Alma burns, May of 2008
From Bob Foster:
With the release of the “sunshine list” (the $100,000 salary club),it’s appalling to see Minister of Culture Aileen Carroll is making $164,623.53,especially since she has FAILED miserably in her duties as culture minister,and what makes it more shocking is,this minister is also collecting a pension from the federal government,all the while badly neglecting her duties.
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Posted by Ian:
According to Jay Yarrow of The Business Insider “The struggles of ethanol aren’t necessarily a harbinger for what’s to come for wind or solar.” Elgin county is home to both an ethanol plant in Aylmer and a wind farm in east Elgin. So we have a vested interest in alternative forms of energy. Here’s Yarrow’s take.
In the Financial Times today there is a story about the struggles of the renewable energy industry. Not surprisingly, the capital-intensive industry is struggling along with the banking industry.
The problem here is that the FT is painting the whole industry with a broad brush.
The struggles of ethanol aren’t necessarily a harbinger for what’s to come for wind or solar. They are radically different technologies, with radically different goals. Ethanol was supposed to be able to replace gasoline, it clearly cannot. (Even if it could, it wouldn’t be a good decision. It’s a poor use of land.)
Solar and wind power aren’t supposed to completely eradicate our use of coal in the short term. Maybe in a century it’ll be possible, but that’s a ways away. The need to use ethanol arose in knee-jerk reaction to the rise in prices at the pump–coupled with xenophobia. Those two factors don’t really contribute to solar and wind run investment. They are more about producing cleaner energy that limits emissions.
For the tech savvy audience, we’ll make this analogy: If LinkedIn goes bankrupt some day, does that mean that Twitter will also fail? They’re both social networks. Of course, they’re under the same tent, but on different sides of the pole.
But, to the over-arching struggles with most renewable energy projects: Yes, it’s true that alternative energy projects–wind, solar, better batteries, etc.–are capital intensive and many will not make it through the downturn. But so what?
Posted by Ian:
St. Thomas has more than its share of waste management issues since BFI Canada took over the contract from Green Lane Environmental one year ago. Not the least of which is a strict adherance to how much in the way of recyclables are picked up each week in blue boxes and green composters. As a result the city’s diversion rate from landfill is dropping. Is this a forerunner of things to come during tough economic times as documented in The Business Insider?
Jay Yarow|Mar. 12, 2009, 9:21 AM|comment
The global economic meltdown and a shift in commodity prices are killing the market for recycled goods. A ton of copper scrap now sells for $3,000, down from more than $8,000 in 2007, tin now sells for $5 a pound, down from $300. Paper is down 80%, reports the New York Times. The prices of plastic bottles have fallen off a cliff too.
Recycling plants in the United States and China are facing massive losses. SA Recycling in the United States took a $10 million loss. China which imports more trash than anywhere in the world is now accepting less because it doesn’t make as much money from trash now. The result is that fewer items will be recycled, and more municipalities will cut back back on recycling programs once they start losing money on them.
