Energy vs Climate Energy vs Climate

Another BONUS Podcast Episode!
The electricity file has been popping, especially in Alberta, where on a weekly basis a clash of worldviews on the future of electricity generation is on full display.
About Our Guest
Blake Shaffer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at The University of Calgary. He works on electricity markets, climate policy, and energy transitions, and frequently provides policy advice to governments at various levels. 

Show Notes
(00:02:44) AB’s new renewable energy rules could ban projects
(00:04:26) AUC inquiry into the ongoing economic, orderly & efficient development of electricity generation in AB
(00:09:00) Assessing potential impact of AB's proposed viewscapes & agricultural land restrictions
(00:10:20) AB brings in new restrictions on renewable power projects as moratorium set to end
(00:13:01) Farms or Solar Farms?
(00:18:56) ‘What We Heard’ during consultations & directions being considered for the final regulations
(00:24:13) Rotating brownouts leave thousands without power
(00:27:52) Transmission Policy Review
(00:31:03) Power Flows: Transmission Lines & Corporate Profits 
(00:31:44) Replacing The Utility Transmission Syndicate’s Control 
(00:33:38) Improving integration & coordination of provincially-managed electricity systems in Canada
(00:34:15) AB's Renewable Electricity Program
(00:35:30) Affordable Energy, Good Jobs, and a Growing Clean Economy
(00:37:07) Recommendations for AB’s Power Market
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Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems
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New BONUS Podcast Episode
Canada's consumer carbon tax policy has been getting a lot of press attention of late, especially following the $15/T increase that took affect on April 1, 2024. Much has been said about it across the political spectrum, some of it accurate, and some of it just plain wrong. David's away this month, so it's just Sara and Ed talking all things carbon tax with special guest Mark Jaccard.  
About Our Guest
Mark Jaccard has been a prof at Simon Fraser University since 1986 save a couple of sabbaticals serving as Chair and CEO of the British Columbia Utilities Commission. Mark has served on the IPCC, domestically on the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, and he’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and CD Howe Institute. His most recent book is the “The Citizen’s Guide for Climate Success,” published in 2021.

Show Notes:
(00:06:20) – Low Carbon Fuel Standards in Canada
(00:08:37) – Designing flexible regulations to mitigate climate change: A cross-country comparative policy analysis
(00:12:37) – Top Runner Programme
(00:14:36) – Choose Wisely - Options and Trade-offs in Recycling Carbon Pricing Revenues
(00:16:55) – Bridging the Gap: Real Options for Meeting Canada’s 2030 GHG Target
(00:19:13) – Assessing climate sincerity in the Canadian 2021 election
(00:23:25) – Independent Assessment: 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan
(00:32:22) – Rebates rise as carbon price increases to $80 per tonne
(00:33:37) – Designing flexible regulations to mitigate climate change: A cross-country comparative policy analysis
(00:36:57) – The Political Costs of Oil Price Shocks
(00:39:50) – Exploring Citizen Support for Different Types of Climate Policy
(00:54:07) – Inside what ‘axe the tax’ means to Pierre Poilievre’s supporters: ‘He understands Canadians’
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Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems
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Dr. Simon Evans, Deputy Editor & Senior Policy Editor at Carbon Brief join co-hosts David, Sara, and Ed, to tease apart EV fact from fiction. 

About Our Guest:
Simon Evans is deputy editor and policy editor at Carbon Brief. Simon covers climate and energy policy. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from Bristol University and previously studied chemistry at Oxford University.

Show Notes:
(00:02:01) – Factcheck: 21 misleading myths about electric vehicles
(00:04:59) – Electric vs. Gas Cars: Is It Cheaper to Drive an EV?
(00:06:37) – IPCC Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report
(00:10:30) – Reducing CO2 emissions from passenger cars
(00:12:15) – Good Politics Bad Policy – Why governments should end their subsidies for EVs
(00:17:25) –  U of T researchers model the health benefits of electric cars, find 'large improvement in air quality'
(00:18:45) – Roles of diffusion patterns, technological progress, and environmental benefits in determining optimal renewable subsidies in the US 
(00:20:13) – Politics in the U.S. energy transition: Case studies of solar, wind, biofuels and electric vehicles policy
(00:27:20) – Five point plan to protect drivers from a rush to net zero is backed by MPs, motorists & campaigners
(00:31:20) – Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chains
(00:37:12) – Alberta Budget 2024: EV groups question fairness of new $200 annual tax
(00:43:46) – Yes, frigid weather may reduce your EV battery range. Here's how to prepare
(00:48:24) – Hydrogen vs Electric Cars
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Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems
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Co-hosts David, Sara, Ed, and energy/environmental economist Dr. Andrew Leach of the University of Alberta unpack the past, present and future of Canada's oilsands.

About Our Guest:
Andrew Leach is an energy and environmental economist and is Professor at the University of Alberta, with a joint appointment in the Department of Economics (Arts) and the Faculty of Law. His research spans energy and environmental economics. His most recent book is Between Doom and Denial: Facing facts about climate change.
Show Notes:
(00:46) – Oil Market Report - November 2023
(01:57) – A Matter of Fact: How the oil sands benefits Canadians
(05:06) – Canada’s oil and gas sector, the road to net zero and regional fairness
(06:16) – Making progress on Canadian oil sands CO2 emissions intensity
(06:36) – This oil sands crude has lower GHG emissions intensity than the U.S. average
(12:45) – Crude Oil Forecast Markets & Transportation
(16:16) – Refinery Economics
(25:30) – What's in store for 2024 — Part 3: Growth Plans at Alberta's largest in-situ producers
(28:19) – Not Fit for Purpose: Oil Sands Mines and Alberta’s Mine Financial Security Program 
(29:53) – Fiscal Plan A Responsible Plan for a Growing Province 2024-27
(38:02) – CCS Won’t Happen in Oilsands Without Bigger Subsidies, Cenovus Exec Warns
(43:15) – The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions
(46:39) – Whose jobs face transition risk in Alberta? Understanding sectoral employment precarity in an oil-rich Canadian pr
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Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems
www.energyvsclimate.com
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Overview:
What does the history of energy tell us about energy transition?
Can we learn from the past or will we repeat the same mistakes?
What do people get wrong when trying to extract lessons from the history of energy?

Co-hosts David, Sara, and Ed are joined by guest, Dr. Petra Dolata, to discuss data on historical transitions, including lessons of deindustrialization in the Ruhr region of Germany on Season 5, Episode 8 of Energy vs Climate.

About Our Guest:
Petra Dolada is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Calgary. A former Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in the History of Energy, who held previous academic positions at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany and at Kings College London in the UK, her research examines the 1970s energy crises, transatlantic energy relations and the historical connections between deindustrialization and energy transitions. She is the co-convenor of the Energy In Society working group at the Calgary Institute for the Humanities.

Topics:
(00:00) Intro
(03:19) Socio-energy systems design: A policy framework for energy transitions
(05:00) The 200-year history of energy transitions
(07:20) History of Prime Movers and Future Implications
(08:34) Gauging the Role of Energy Substitution in Transitioning to Low-Carbon Economies
(12:12) The Social Dimensions of Energy Transitions
(14:00) Histories of Transitions
(16:35) Peaking: A Brief History of Select Energy Transitions
(21:00) Profitable Solutions to Climate, Oil, and Proliferation
(25:00) What we need to know about the pace of decarbonization
(35:24) World History and Energy
(40:07) The Future Role of Coal: International Market Realities vs Climate Protection?
(47:10) The Energy Transition Is a Technological Revolution — with a Deadline
(51:00) Three sides to every story: Gender perspectives in energy transition pathways in Canada, Kenya and Spain
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Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems
www.energyvsclimate.com
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What is the role of literature in the climate policy and technology discussion? How does the genre allow us to explore uncomfortable climate scenarios, including those to do with heat death and direct action? While ultimately successful, the path laid out in the book is very bumpy, volatile, and rife with violence – strikingly different from the smooth and orderly transition often offered up by politicians and techno-optimists.

On S5E7 of Energy vs Climate, David, Sara, Ed, and New York Times bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson (of The Ministry for the Future) discuss how science fiction can help us explore different climate scenarios and solutions.

EPISODE NOTES
@0:21 – Kim Stanley Robinson
@0:21 – The Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson
@3:13 – How hot is too hot for humans? Understanding wet-bulb temperatures
@9:00 – Carboncoin
@10:25 – The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021
@13:55 – Karl Popper
@18:45 – How to Blow Up a Pipeline - Andreas Malm
@20:32 – Dave Foreman
@21:30 – Climate protesters throw tomato soup on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’
@27:50 – Who is Wiebo Ludwig? A thunder storm wrapped in the flesh of a man. Part 1
@30:52 – Glacier geoengineering to address sea-level rise: A geotechnical approach (Lockley et al, 2020)
@31:50 – Solar Geoengineering - should we go there?
@39:25 – Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South: The Path Toward Environmental Social Justice - Peggy Ann Spitzer
@44:05 – The Hottest Year
@46:10 – Utility of the blockchain for climate mitigation (Chen, 2018)
@49:05 – Overshooting 1.5
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Energy vs Climate: How climate is changing our energy systems
www.energyvsclimate.com
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