Two thirds of electricity in Canada now comes from renewable energy

[Zeek Daniels]

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

Wind power is expensive. And it kills birds, you should be ashamed.

[minteK917]

More to it than just building a power plant. Gotta get the power somewhere with infrastructure. People seem to forget how big Canada is. New Zealand has 40% the land space of just Alberta, but servicing an almost equal number of citizens. This doesn't make things "easier" at all. It's the same problem with things such as high speed internet access. You're serving a wide area of supremely low density, so for every dollar spent on infrastructure, they're getting a fraction back in revenues compared to a smaller/denser nation for roughly equal costs of implementation.

We could be at or near 100% renewable energy in this country with the amount of power generated, but a bunch of it is sold to the US out east, because it's cheaper and easier to build short tracts of power infrastructure. We had net exports close to 60TWh of power to the US in 2015. We have the production capacity to generate enough power for all domestic use now, just no means to reliably get it there.

A national electricity strategy is desperately needed.

Real problem is that some province like Ontario and New found land fucked themselves in the ass on that front. Ontario still had decade of surpul electricity to pay for because of those aweful privatisation deal. We all run much different system.

[Orlong]

And Canadians also pay 60 t0 90% more for their energy than the US. Grats on getting skinny wallets

[minteK917]

I never claimed Ontario was cheap and I know the power issues in Ontario are outrageously stupid especially for people who live in rural communities, but coal is by far the cheapest form power generation. Hydroelectric is cheap to main (expensive to build) but requires the proper geography (something Quebec is blessed with) and can be pretty damaging the surrounding ecosystems.

Its really only those private deals thats increasing your prices and almost nothing else. Ontario has currently the capability to be completely self sufficient like every Canadian provinces bar Prince Edward Island. Once the deal is over if your government fix the half ass attempt to privatize your electricity back you can just sell surplus to the united states and instead produce profit.

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And Canadians also pay 60 t0 90% more for their energy than the US. Grats on getting skinny wallets

Quebec pays the lowest rate in north america... Manitoba pays the second lowest rate.

[Jastall]

Aren't hydroelectric plants incredibly disruptive?

At first they very much are. After a time the wildlife adapts to them for the most part. But as someone said, these huge reservoirs aren't super clean either. Hydroelectricity is not a perfect source of energy by any means, but overall it is indeed a pretty good one even if it does require loads of infrastructure.

[LMuhlen]

What about heat for those harsh winters? Is it electric based or mostly burning fuel?

[Tyrianth]

At first they very much are. After a time the wildlife adapts to them for the most part. But as someone said, these huge reservoirs aren't super clean either. Hydroelectricity is not a perfect source of energy by any means, but overall it is indeed a pretty good one even if it does require loads of infrastructure.

The reservoirs aren't actually that bad in northern climates. It's only worse than oil burning plants in tropical climates and only if the reservoir is bigger than it should be for the amount of power it generates. In Canada and Northern Europe, the reservoirs only generate about 2% to 8% of the greenhouse emissions that a fossil fuel plant generates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroe..._reservoirs.29

[minteK917]

What about heat for those harsh winters? Is it electric based or mostly burning fuel?

Electricity based for most major city. Those rules are up to provinces. In Quebec its pretty much all electricity based. In Montreal even wood fire during winter is not a legal system for permanent heating, its only allowed for occasional heating. Law was passed to remove smog during winter. I was a kid before the law was made i still remember the sky being orange during winter when i lived with my mother. Now the sky is clear during winter. Electricity is just the cheapest way for heat in cities, so the majority dont even have the cash to heat themselves with anything else anyway.

[Mazeari]

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.

googled it, thanks for the read/informative post.

[Aggrophobic]

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

It's also not that cheap no matter what Trump does.
It's just stupid.

[minteK917]

googled it, thanks for the read/informative post.

Canada has a unique geographical location that makes hydroelectricity the most efficient energy we can produce with the least impact on environment. It wouldnt work in tropical locations or territory with too few high currant rivers.. But Canada territory has more high flow rivers then the entire Europe combined.

If we really wanted the world to be cleaner. North America in its entirety could be powered by Canadian rivers alone. But those kind of plans only work in strategy games. Real humans arent smart enough or wise enough to actually work as a group on anything of that scale.

[Tyrianth]

Canada has a unique geographical location that makes hydroelectricity the most efficient energy we can produce with the least impact on environment. It wouldnt work in tropical locations or territory with too few high currant rivers.. But Canada territory has more high flow rivers then the entire Europe combined.

If we really wanted the world to be cleaner. North America in its entirety could be powered by Canadian rivers alone. But those kind of plans only work in strategy games. Real humans arent smart enough or wise enough to actually work as a group on anything of that scale.

Yup, according to Wikipedia the greenhouse emissions from our reservoirs is only 2% to 8% of a fossil fuel burning plant.

[Orlong]

Its really only those private deals thats increasing your prices and almost nothing else. Ontario has currently the capability to be completely self sufficient like every Canadian provinces bar Prince Edward Island. Once the deal is over if your government fix the half ass attempt to privatize your electricity back you can just sell surplus to the united states and instead produce profit.

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Quebec pays the lowest rate in north america... Manitoba pays the second lowest rate.

That chart neglects all the additional money Canadians pay in their taxes to the government to run the plants and generate the electricity. If they paid 5 bucks a month for electricity but 200 a month in taxes that goes to energy generation they arent paying 5 bucks a month for electricity

[minteK917]

Yup, according to Wikipedia the greenhouse emissions from our reservoirs is only 2% to 8% of a fossil fuel burning plant.

Thats not even counting that many of our source dont use reservoirs either. They are simply run of river type dam and produce even less emissions.

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That chart neglects all the additional money Canadians pay in their taxes to the government to run the plants and generate the electricity. If they paid 5 bucks a month for electricity but 200 a month in taxes that goes to energy generation they arent paying 5 bucks a month for electricity

Every province has its own system. As far as im aware only Quebec has the entire control of its electricity from the government. But no even in Quebec it doesent work as you say. You pay directly to Hydro-Quebec and Hydro-Quebec sends back its profit outside of its running and development cost back to the government actually.

Indices Difference Info
Consumer Prices in United States are 12.04% higher than in Canada
Consumer Prices Including Rent in United States are 19.75% higher than in Canada
Rent Prices in United States are 39.38% higher than in Canada
Restaurant Prices in United States are 13.81% higher than in Canada
Groceries Prices in United States are 14.21% higher than in Canada
Local Purchasing Power in United States is 14.88% higher than in Canada

The cost of living has always been higher in the US. and within Canada its always the highest in Ontario.

Hell we can even compare similar sized cities. Montreal is only slightly bigger then Philadelphia.

Consumer Prices in Philadelphia, PA are 28.98% higher than in Montreal
Consumer Prices Including Rent in Philadelphia, PA are 51.86% higher than in Montreal
Rent Prices in Philadelphia, PA are 119.12% higher than in Montreal
Restaurant Prices in Philadelphia, PA are 30.80% higher than in Montreal
Groceries Prices in Philadelphia, PA are 25.01% higher than in Montreal
Local Purchasing Power in Philadelphia, PA is 19.73% higher than in Montreal

You would need around 6,833.55C$ (4,978.66$) in Philadelphia, PA to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 4,500.00C$ in Montreal

Next time bring from facts, too bad im speaking to orlong lmao.

[Puremallace]

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

US is currently divorced from reality right now. You will have to give us a few years to fix this down here.

[nToxik]

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

Ha ha I seriously LOL'd

[Deleted]

I saw Canada and wondered if this was a Tenniceface thread. I was not disappointed.

Keep going, Tenniceface. You're doing God's work.

OT: That's great champ. But you need to look into that last third. You're not truly progressive yet.

[Yvaelle]

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.

FWIW, I used to work in green energy research and development. The potential energy in the ocean is very alluring yes. The challenge with harnessing ocean power always comes back to the same problem though: the sea is a cruel mistress.

1) It's super turbulent and very strong. The sort of material stress from all directions - and the variability of that physical stress (sometimes calm, sometimes devastating) - means virtually any material you put in the ocean is going to bend/break/rip eventually. Short operating life is a problem when you are dealing with expensive new energy tech.

2) It's got everything in it. Beyond the physical torment that anything in the ocean experiences, you also need to account for the chemical and biological diversity/exposure. The ocean has pretty much every substance imaginable in it, somewhere, in trace amounts - but if your material is impervious to everything but Arsenic. Well - given enough time in the ocean, it's going to corrode due to the trace Arsenic levels. If your material is impervious to everything but radioactive elements - too bad - you are going to get trace radioactivity eating your material over time too. Maybe your material under ideal circumstances is impervious to every chemical in its perfectly engineered state - but some molluscs grow on it and muck up the surface, or an Octopus comes along and coils around it - distorting the shape.

Designing materials for space is easier than designing materials to survive moving parts (for kinetic absorption) in the ocean. We will figure it out eventually - but solar and maybe even fusion holds more promise in the next few decades.

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You're not truly progressive yet.

To be fair, we're never truly progressive - it's a path - a doctrine of change: not an end-state.

[Breccia]

And Canadians also pay 60 t0 90% more for their energy than the US.

Canada had a real problem with acid rain back in the day. Now, they're exporting lumber so much, that Trump declared a trade war on them.

I'd say going green is probably working out for them.

[Molis]

Renewable energy is not green, or cheap, or progressive.

It is just not "coal" so people can pat themselves on the back.