Ontario, Quebec say they won’t shoulder oil sands burden

Quebec and Ontario are not "going to carry higher emission-reduction burdens", but will of course continue to soak up the equalization payments that the oil-sands projects generate for the Canadian economy.

Thanks hypocrites.

More truth about recycling

After a researching the benefits of recycling a few years ago, I realized that there was little benefit to recycling most of what we actual do recycle. I found out through research and talking to people the following things:

• Much of what we recycle ends up in landfills anyway for lack of a buyer
• Plastic is particularly bad to recycle, as it is almost impossible to make high quality plastic from recycled plastic (I talked to an actual plant manager of a plastics factory)
• It costs millions of dollars to run these programs
• Most businesses don't recycle, they are not part of the curbside programs. The same goes for apartment buildings
  

I realized, that for the most part, the curbside recycling programs are only socialist wealth transfer systems. More low-skilled jobs for people. Most of the jobs are probably unionized as well. I realized that plasmafication instead of incineration is likely the way to go. An example of this technology is being built in Ottawa.

Now we have another article with more experts, making most of the same points above, saying recycling is nothing but a shame. Somehow I am sure, the leftists will say that these experts are not experts at all. No, they are merely shills of the land waste industry, fossil fuel industry, or the mob. They don't want to hear the truth.

Whenever I read another article about this, I always think of the Penn and Teller episode on recycling. That was a good watch.

I pledge to get greener in more ways then one

Despite what some will say, going greener isn't selling out to the environmental nut jobs out in cyberspace. I am all for a clean environment today, and for the future. We differ on the priorities. Clean air, clean water, clean soil, sustainable farming that will feed everyone on this earth. Those are my priorities.

I pledge to drive to work less and carpool more, therefore dumping less particulate matter into the atmosphere (more clean air), and having the side effect of saving money!

A big h/t to Vancouver Secrets for this link.

Coal use vs the GDP

A commenter posted on my blog about the record usage of coal in response to my post on the decrease in gasoline usage in the United States. He is right, the United States is using more coal now.

But honestly, what do you expect?

As the economy grows, more energy is required. Bringing more energy on the grid takes time. Most of the renewables are not reliable enough yet, so, old ways of creating energy are restarted. Coal plants work, they are reliable, and pretty cheap. Until greener alternatives come online, coal will be used to handle peak demand.

As you can see by this chart, coal usage has kept pace to, or lagged behind GDP growth. (Please note: I am neither an economist, nor a statistician, if there is an issue with the graph please don't attack me personally over it. I am not trying to misrepersent the truth here. I gathered the numbers from the link the poster had in his comment, and from sources I googled online.)

Hopefully, scrubbers and other clean coal technology can be employed to mitigate the health and environmental risks associated to coal power. This is irrespective of which side of the climate change debate you fall under.

This is the same issue the Ontario government is having trying to decommission the old coal fired generating stations.

Guess what we are using 800,000 less a day of?

Barrels of oil, that's what.

The Globe&Mail is reporting that the US is using 800,000 less barrels of oil a day. This downward trend is expected to continue through 2009.

What can we learn from this? The Green (as in our money) Shift (as in distribute the green to core constituencies) is not required. Market forces did the trick. Damn capitalism.

Due to reduced demand, oil prices have dropped. The market has corrected. Since we are a petroleum currency, the dollar has dropped to 0.94 USD. This should help our beleaguered manufacturing and services industries.

Also, as the Canadian and American people drop their SUVs and trucks for smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles, they are unlikely to switch back to SUVs and trucks even if the dollar continues its downward trend. (I can't see it going too much lower).

If Stephane Dion is so foolish to force an election and fight over this issue, I will be sure to campaign hard against it. Putting a price on carbon is one thing, I can deal with this. Taking my upper-middle class tax dollars (single income at that) and giving it to their core constituents is a complete other thing.