“Anti-Petroleum” RCMP Explodes Gasoline In Their Cars’ Engines

RCMP called ‘anti-petroleum’ critics (aka anyone concerned about climate change) a potential security threat http://t.co/sollGvyhdB #cdnpoli

— Keith Stewart (@climatekeith) February 18, 2015

The RCMP have displayed Climate Change Denial symptoms. This is bad for Canada, because if the police tasked with interfering in climate change related activism do not understand the science that drives the determined actions of peaceful activists, then they’re more likely to act against protesters without a measure of human sympathy.

@climatekeith @JohnKleinRegina Like these "dangerous" people:) pic.twitter.com/wZ71TpEu2n

— margaret resin (@margaretresin) February 18, 2015

Remember that RCMP bombed an oil installation just ~15 years ago.

Their lawyer produced evidence that the RCMP bombed a wellsite and that they did it with the full support of the energy company that owned it. The Crown admits the allegations are true.

The Royal Canadian Motorized Police will be seeing you.

RCMP's climate denial makes us look like idiots on world stage & chills democratic dissent http://t.co/pBn7x8CCrz #cdnpoli

— Keith Stewart (@climatekeith) February 18, 2015

ADDED: Some response to the RCMP.

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Meanwhile, the NSA continues to break everything, and spy on everyone.

The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world’s computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives.

That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.

Tweeter’s Block

I’ve a mild case of Tweeter’s block. I guess that means I need to write on my blog instead.

"#TweetersBlock" is a terrible thing. It doesn't mean you've nothing to write, rather you can't write it in under 140 characters.

— Saskboy K. (@saskboy) February 16, 2015

What’s going on? A whole lot of nothing, and a lot of somethings simmering. My to-do list is impossibly long as usual. At least some of them I’m really looking forward to. For instance a US vacation, and even a possible trip to Calgary coming up soon if weather co-operates. I also get solar panels installed in a couple months. I need to start seedling planting soon, and plan a community garden for my condo’s courtyard (which was delayed last year on account of my premature and short-lived death, and recovery.

And people keep asking me if I’m running for City Council again, which I can say with assurance that I’m on the fence and waiting to be pushed off one way or the other. I see umpteen others give up on improving Regina and move away, and that’s not an option right now, nor do I hope it becomes one. At least there are also good people still moving to here.

I got the basement cleaned up finally in preparation for the Spring flooding/leaking. Even managed to pick up the dehumidifier we need on sale last month. A friend in the city also pounced on the same deal.

With it being 2015, and with the City and country having made no progress on reducing carbon emissions or the energy efficiency of homes or businesses, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll be able to stop climate change. There’s probably still value in trying anyway, as a large part of the effort is in improving transportation quality, and building community, and doing those things will never go out of style.

I’ve more to say, but not sure if I want to share them with you right now.

Why Is Canada Selling LAVs to Saudi Arabia?

This shocking news story came up about a year ago, but it’s back in the news because oil crashed, and Alberta tarsand hillbillies freaked out about Saudi Arabia (finally).

The Light Armored Vehicles will be used against civilians protesting injustice in a theocratic, and authoritarian country.

A Gram of Prevention is Worth a Kiloliter of Benzine

If you don’t know how to fix things, stop breaking them.

Stewart, however, said it could take months for the steam to cool and the pressure to drop. He said that means any leaks from the well could continue for months.

He also expressed doubts that a cleanup is possible

“I don’t know how you get benzine out of an aquifer. There’s no process for filtering it out. It’s basically a mix of carcinogenic chemicals into this underground water system. It’s not like you can put in a scrubber and clean it all up,” Stewart said.

“The only solution to this is prevention, to actually make sure the technology being used it safe and not just taking the company’s word for it but actually having a strong independent regulator who’s looking after the public’s interest rather than issuing orders after the leak has happened.”

Harper Has No Plan B

The Hill times regarding the recent plunge in oil, and unspent money on renewable energy:

Liberal MP John McKay (Scarborough-Guildwood, Ont.) said the report is evidence the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) has favoured Alberta’s oil and gas industry at the expense of other sectors.

“We’re not nearly dead last in climate change progress for nothing, we worked at it, and we worked at it by emphasizing the oil sands in preference to everything else,” he said.

“So when we have this impending oil deflation, the price of oil deflation, all of our eggs are in that basket and because all of our eggs are in that one basket, we’re just watching that basket sail down the river, and there is no plan B,” Mr. McKay said.

SaskPower, How’s That 14 Year Test Going?

Dear SaskPower,

I’m interested in seeing the statistics regarding the electricity generated by the test panels installed on the Saskatchewan Science Centre, in the attached picture, and as mentioned in the below quote from your website a couple years ago.

Solar research:
In 2000, we installed a photovoltaic array at the Saskatchewan Science Centre for research purposes. Results showed that the cost savings realized from the solar energy system cannot effectively offset the capital costs for installation. As a result, this technology is better suited to niche applications where connection to the grid is uneconomical or when passive solar enhancement is desired. For the purposes of scientific demonstration, this project continues to be in operation.

At present (2012), solar power is not suitable for large-scale generation in Saskatchewan because of its high cost and low capacity factors.

Given technology has advanced somewhat in the ensuing 14 years, what is SaskPower’s present outlook regarding large scale solar on the grid? The New York Times, and Forbes note that large-scale solar generation appears to be a cheaper means to generate power than coal, despite its inability to provide overnight baseload power (barring some designs of solar power towers).

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/business/energy-environment/solar-and-wind-energy-start-to-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?referrer&_r=4

Notable author Chris Turner says that installed PV costs in Alberta have declined more than 90% since 2000, without government support. What is SaskPower doing to capitalize on this fact, since less than 1% of our electricity is presently solar based?

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Also see SaskPower’s earlier predictions.

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Good news in Saskatoon, unless the Council stops it from happening.

Janson Anderson, director of customer programs for SaskPower, said that, despite lost revenue, the organization supports homeowners powering their houses with alternate energy sources and that about 260 SaskPower customers across the province currently use solar power as part of the company’s net metering program. Despite dropping prices of solar panels in recent years, Anderson said there remain “significant upfront costs” in installing solar systems and so anything cities can do to ease that burden will help more people utilize solar power.

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One way to think of this stat is that it takes the equivalent solar power of 50 homes to power ~50 gas cars.

Equipping 50 homes with solar panels is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 260 tonnes a year. the equivalent of getting 51 cars off the roads.

Are Gore, Suzuki, and Neil Young Hypocrites for Using Oil?

No. They are victims of circumstance, and despite their wealth and fame, they alone cannot change ‘the system’.

A voice from the Facebook-sphere intones: “I appreciate your commitment and respect what you are trying to achieve but bashing fossil fuels while you continue to use them adds no value to your cause.”

Not true. As Shane’s made plain, there’s no means for someone to hop off the oil bandwagon, because we’ve built our society around it for generations. It will take generations to leave it behind (completely), but that isn’t an argument to stop trying. Quite the opposite, it’s time to get started in a more serious way than the last generation.

I’m sick to death of the people mindlessly attacking people like Gore, Young, and Suzuki for “using oil” while speaking against it. Obviously they have to use mass transportation and mass communication presently available to reach people. To command that they stop today, or be hypocrites, is a very thinly veiled attempt to outright silence them.

There’s a particularly nasty and brainless bunch on Twitter who earlier this year said I should shut up because I owe my life to oil. Bow down, and tremble like them before thy oily god. They owe their lives to a stable climate and clean water, so why then do they work against the availability of those supposed ‘commodities’ while using what’s left of them? These same twerps are the sorts who claim that “CO(2) isn’t a pollutant because plants eat it“, except they’d never agree to be trapped in a contained environment with “too much” of it, or contemplate its greenhouse effect.

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Here are solutions to the problems we all face: