I think it is fair to say Alberta lost the public relations battle over oil a long time ago. The oil industry, as well as successive provincial governments in Alberta, did not take the opposition to oil seriously enough. As it turns out, the opponents have a great...
Energy
eZine: Ideas that change your world (Quarterly) Issue 1
Frontier Centre for Public Policy is proud to release its new premier quarterly magazine Ideas that change your world is our premier quarterly magazine delivering to you some of Frontier's latest thought-provoking, eye-opening, and captivating content from the past 90...
Property Rights Under Threat: GSI
Property Rights Under Threat is a new video from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy that covers the plight of Geophysical Service Incorporated, a Calgary-based business that specializes in seismic exploration.
The cancellation of the Energy East pipeline project by TransCanada Corporation, citing delays caused by the regulatory process, newly lengthened and thickened by Ottawa, is emblematic of forces conspiring against rational energy and regulatory policy.
Featured News
Canada’s Best Doctors Suffer the COVID-19 Inquisition
Some of Canada's best doctors have suffered undue trouble for sharing their concerns with lockdowns, masks, social distancing and COVID-19 vaccines. Authorities in the medical profession have treated these physicians like apparent heretics under the threat of...
Inflation and the Collective Debt: Consequences of COVID-19 Measures
The economic consequences of COVID-19 and the shutdown of the economy are difficult to evaluate. But some of them have begun to appear and risk hindering recovery. Inflation is one of these harmful consequences. In the USA, consumer prices jumped 4.2 per cent in the...
Election – No Time to Discuss Serious Issues
The former head of the Bank of Canada indicated that Canadians have to engage in a tough round of discussions about rising health care costs.
Canadians need to have a discussion about rapidly rising health-care costs, and soon, said David Dodge, former head of the Bank of Canada. Just not now.
What Really Threatens Our Future?: Beware of anti-energy policies claiming to prevent climate change
Energy sustainability is not about resource availability and pollution. Capitalism and human ingenuity have already addressed “sustainability” in these regards, if the statistics are to be believed.
Long Term Energy Supply
A leading bank has predicted that the world will run short of oil by 2060.
HSBC does not mean to scare you in its latest report, but it does point out that we are facing a massive energy crunch. That’s because the bank is just not optimistic there is much oil left in the world – in fact a mere 49 years of the black gold on current consumption levels.
While the article sounds scary, read a bit further into it and discover their finding is related to conventional supplies of oil. If prices stay at current levels or higher, unconventional oil such as tight oil and oil sands becomes profitable. Unfortunately, the article fails to mention how long those reserves will last. I have a suspicion that if oil sands supply from Canada alone is added to the mix, the crunch point is put off well into the future.
Compelled Investment
Manitoba Hydro has indicated that Bi-Pole III is now estimated to cost $3.2 billion, which is up $1 billion from their original estimate.
The cost of new hydro dam construction is also experiencing significant cost inflation. During recent PUB hearings, it was reported that the new Wuswatim dam will now cost $1.6 billion. That figure is nearly 80% above the initial budgeted cost of $900 million. Power generated from the dam is now expect to cost between 9 and 10 cents to produce.
Food Versus Fuel is Passe
Over time, we have read a lot about the food-versus-fuel discussion including here at the Frontier Centre.
While I can agree that market distorting subsidies should be eliminated, I do not buy into the narrative that using agricultural production capacity to produce energy is inherently evil.
Soaring food inflation is the result of “immoral” policies in the United States which divert crops for use in the production of biofuels instead of food, according to the chairman of one of the world’s largest food companies.
Smart Meters in California
PG&E, the utility in San Francisco, is offering to turn off smart meters for their customers for a price.
Earth Hour – A Dissent: An economist explains why he abhors Earth Hour
Why Earth Hour is a monumental display of ignorance about the true source of our lives and future prosperity.
Nuclear Panic in the Mass Media
A couple of submissions over at Small Dead Animals caught my attention today about how the media tends to get irrational about potential risks of anything nuclear or related to radiation exposure.
Remember back in the ’50s and early ’60s, when we set off something like 900 atomic bombs in Nevada? And how we just let the fallout blow wherever and it landed all over the eastern
US? And how it wiped out life as we know it and all that was left from Colorado to the Atlantic were six-legged rats battling two-headed cockroaches in the glowing ruins?
and the following tutorial on radiation exposure…
The Daily Mail on Wind Power
The Daily Mail rips into three big “lies” about wind energy.