According to Bloomberg, rulers of Canada, the United States and Mexico have announced the North American Climate, Clean Energy and Environment Partnership. New electric transmission lines are to be built; the use of hydroelectric, other renewable, and nuclear energy is to be increased, and carbon sequestration is to be instituted. Methane releases from the petroleum, agricultural, and waste industries are to be reduced. Subsidies for fossil fuels are to be ended "by 2025."
President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto completed a one-day summit in Ottawa Wednesday, where they unveiled a commitment to see half of the continent's electricity generated by clean sources by 2025.
"For too long, we've heard that confronting climate change means destroying our economies," Obama said in a speech to Parliament Wednesday after the summit concluded, praising efforts in Canada and the U.S. to cut emissions and drive growth. "This is the only planet we've got and this may be the last shot we've got to save it. And America and Canada are going to have to lead the way."
The pledges, in what was was Obama's final North American Leaders' Summit, underscore a renewed push to strengthen an alliance that had been soured by the rejection of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline last year. The improved continental ties were fueled in part by the election of Trudeau's pro-environment Liberal Party to power last year.
The leaders also announced changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement, "liberalizing" rules of origin for a range of products, while calling for action to address excess global steel supply and illicit financial flows that could benefit terror groups.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by GungnirSniper on Friday July 01 2016, @07:07PM
That's because every damn proposal the Left has offered has been to give the government even more power over everything. They do this all the while blocking "scary" nuclear energy, hydro dams for fish, and fracking over "chemical injections". So if this actually includes generation of clean power and doesn't make West Virginia and North Dakota into ghost states, it might work. Maybe some of the new plants should go there?
Of course, when our God-Emperor Trump begins his reign all bets are off. Or when Her Royal Highness Queen Hillary gets new marching orders from Wall Street.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday July 01 2016, @07:19PM
I too was struck by apparent about face on Hydro and Nuclear.
Seems far too unlikely to be true that much of this is going to be "real", or "real soon".
Canada has lots of untapped Hydro, and even in the US there are opportunities for more hydro projects (although the best sites are long since developed). But just try to build a new dam anywhere these days!!! We are tearing out dams far faster than we are build them.
Most discussion of expanded grid inter-ties goes hand in hand with relying on fewer and fewer giga-sources. Seldom are new Nuclear plans even discussed, let alone permitted. And the rage these days is reducing dependency on the grid with local solar and wind.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday July 01 2016, @07:46PM
Obama the Nuclear Leftist?
Are you basing this query on preconceived notions or knowledge of his actual stance on the matter? Because I can see reference to his pro-nuclear stance [nei.org] going back as far as 2011. [washingtonpost.com]
And, his much-maligned Clean Power Plan also includes nuclear in the list of low-carbon power sources [thebulletin.org].
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday July 01 2016, @07:08PM
while calling for action to address excess global steel supply and illicit financial flows that could benefit terror groups.
How much do you want to bet that tail ends up waging the rest of the dog?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by quintessence on Friday July 01 2016, @07:55PM
I'm cautiously hopeful.
Bainite steel has the opportunity to spread steel into newer markets (competing directly against aluminum), and a comprehensive grid (not sold on renewables yet) policy will at least make adapting future forms of energy much simpler.
As far as funding terrorist organizations...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AARtO88G5Ag [youtube.com]
Maybe in the next life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 01 2016, @07:12PM
Southern California has one of the most expensive electric services, SDG&E is one of them at about $100 per month just for electricity for a 3 bedroom house with no a/c. There's a huge desert 100 miles east that has sunny days 95% of the time that would be a great location for solar farms, yet no plans to build there. And, a range of mountains that would be perfect for wind turbines. Instead... they built fuel using "topper" generating stations around the area to keep up with peak demand a few years ago. It seems to me they'd rather build and use expensive solutions instead of providing low cost solutions.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 01 2016, @07:20PM
SoCal already has more solar generating capability than they need. They are in the process of figuring out how to export it. [vox.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 01 2016, @07:35PM
I just read that article. Instead of shutting down the expensive fuel eating power during excess generation, they shut down the solar plants.
"Every so often, solar panels in California produce more solar energy than the grid needs. When these oversupply events occur, grid operators manually "curtail" solar production, cutting some panels off from the grid, effectively letting clean, zero-carbon energy go to waste."
Stupid. This is why our rates are so high.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 01 2016, @08:35PM
Yeah. They are soooo stupid.
It would be so much cheaper to spin down and spin up power plants that are not designed to be turned off for just a couple of hours!
Why aren't you in charge? You'd fix everything!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 02 2016, @03:48PM
The "topper" stations were designed to come online within seconds. They're running 24/7 last I heard. I think we found the utility troll.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Aiwendil on Friday July 01 2016, @07:23PM
I'm gasping for air from laughing to hard at how I first read that
(Score: 3, Funny) by frojack on Friday July 01 2016, @07:42PM
laughing to hard
And, once again, you've fallen victim to Muphry's Law [wikipedia.org].
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by danaris on Friday July 01 2016, @07:34PM
I think one generally refers to democratically-elected non-absolute heads of state as "leaders" or something similar...
Dan Aris
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 01 2016, @07:45PM
Let them start acting like it and maybe...
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 01 2016, @08:37PM
That depends if they are english or metric rulers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 01 2016, @07:47PM
I'll grant you it's been a long time since my last civics class but don't treaties still require legislative branch approval here in the US? So, just a bunch of hot air or is BO playing God Emperor again?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Friday July 01 2016, @08:51PM
Didn't see any mention of a treaty here, Just a Partnership of common goals.
An actual treaty would be binding, and this looks more like the work product of a two day summit meeting, which means it is meaningless grandstanding and legacy building.
Nothing will come of this other then a little fence mending.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 02 2016, @12:27AM
but don't treaties still require legislative branch approval here in the US?
The executive branch negotiates those treaties.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 02 2016, @10:30AM
Granted but they're legally obliged to seek Senate approval before committing us to anything.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday July 01 2016, @11:06PM
Or, at least, the plan they've been following for some time now:
1. Shift all the heavy industry over to China.
2. Blame the Chinese when global warming continues unabated.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Saturday July 02 2016, @02:12AM
China may well be producing Thorium reactors before North America does.
THE THORIUM PROBLEM - Manufacturing & energy sector hobbled by thorium [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 02 2016, @02:22AM
Yep, they have to bring back manufacturing jobs or else the migrants surging across the borders will revolt and the people will be even weaker in relation to the elites.
Oh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 02 2016, @10:19AM
Astounding progress across every clean energy sector:
Nuclear
https://www.iaea.org/PRIS/WorldStatistics/UnderConstructionReactorsByCountry.aspx [iaea.org]
Wind
http://www.gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Top-10-new-installed-capacity-Jan-Dec-2015.jpg [gwec.net]
Solar
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_by_country [wikipedia.org]