My Clean Break column today is actually more of a feature looking at compressed-air energy storage (CAES) and how Ontario, geologically, would be an excellent location to give it a try. About 50,000 natural gas and oil wells have been drilled in southwestern Ontario over the past 150 years and most of them are depleted. Turns out that depleted gas fields are one of several types of underground reservoir that can be used to store compressed air. Salt caverns are another option, and we have plenty of those as well. In fact, 60 per cent of Canada’s natural gas storage is in the region. Compressing and storing air wouldn’t be that different technically. (more…)

When John Sheridan decided back in February 2006 to stay on as the permanent chief executive of Ballard Power, who would have guessed that one of his biggest concerns would end up being the price of platinum? Back then, platinum was just a bit over $1,000 (U.S.) per ounce. By mid-2007 it had jumped to $1,300 per ounce. Then it really got bad, soaring to more than $2,300 an ounce in the 12 months that followed. (more…)

Climate talks in Poznan, Poland, this week included a meeting to discuss the concept of a super-grid that would connect renewable-rich regions to energy-hungry regions via high-voltage, direct-current (HVDC) cables. It’s an attractive idea. If Iceland has all the geothermal, North Africa has the solar, Scotland has the offshore wind and the coasts can tap wave power, why not build a grid that can carry that emission-free power to inland population centres that rely on fossil fuels and nuclear? (more…)

Thomas Friedman, New York Times (Dec. 9, 2008) — On the Detroit 3 auto bailout.

Our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayers money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay.

Bob Lutz, vice-chairman of General Motors (Fox News interview) — Giving meaning to Friedman’s quote above and giving us a reason to refuse a bailout for GM.

Let me just get one thing straight here: There’s a lot of talk about well, General Motors doesn’t make the right kind of cars or General Motors built trucks too long. At $1.50 per gallon, the American public wants sport utilities and large pickup trucks.

Andrew Beebe, managing director of Suntech Energy Solutions (Greentech Media) — On President-elect Obama’s appointment of Steve Chu as energy secretary.

This was a choice –- in line with what now seems to be the norm for this incoming administration –- that was simply based on the ‘the best person for the job,’ and not on who helped the most or which constituency needs placating.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the latest utility group to disclose revised estimates on the cost of building a new nuclear plant. The TVA says it now expects the cost of building a twin-reactor plant based on Westinghouse AP-1000 reactors could reach as high as $17.5 billion (U.S.). A few days earlier, Eskom, which is South Africa’s state utility, said it was dropping plans to build a single-reactor nuclear plant because of the “magnitude of investment” — an estimated $10 billion (U.S.). (more…)