Energy Shift: the missing ‘AND’ to ‘enough is enough’ video

Plus: 400MW solar announced for Alberta; Indian refiner chases renewables for gas stations

Hi Everyone,

I am going to skip a week again, so watch for the next post on September 15. I offer some important reflections on a video below. But first, some follow-up from last week….

So the post from last week about the 180+ CEOs that declared shareholder value was now not the only priority provoked some additional insights. I gave my initial take: it sounded like a 1980’s commitment, but represents a marker about the shift in societal expectations of companies. I had to laugh when I read a tweet that said something like “1990 called and wants its CSR commitment back”. (CSR = Corporate Social Responsibility).

GreenBiz included a post from a couple guys from World Resources Institute who reflect the same sentiment and propose these three 21st century commitments:

1. Delivering customers environmentally and socially sustainable products and services that help society pursue a fulfilling future. This means embracing circular economy models, such as designing for longevity and reuse, and being willing to rebalance product portfolios away from unchecked consumption and damaging products toward full sustainability. Never again would we hear, “Well, it’s our job to sell whatever our customers tell us they want to buy, irrespective of the consequences.”

2. Using corporate brands and political influence to support systemic changes that ensure equitable opportunities for all. This means lobbying for climate-positive legislation and increasing corporate transparency; driving change to move trade associations from lowest common denominator to highest common factor; and using brand and advertising to lead customers from unsustainable to sustainable behaviors.

3. Acknowledging that the resources upon which businesses depend are limited, and business models that thrive within the available resources of the planet are needed. This means setting and acting on emissions-reduction and other sustainability targets that are science-based and meet the needs of all human society, not just those within the corporate world.

The Economist offered the purist view we’d expect: “However well-meaning, this new form of collective capitalism will end up doing more harm than good. It risks entrenching a class of unaccountable CEOs who lack legitimacy. And it is a threat to long-term prosperity, which is the basic condition for capitalism to succeed.”

All of this is to say we have a problem: the current system is stuck in a perplexing way. Politicians are only rewarded for short term-ism when the opposite is needed. Most company owners (that’s us stockholders) need and want company leaders to make us more money (think about your pension fund). Until we really start asking for something different, its hard to see how things will change much.

OK, so hopefully this gets you thinking. Happy to get your take.

Keep forwarding this around to those you think would be interested and encourage them to subscribe. For those with a long weekend, hope you get some good weather for time with family, friends, or just to relax.

Peter

‘Enough is enough’ video missing ‘call to action on climate’

This video (and others like it) is making the rounds. It clearly taps into the outrage many Albertans feel. However, in my view, there is a problem with it: Nowhere in here is there any acknowledgement of something polls of Canadian show most of us care about: climate change is a concern (latest proof point: the city of Edmonton just declared a Climate Emergency) . The video would have been far more compelling if it had included an “AND we need to address climate change and transition to a low carbon future. The transition won’t be cheap or easy, but we believe there is a way to use the higher royalties and taxes to invest in transforming our economy over the coming decades (yes, it may take that long) to become global leaders in reducing domestic consumer emissions, export that know-how around the world and in so doing diversify and future-proof our economy.” I can think of lots more to say here, but an addition along these lines would have offered some balance. My worry is that without this important “and” it will simply fan the flames of polarization and regionalism.

Tell me what you think. I am interested in hearing from others elsewhere in Canada and beyond.

If you’re interested, JWN Energy has this backstory on the video, produced by a group calling itself Canadians for Canada’s Future with what looks like support from a couple medium size oil and gas companies.

sonnen & Wasatch Group Launch Largest Residential Virtual Power Plant — 12.6 MWh | CleanTechnica

Comment: remember sonnen was bought by Shell.

Excerpt: Adding energy storage was the icing on the cake, as it lets residents use the solar generated during the day through the night. The Wasatch Group chose sonnen to provide the energy storage units for the new Soleil Lofts development first and foremost because of the safety of sonnen’s energy storage systems. Most residential and utility scale energy storage systems use the popular nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) chemistry, which has fallen in price in recent years due to the higher volumes demanded for electric vehicles. sonnen opted for the safer lithium iron phosphate (also known as lithium ferro phosphate, or LFP) chemistry that is not prone to thermal runaway. Said another way, it doesn’t catch on fire when the cell structure is compromised.

Greengate receives key provincial approval for Canada’s largest solar energy project | JWN Energy

Comment: Involving 4700 acres, this will be a massive solar farm for Alberta, if it comes to fruition. Now that they have regulatory approval, I presume they’ll begin the work of signing up buyers. Greengate Power offers more details on location and studies here.

Excerpt: With an estimated total investment of approximately $500 million, Travers Solar is expected to be Canada’s largest operating solar energy project, and one of the largest in the world, with a total generating capacity of 400 MW.

Cambridge startup claims breakthrough electric car battery that can charge in 6 minutes | Electrek

Comment: I’m with Fred Lambert on this one. We’ve watched this commercial before. I argued with myself whether to even post this. Anyways, feel free to check out their impressive claims.

Excerpt: A startup that spun out of Cambridge University claims a battery breakthrough that can charge an electric car in just six minutes.
It’s something we heard before, but the difference here is that they claim that they can commercialize the new battery as soon as next year.

India’s Largest Oil Refiner Plans $3.5 Billion Renewable Energy Investment | CleanTechnica

Excerpt: One of those initiatives is the installation of solar power systems at Indian Oil’s fuel retail stations. The company has around 24,000 retailing stations. In 2015, we covered a story that the company was planning to install solar power systems at 10,000 of these stations. Indian Oil had announced a scheme offering a financial subsidy up to 50% for the fuel station owners to set up solar power systems, with and without battery storage. The company has reported that around 2,000 of these fuel stations have solar power systems installed.

Battery-Electric Buses: New Flyer | Pedestrian Observations

Excerpt: Most incredibly, I learned at the interview that the headline figures used in the US for electric bus performance explicitly exclude heating needs. The tests are done at the Altoona siteand only look at electricity consumption for propulsion, not heating. New Flyer says that it is aware of this issue and has tried not to overpromise, but evidently Proterra and BYD both overpromise, and regardless of what any vendor says, American cities have bought into the hype. In Duluth this was only resolved with fuel-fired heaters; the buses only use electricity for propulsion, which is not the majority of their energy consumption in winter.