot of problems when you first put them in, but ours have been around for a long time and the environment has adapted around them.

That is awesome. Any place which it is feasible and reasonable in costs, should be doing that. But in the US, we use so much more power than Canada does. A ton more. There are some places they use Hydro Power, such as Hoover Dam and some other places. Would be great if we could learn to harness the power of the Ocean on such a large scale as to power a country as large as the US is. But then again, that may have some negative impact on marine life along the coasts.

[MonsieuRoberts]

Yay Canada!

[Masark]

Then why the hell are my bills still so damn high?

Because you're in the other segment, getting about about 70% of your power from coal, another 20% from natural gas, a bit of wood, a bit of diesel, a bit of waste heat, about 4% from wind, and 3% from hydro.

[Sandraudiga]

Just keep in mind that Renewable doesn't always equal green. Some Hydroelectric power plants emit more greenhouse gases than the average coal fired power plant.

The reason for this is decaying plant matter in the large water reservoirs. As the water level falls plants grow on the edges, only for those plants to again be covered when the water level rises. When those plants die they decay and release huge amounts of methane which is 35 times more of a potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. There is also bacteria which emit methane but I don't know much about that so don't want to comment about that portion.

The label of renewable as good and non renewable as bad isn't as black and white as alot of people believe. Any hydroelectric plant which has a reservoir is a huge huge greenhouse gas emitter, and there just isn't enough natural locations of a suitable size and within a suitable range to do away with reservoirs entirely.

[wowaccounttom]

i dunno much about water or sunlight, but what happens in the middle of winter when the water is frozen and there is no sunlight to speak of?

no electricity over there?

[Alcan]

Why? Coal is not clean energy. It has a negative effect on air pollution as well.

My mother in law works for Transalta at a coal supplied power plant in alberta. The NDP have instituted a end for coal by 2030. Due to this Transalta announced that they will be cutting 150 jobs the December (just in time for christmas!) as they start switching the plant over to natural gas.

[Adam Jensen]

Im the US we're going to make coal cool again

Donald Trump is bringing back yuge coal jobs. Just tremendous coal jobs. Clean coal, as Andrew Jackson would have wanted it.

[Tennis]

My mother in law works for Transalta at a coal supplied power plant in alberta. The NDP have instituted a end for coal by 2030. Due to this Transalta announced that they will be cutting 150 jobs the December (just in time for christmas!) as they start switching the plant over to natural gas.

That's how progress works. When we switched to automobiles, people lost their jobs but we are all better off in the end. Frictional unemployment is part of life.

[Adam Jensen]

That's how progress works. When we switched to automobiles, people lost their jobs but we are all better off in the end. Frictional unemployment is part of life.

And it's unavoidable. Coal is losing its market share. Even if it wasn't, it'll run out some day. Those jobs are not forever.