8 Responses to “U.S. officially joins IRENA; Canada still absent”

1. kevin legrand Says:
   July 2nd, 2009 at 4:58 pm

   Go figure. No one listens to Dion. His own party stabbed him in the back. Lets see how long it takes for them to get wheels. At least the conservatives stand behind their man, even though he has them drawn on puppet strings.

2. Dustin Walper Says:
   July 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am

   Unfortunately, the folks at the top (I won’t name names!) seem to be completely devoid of any kind of vision around renewable energy. No wonder Ontario has seen fit to undertake its own agenda on renewables.

   Case in point: the only reason the federal government is thinking about changing emissions standards is because the US is doing it and we’d get penalized in trade if we don’t. Talk about visionary!

3. Envirowatcher Says:
   July 3rd, 2009 at 12:25 pm

   Canada wants to be seen as a global leader but shows we don’t even know where the real leaders are going. Steven…. get on the train…. even if it is the caboose!. We should have been up front in the engine.

4. greengrift Says:
   July 3rd, 2009 at 2:06 pm

   I’ve seen a lot of talk about joining IRENA, but have never seen a satisfactory explanation about why Canada should join. It is easy enough to follow the experiences of other countries without joining yet another international organization.

   Ontario’s Green Energy Act was introduced after careful (though, in my view, not careful enough) consideration of the various energy efficiency and renewable energy programs around the world. Certain groups hold it up, particular the FIT regime, as one of the best in the world. The Ontario government was able to do this without Canada being a member of IRENA.

   If it really makes sense to join IRENA, please someone tell me what real benefit we would get from joining this club.

5. kevin legrand Says:
   July 8th, 2009 at 10:38 am

   Ill give you reason to join IRENA greengrift. Technological diffusion and integration. For example, many in Ontario are blissfully ignorant of microCHP which is big in Japan and going to be big in Europe.

   Another example is the anaerobic digestion of organics and animal waste in Germany which is a big part of their renewable energy. If we were digesting our green bin waste with the BTW process we might not have the odour problems that plague T.O. right now and be producing green electricity and still get compost from the digestate.

   If we were part of IRENA maybe we would be more acutely aware of the potential of these technologies.

6. kevin legrand Says:
   July 8th, 2009 at 11:50 am

   My apologies, organic waste is converted to electricity using a BTA process and not BTW process as I suggested in the above comment:

   http://www.canadacomposting.com/Default.aspx?target=bioenergyplatform

   http://bta-international.de/home.html?lang=3

7. peter dublin Says:
   July 9th, 2009 at 10:21 am

   Energy and emission policies could be much simpler

   Renewable energy should come within an overall energy and emission policy,
   that in turn can be much simpler = no Cap and Trade emission trading, No energy efficiency regulation

   An inclusion of such energy as part of electricity and transport (80% of emissions in USA) gives several advantages – apart from lowering CO2 emissions:
   http://www.ceolas.net/#cc10x

   1. Local environmental benefit from less pollution of sulphur and all else that’s in the emissions, regardless of the less certain or immediate global benefit from CO2 reduction.

   2. Electricity supply alternatives which together with improved grid distribution gives better competition and keeps down electricity bills for consumers.

   3. Transport alternatives (using electricity, hydrogen and other energy sources), which give variety of choice and competition advantages for consumers, additionally reducing the dependency on oil imports.

   4. No trade problems: Unlike Cap and Trade, which involves cement, steel and other industries having to face imports from unregulated countries, the here suggested electricity and transport changes are not just more limited, but also largely local. Since there is little competition between say utility companies internationally, “best practice” results can be compared and shared.

8. Buck Futter Says:
   July 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm

   It’s so sad because Canada has the potential and resources to be a major leader in renewable energy and green technology but as usual there is just a lot of talk from the Government and wasted funding. Look at companies like Arise, who had to go overseas because there was no business for them in Canada and now they have helped contribute to Germany’s impressive renewable energy plan and are leading the way across Europe. Germany has roughly 3 times the population of Canada. There’s no excuse for stuff like this.

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