Destination Southwest Nova Association
PO Box 1390, 18 Dufferin St.
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, BOJ 2C0
Telephone: (902) 634-8844, Fax: (902) 634-8056
info@dswna.com, www.destinationsouthwestnova.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Industry and Municipal Partners,
With 2010 now upon us, the Board of Directors see a challenging year ahead and Destination Southwest Nova Association will be commencing the calendar with changes of its own.
Effective immediately, Madonna Spinazola, General Manager, will no longer be employed by this association.
The Board of Directors would like to assure you that we will be taking the next several weeks to review the position to better determine our requirements for going forward. As a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) obviously a strong marketing mindset will be required to ensure our success. In the meantime, Jeanette Joudrey will assume the role of Acting General Manager for the day to day operations.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to acknowledge Madonna's contributions to Destination Southwest Nova during the past few years and wish her success in future endeavours.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me via Jeanette Joudrey, (902) 634-8844 or jjoudrey@dswna.com.
Yours in hospitality,
Dan Myers
President, DSWNA
Monday, January 11, 2010
Five Green Cities
Guest Post From Dan Shapley From The Daily Green
"In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other." So writes Jim Motavalli in The Daily Green's report about the best U.S. cities to find a green job. Growth in the sector was a robust 9.1% in the decade ending in 2007 (compared to 3.7% overall), and as many as another 1.9 million jobs are expected by 2020 from the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The stimulus bill is pumping $30 billion into the clean energy sector alone.
Green jobs can mean a lot of things -- conservation and pollution mitigation, clean energy, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly production, along with training and support. But each state isn't sharing equally in this bounty of new jobs.
"With unemployment over 10%, people need to go where the jobs are, and some states -- and some cities -- are making out better than others as the green jobs phenomenon unfolds," Motavalli writes. "While every state and most American cities have a piece of the new economy, here are the five cities that -- through a combination of federal, state and municipal programs -- are faring best."
New York City
Under newly reelected Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city launched PlaNYC with 127 initiatives for greening the city, including an earmark $1 billion for building retrofits to increase energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Clean Edge ranks the New York metropolitan area (including northern New Jersey and Long Island) third among 15 top U.S. metro areas for job creation. New York State was the sixth leading state for clean energy job creation in 2007, adding 3,323 clean businesses and 34,363 new jobs that year. Some $209 million in venture capital was invested in the state's clean energy economy between 2006 and 2008.
Find a green job in New York City.
Photo: Rolando Alvarez
San Francisco
Story continues below
According to the New York Times, California had the most clean-energy jobs in 2008: 125,000, many of them in progressive San Francisco and nearby Silicon Valley. The Clean Edge report identifies San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose as the number one metro area for clean technology job activity (Los Angeles/Riverside/Orange County is second). SunPower, a solar company based in San Jose with 5,400 employees, is rated #10 in Clean Edge's 2009 survey of top clean-tech employers. Green tech can only get better in San Francisco, where 20 big construction projects have applied for LEED certification and voters recently approved $100 million in revenue bonds to support renewable energy. In California overall, green businesses increased 45% between 1995 and 2008, and employment in the sectors grew 36%, according to the "Many Shades of Green" report from Next 10. The report said the most jobs were added in services (45% of the total), followed by manufacturing (21%). In research positions, the biggest private sector categories are green transportation, energy generation, and air and environment, said the report.
Find a green job in San Francisco.
Photo: Bill Poole/The Trust for Public Land
Boston/Cambridge
Starting with the fact that with its concentration of colleges --including MIT, Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern, Emerson and several more, the metro area is a great incubator for green technology. Named the "best walking city" by Prevention magazine last year, Boston has had a major climate protection plan in place since 2002. Its number three fuel source, believe it or not, is wind power. Its new buildings have to be constructed to top LEED standards, and most of its municipal vehicles are either electric or run on B20 biofuel. Boston (including Worcester, Lawrence, Lowell and Brockton) ranks as number four in the Clean Edge survey of 15 top U.S. metro areas for clean-tech job creation. The Boston area is, not surprisingly, home to some cutting-edge green companies.
Boston Power, for instance, is helmed by the ambitious Swedish executive Christina Lampe-Onnerud, who pioneered a better lithium-ion battery for HP laptops, and is moving into the electric car market. And a local competitor is the fast-moving A123, which also makes lithium-ion battery packs and has Chrysler among its customers.
Find a green job in Boston available green jobs in Boston is here.
Photo: George Peters/ IStock
Detroit
The Motor City makes few Top Ten lists. Its vaunted monorail goes practically nowhere, its downtown is still struggling, and political turmoil at City Hall -- added to daunting budgetary constraints -- has kept civic progress at a minimum. Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 15.3%, and it is also dealing with 3.6% job loss between 1998 and 2007. A Pew Center on the States report says that the state will have lost a million jobs by the end of the decade (a quarter in the auto industry, and more than a third this year). But help is on the way, in the form of federal Department of Energy green-tech grants that are funding factories and creating jobs to tap into the vast pool of skilled auto industry talent in the metropolitan area. The state had created more than 22,000 clean-tech jobs by 2007, but those numbers will jump impressively when recent DOE funding puts spades in the ground.
Michigan did make one Top Ten list: It was number seven on a list of clean energy jobs compiled by Pew Charitable Trusts. Clean Edge identifies the green transportation sector as one of four growth areas, and that benefits the cluster of companies making hybrid and electric vehicles in the greater Detroit area. Even companies not based in Michigan -- such as California's Fisker Automotive and Ford battery car supplier Magna International -- have opened hubs near Detroit. A mechanical engineer working on plug-in hybrids and EVs can expect to make $63,600 median pay with a bachelor's degree, reports Clean Edge. A great example of what's happening in the Rust Belt is the transformation of the Ford Motor Company plant in Wixom, Michigan from a shuttered eyesore that had lost 1,500 jobs to an incubator for Xtreme Power (which makes power systems for wind and solar) and Clairvoyant Energy (solar).
Find a green job in Detroit.
Photo: Courtesy Olivia Zaleski/CNNMoney
Portland, Oregon
Many rate Portland number one in sustainability. What other city can boast of 200 miles of walking and bicycling trails, a fast transit hub to the airport, fare-free light rail in the city core and free parking for electric cars? The city replaced a six-lane highway with a waterfront park, and it has 50 LEED-certified buildings. Despite strong challenges from Colorado and Tennessee, Oregon was the number one performer in creating clean energy economy jobs, reports the Pew Charitable Trusts. Oregon had almost 20,000 clean jobs in 2007, many of them in the Portland metro area. More than 1 percent of the Beaver State's 1.9 million jobs are related to the clean energy economy -- the highest percentage in the nation. Oregon is also number three in providing environmentally friendly manufacturing jobs. A Clean Edge survey of the Top 15 metro areas for clean-tech job activity puts Portland/Salem at number eight, just below Seattle/Tacoma/Bremerton. Like other cities on this list, Portland struggles with high unemployment, but it's fighting joblessness with its prime weapon -- sustainability.
Find a green job in Portland.
Photo: Leslie Pohl-Kosbau
Other Green Job Cities
To read more about these five cities, and see a list of other notable destinations, check out Jim's full report, The Best Cities for Green Jobs.
More from The Daily Green
America's 10 Most Walkable Cities
The Most Fuel-Efficient 2010 Cars and SUVs
30 Surprising Ways to Save Money by Going Green
25 Ways to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution
Incredible Homes Made from Shipping Containers
Careers
Economy
Green Living
Guest Post From Dan Shapley From The Daily Green "In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other." So writes Jim Motavalli in The Daily Green's report...
Guest Post From Dan Shapley From The Daily Green "In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other." So writes Jim Motavalli in The Daily Green's report...
Related News On Huffington Post:
Ford Fusion Hybrid: 2010 Car Of The Year
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s market momentum got a lift Monday by winning both the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards....
10 Industries That Will GAIN The Most Jobs In Next Decade
Though Nobel laureate Paul Krugman called this decade "the big zero" -- as in zero wage growth, zero stock market growth, etc. -- it's probably...
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Unemployment rates are up from this time last year in all 50 states, but in recent months the situation has improved somewhat, with rates declining...
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More News Posts: « First Prev 1 2 3 Next Last »
Ford Fusion Hybrid: 2010 Car Of The Year
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s market momentum got a lift Monday by winning both the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards....
10 Industries That Will GAIN The Most Jobs In Next Decade
Though Nobel laureate Paul Krugman called this decade "the big zero" -- as in zero wage growth, zero stock market growth, etc. -- it's probably...
Unemployment By State In November (MAP)
Unemployment rates are up from this time last year in all 50 states, but in recent months the situation has improved somewhat, with rates declining...
Detroit's Unemployment Rate Is Nearly 50%, According to the Detroit News
Officially, Detroit's unemployment rate is just under 30 percent. But the city's mayor and local leaders are suggesting a far more disturbing figure -- the...
Copenhagen Climate Talks Near Deal On Preservation Of Forests
COPENHAGEN -- Negotiators have all but completed a sweeping deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests, and in some cases, other natural landscapes like...
Meet The Lobbies: Carbon Traders (VIDEO)
By Kate Willson and Andrew Green of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for The Global Climate Change Lobby series: Copenhagen - They started appearing...
US-China Tension Still Looms At Climate Talks
COPENHAGEN — The success of the U.N. climate conference hung in the balance Tuesday as China and the U.S. deadlocked over whether Beijing will allow...
Do Green Jobs Create Greener Americans?
Most "green job" training programs aim to teach low-income workers the job skills necessary to join the nascent clean-tech economy: energy-efficiency retrofitting, wind turbine maintenance,...
Top Cities For Green Jobs (PHOTOS)
Clean Edge, a research firm with a focus on the "clean technologies" industry, recently released a report this month on employment in the clean-energy sector....
Read more from Huffington Post bloggers:
Sec. Hilda Solis: Green Jobs: A Down Payment on the Workforce of Tomorrow
As we help workers through these challenging times, our real focus is investing in their future and today I announced nearly $100 million in green jobs training grants.
David Adkins: Green Jobs Arriving Slowly
In the first six months following passage of the Recovery Act, just over 13,000 green jobs were created or saved, hardly a silver bullet solution to a 10% unemployment rate.
Heather Box: From Copenhagen to Milwaukee: Bringing the Global Climate Change Movement Home
"In the absence of a strong global treaty being signed here in Copenhagen, we all need to keep doing everything we can in our hometowns, and know that the ripple affects will be felt everywhere."
"In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other." So writes Jim Motavalli in The Daily Green's report about the best U.S. cities to find a green job. Growth in the sector was a robust 9.1% in the decade ending in 2007 (compared to 3.7% overall), and as many as another 1.9 million jobs are expected by 2020 from the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The stimulus bill is pumping $30 billion into the clean energy sector alone.
Green jobs can mean a lot of things -- conservation and pollution mitigation, clean energy, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly production, along with training and support. But each state isn't sharing equally in this bounty of new jobs.
"With unemployment over 10%, people need to go where the jobs are, and some states -- and some cities -- are making out better than others as the green jobs phenomenon unfolds," Motavalli writes. "While every state and most American cities have a piece of the new economy, here are the five cities that -- through a combination of federal, state and municipal programs -- are faring best."
New York City
Under newly reelected Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city launched PlaNYC with 127 initiatives for greening the city, including an earmark $1 billion for building retrofits to increase energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Clean Edge ranks the New York metropolitan area (including northern New Jersey and Long Island) third among 15 top U.S. metro areas for job creation. New York State was the sixth leading state for clean energy job creation in 2007, adding 3,323 clean businesses and 34,363 new jobs that year. Some $209 million in venture capital was invested in the state's clean energy economy between 2006 and 2008.
Find a green job in New York City.
Photo: Rolando Alvarez
San Francisco
Story continues below
According to the New York Times, California had the most clean-energy jobs in 2008: 125,000, many of them in progressive San Francisco and nearby Silicon Valley. The Clean Edge report identifies San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose as the number one metro area for clean technology job activity (Los Angeles/Riverside/Orange County is second). SunPower, a solar company based in San Jose with 5,400 employees, is rated #10 in Clean Edge's 2009 survey of top clean-tech employers. Green tech can only get better in San Francisco, where 20 big construction projects have applied for LEED certification and voters recently approved $100 million in revenue bonds to support renewable energy. In California overall, green businesses increased 45% between 1995 and 2008, and employment in the sectors grew 36%, according to the "Many Shades of Green" report from Next 10. The report said the most jobs were added in services (45% of the total), followed by manufacturing (21%). In research positions, the biggest private sector categories are green transportation, energy generation, and air and environment, said the report.
Find a green job in San Francisco.
Photo: Bill Poole/The Trust for Public Land
Boston/Cambridge
Starting with the fact that with its concentration of colleges --including MIT, Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern, Emerson and several more, the metro area is a great incubator for green technology. Named the "best walking city" by Prevention magazine last year, Boston has had a major climate protection plan in place since 2002. Its number three fuel source, believe it or not, is wind power. Its new buildings have to be constructed to top LEED standards, and most of its municipal vehicles are either electric or run on B20 biofuel. Boston (including Worcester, Lawrence, Lowell and Brockton) ranks as number four in the Clean Edge survey of 15 top U.S. metro areas for clean-tech job creation. The Boston area is, not surprisingly, home to some cutting-edge green companies.
Boston Power, for instance, is helmed by the ambitious Swedish executive Christina Lampe-Onnerud, who pioneered a better lithium-ion battery for HP laptops, and is moving into the electric car market. And a local competitor is the fast-moving A123, which also makes lithium-ion battery packs and has Chrysler among its customers.
Find a green job in Boston available green jobs in Boston is here.
Photo: George Peters/ IStock
Detroit
The Motor City makes few Top Ten lists. Its vaunted monorail goes practically nowhere, its downtown is still struggling, and political turmoil at City Hall -- added to daunting budgetary constraints -- has kept civic progress at a minimum. Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 15.3%, and it is also dealing with 3.6% job loss between 1998 and 2007. A Pew Center on the States report says that the state will have lost a million jobs by the end of the decade (a quarter in the auto industry, and more than a third this year). But help is on the way, in the form of federal Department of Energy green-tech grants that are funding factories and creating jobs to tap into the vast pool of skilled auto industry talent in the metropolitan area. The state had created more than 22,000 clean-tech jobs by 2007, but those numbers will jump impressively when recent DOE funding puts spades in the ground.
Michigan did make one Top Ten list: It was number seven on a list of clean energy jobs compiled by Pew Charitable Trusts. Clean Edge identifies the green transportation sector as one of four growth areas, and that benefits the cluster of companies making hybrid and electric vehicles in the greater Detroit area. Even companies not based in Michigan -- such as California's Fisker Automotive and Ford battery car supplier Magna International -- have opened hubs near Detroit. A mechanical engineer working on plug-in hybrids and EVs can expect to make $63,600 median pay with a bachelor's degree, reports Clean Edge. A great example of what's happening in the Rust Belt is the transformation of the Ford Motor Company plant in Wixom, Michigan from a shuttered eyesore that had lost 1,500 jobs to an incubator for Xtreme Power (which makes power systems for wind and solar) and Clairvoyant Energy (solar).
Find a green job in Detroit.
Photo: Courtesy Olivia Zaleski/CNNMoney
Portland, Oregon
Many rate Portland number one in sustainability. What other city can boast of 200 miles of walking and bicycling trails, a fast transit hub to the airport, fare-free light rail in the city core and free parking for electric cars? The city replaced a six-lane highway with a waterfront park, and it has 50 LEED-certified buildings. Despite strong challenges from Colorado and Tennessee, Oregon was the number one performer in creating clean energy economy jobs, reports the Pew Charitable Trusts. Oregon had almost 20,000 clean jobs in 2007, many of them in the Portland metro area. More than 1 percent of the Beaver State's 1.9 million jobs are related to the clean energy economy -- the highest percentage in the nation. Oregon is also number three in providing environmentally friendly manufacturing jobs. A Clean Edge survey of the Top 15 metro areas for clean-tech job activity puts Portland/Salem at number eight, just below Seattle/Tacoma/Bremerton. Like other cities on this list, Portland struggles with high unemployment, but it's fighting joblessness with its prime weapon -- sustainability.
Find a green job in Portland.
Photo: Leslie Pohl-Kosbau
Other Green Job Cities
To read more about these five cities, and see a list of other notable destinations, check out Jim's full report, The Best Cities for Green Jobs.
More from The Daily Green
America's 10 Most Walkable Cities
The Most Fuel-Efficient 2010 Cars and SUVs
30 Surprising Ways to Save Money by Going Green
25 Ways to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution
Incredible Homes Made from Shipping Containers
Careers
Economy
Green Living
Guest Post From Dan Shapley From The Daily Green "In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other." So writes Jim Motavalli in The Daily Green's report...
Guest Post From Dan Shapley From The Daily Green "In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other." So writes Jim Motavalli in The Daily Green's report...
Related News On Huffington Post:
Ford Fusion Hybrid: 2010 Car Of The Year
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s market momentum got a lift Monday by winning both the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards....
10 Industries That Will GAIN The Most Jobs In Next Decade
Though Nobel laureate Paul Krugman called this decade "the big zero" -- as in zero wage growth, zero stock market growth, etc. -- it's probably...
Unemployment By State In November (MAP)
Unemployment rates are up from this time last year in all 50 states, but in recent months the situation has improved somewhat, with rates declining...
Detroit's Unemployment Rate Is Nearly 50%, According to the Detroit News
Officially, Detroit's unemployment rate is just under 30 percent. But the city's mayor and local leaders are suggesting a far more disturbing figure -- the...
More News Posts: « First Prev 1 2 3 Next Last »
Ford Fusion Hybrid: 2010 Car Of The Year
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s market momentum got a lift Monday by winning both the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards....
10 Industries That Will GAIN The Most Jobs In Next Decade
Though Nobel laureate Paul Krugman called this decade "the big zero" -- as in zero wage growth, zero stock market growth, etc. -- it's probably...
Unemployment By State In November (MAP)
Unemployment rates are up from this time last year in all 50 states, but in recent months the situation has improved somewhat, with rates declining...
Detroit's Unemployment Rate Is Nearly 50%, According to the Detroit News
Officially, Detroit's unemployment rate is just under 30 percent. But the city's mayor and local leaders are suggesting a far more disturbing figure -- the...
Copenhagen Climate Talks Near Deal On Preservation Of Forests
COPENHAGEN -- Negotiators have all but completed a sweeping deal that would compensate countries for preserving forests, and in some cases, other natural landscapes like...
Meet The Lobbies: Carbon Traders (VIDEO)
By Kate Willson and Andrew Green of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for The Global Climate Change Lobby series: Copenhagen - They started appearing...
US-China Tension Still Looms At Climate Talks
COPENHAGEN — The success of the U.N. climate conference hung in the balance Tuesday as China and the U.S. deadlocked over whether Beijing will allow...
Do Green Jobs Create Greener Americans?
Most "green job" training programs aim to teach low-income workers the job skills necessary to join the nascent clean-tech economy: energy-efficiency retrofitting, wind turbine maintenance,...
Top Cities For Green Jobs (PHOTOS)
Clean Edge, a research firm with a focus on the "clean technologies" industry, recently released a report this month on employment in the clean-energy sector....
Read more from Huffington Post bloggers:
Sec. Hilda Solis: Green Jobs: A Down Payment on the Workforce of Tomorrow
As we help workers through these challenging times, our real focus is investing in their future and today I announced nearly $100 million in green jobs training grants.
David Adkins: Green Jobs Arriving Slowly
In the first six months following passage of the Recovery Act, just over 13,000 green jobs were created or saved, hardly a silver bullet solution to a 10% unemployment rate.
Heather Box: From Copenhagen to Milwaukee: Bringing the Global Climate Change Movement Home
"In the absence of a strong global treaty being signed here in Copenhagen, we all need to keep doing everything we can in our hometowns, and know that the ripple affects will be felt everywhere."
Environment Court
Blogger's Note: Canada should have one of these.
Environment Court Approves Tidal Plant at Kaipara Harbour
Submitted by Omaka Nelson on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 15:26 Featured TNM Tim Groser Auckland
The Environment Court has made a positive recommendation to Conservation Minister Tim Groser on a plan to set up a harbor tidal power station to harness tidal energy for meeting the country’s electricity demand. The approval is subject to fine-tuning of consent conditions.
The site for the power station will be the Kaipara Harbour, on the west coast just north of Auckland, which could be providing power to 250,000 homes within 10 years.
The system could be generating power by next year, with the initial phase of the project producing 20MW from an initial installation of 20 turbines of the 200 planned.
The project is revealed to be the first project of its kind in New Zealand. "Tidal power is predictable, sustainable, silent and invisible. These advantages need to remain the focus, rather than the eight hours a day when tidal turbines produce little or no power", Anthony Hopkins, a director of Crest Energy, said.
However, in its interim decision, the Environment Court said the Crest Energy proposal needed further work, mainly to satisfy concerns about the turbines interfering with the critically endangered Maui's dolphin and the important snapper fishery on the west coast of the North Island, the New Zealand Herald claimed.
The overall cost estimated is near to $600 million.
» Add new comment
Environment Court Approves Tidal Plant at Kaipara Harbour
Submitted by Omaka Nelson on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 15:26 Featured TNM Tim Groser Auckland
The Environment Court has made a positive recommendation to Conservation Minister Tim Groser on a plan to set up a harbor tidal power station to harness tidal energy for meeting the country’s electricity demand. The approval is subject to fine-tuning of consent conditions.
The site for the power station will be the Kaipara Harbour, on the west coast just north of Auckland, which could be providing power to 250,000 homes within 10 years.
The system could be generating power by next year, with the initial phase of the project producing 20MW from an initial installation of 20 turbines of the 200 planned.
The project is revealed to be the first project of its kind in New Zealand. "Tidal power is predictable, sustainable, silent and invisible. These advantages need to remain the focus, rather than the eight hours a day when tidal turbines produce little or no power", Anthony Hopkins, a director of Crest Energy, said.
However, in its interim decision, the Environment Court said the Crest Energy proposal needed further work, mainly to satisfy concerns about the turbines interfering with the critically endangered Maui's dolphin and the important snapper fishery on the west coast of the North Island, the New Zealand Herald claimed.
The overall cost estimated is near to $600 million.
» Add new comment
New Brunswick/Quebec Power Deal
A better energy idea: deal with Hydro-Quebec
RALPH SURETTE
Sat. Jan 9 - 4:46 AM
LIKE YOU, I was taken aback earlier by the news that a deal had been struck whereby Hydro-Quebec would more or less take over NB Power. What did it mean, especially for Nova Scotia? Having thought it over, I’ve found the hidden message: If the deal goes through, offering Quebec’s ample hydro power right next door, take it.
We’d be fools not to. It would be a marvellous thing that would save us a great deal of trouble. Depending on the amount, it would allow us to slow down on the option of "big wind and biomass" that we have chosen to deliver 25 per cent of our power by 2015, that’s getting more troublesome all the time and that may not work even under the most optimistic scenario.
When the news hit about Hydro-Quebec, the first reaction — including my own — was one of suspicion at the motives of this bureaucratic behemoth. There was even a brief rumour that it was going to try to buy out Nova Scotia Power as well.
When opposition arose in New Brunswick, the worst seemed confirmed: A few days after Christmas, Quebec’s energy minister, Nathalie Normandeau, said it was a done deal and that was that. A day later, however, both she and Premier Jean Charest rushed to state that the deal was still being negotiated. Hydro-Quebec was being flexible.
It’s been noted many times in the past that it’s unfortunate for the Canadian federation that the benefits of Quebec’s power are all flowing into the U.S. and little or none east and west, the result mainly of French-English suspicions. It might be useful, on the constitutional as well as on the energy level, for the Nova Scotia government to make its approach now to see what there is to be had in the event that New Brunswick and Hydro-Quebec do come to terms.
Instead of seeing Hydro-Quebec as a bogeyman, a wise course would be to open negotiations in view of what benefit there might be for us. P.E.I. jumped on the opportunity immediately, and U.S. states buy what is essentially premium, non-polluting power at favourable rates. Why not us?
What this would allow us to do, at the very least, is turn big biomass into moderate biomass and reconsider the increasingly dubious benefits of mega-windpower. With big biomass, it’s not clear at all, everything considered, that it’s better than burning coal as far as the environment and its ecology are concerned. The primary benefit is jobs. It would be useful if we were upfront about that.
As for wind, worldwide it’s a gold rush with no one asking whether there’s any gold (and with very few jobs, except for where they manufacture the turbines). I’ll get back to that in a later column.
Meanwhile, the way I understand the fuzzy thinking regarding wind, and tidal power as well, is that we’ll produce vast amounts of it, keeping only what we can, because it’s intermittent, and we’ll wheel the surplus to the U.S. This reminds me of the 1970s and ’80s, when we were going to be an energy superpower, thanks to coal, nuclear and tidal power, and drive the stuff to the U.S. through New Brunswick — not having bothered to ask New Brunswick.
We still haven’t asked. And that province is neither interested nor enthusiastic about someone else running a power line through, especially if the New Brunswick government has to take political flak from environmentalists or anyone else. It would be within its rights to charge whatever the traffic will bear for such a line.
Further, if we’re talking about a power line to carry on-and-off power, these are less profitable than those humming with full-time power. Will it pay? And, finally, do we know if there’s a market in the U.S. for interruptible power? Or are we, once again, entertaining fantasies?
Finally, we’re suspicious of Hydro-Quebec because of the ongoing tiff with Newfoundland and Labrador, and we tend to side with Newfoundland. Yet a Lower Churchill hydro project would take some 15 years to deliver, even if it started now. This is an issue for another day. Meanwhile, Newfoundland, with its oil, will soon be in better shape than us. Plus, it did make one deal not long ago to wheel some power through Quebec. So let’s not keep our shorts in a knot over than one.
The Dalhousie group under David Wheeler reviewing Nova Scotia’s energy policy put out a preliminary report during the holidays. One of its cogent observations is that we know nothing for sure about the energy future and, above all, policy must remain flexible. Grabbing at this opportunity, if it’s available, would be a good start.
( rsurette@herald.ca)
Ralph Surette is a veteran freelance journalist living in Yarmouth County.
RALPH SURETTE
Sat. Jan 9 - 4:46 AM
LIKE YOU, I was taken aback earlier by the news that a deal had been struck whereby Hydro-Quebec would more or less take over NB Power. What did it mean, especially for Nova Scotia? Having thought it over, I’ve found the hidden message: If the deal goes through, offering Quebec’s ample hydro power right next door, take it.
We’d be fools not to. It would be a marvellous thing that would save us a great deal of trouble. Depending on the amount, it would allow us to slow down on the option of "big wind and biomass" that we have chosen to deliver 25 per cent of our power by 2015, that’s getting more troublesome all the time and that may not work even under the most optimistic scenario.
When the news hit about Hydro-Quebec, the first reaction — including my own — was one of suspicion at the motives of this bureaucratic behemoth. There was even a brief rumour that it was going to try to buy out Nova Scotia Power as well.
When opposition arose in New Brunswick, the worst seemed confirmed: A few days after Christmas, Quebec’s energy minister, Nathalie Normandeau, said it was a done deal and that was that. A day later, however, both she and Premier Jean Charest rushed to state that the deal was still being negotiated. Hydro-Quebec was being flexible.
It’s been noted many times in the past that it’s unfortunate for the Canadian federation that the benefits of Quebec’s power are all flowing into the U.S. and little or none east and west, the result mainly of French-English suspicions. It might be useful, on the constitutional as well as on the energy level, for the Nova Scotia government to make its approach now to see what there is to be had in the event that New Brunswick and Hydro-Quebec do come to terms.
Instead of seeing Hydro-Quebec as a bogeyman, a wise course would be to open negotiations in view of what benefit there might be for us. P.E.I. jumped on the opportunity immediately, and U.S. states buy what is essentially premium, non-polluting power at favourable rates. Why not us?
What this would allow us to do, at the very least, is turn big biomass into moderate biomass and reconsider the increasingly dubious benefits of mega-windpower. With big biomass, it’s not clear at all, everything considered, that it’s better than burning coal as far as the environment and its ecology are concerned. The primary benefit is jobs. It would be useful if we were upfront about that.
As for wind, worldwide it’s a gold rush with no one asking whether there’s any gold (and with very few jobs, except for where they manufacture the turbines). I’ll get back to that in a later column.
Meanwhile, the way I understand the fuzzy thinking regarding wind, and tidal power as well, is that we’ll produce vast amounts of it, keeping only what we can, because it’s intermittent, and we’ll wheel the surplus to the U.S. This reminds me of the 1970s and ’80s, when we were going to be an energy superpower, thanks to coal, nuclear and tidal power, and drive the stuff to the U.S. through New Brunswick — not having bothered to ask New Brunswick.
We still haven’t asked. And that province is neither interested nor enthusiastic about someone else running a power line through, especially if the New Brunswick government has to take political flak from environmentalists or anyone else. It would be within its rights to charge whatever the traffic will bear for such a line.
Further, if we’re talking about a power line to carry on-and-off power, these are less profitable than those humming with full-time power. Will it pay? And, finally, do we know if there’s a market in the U.S. for interruptible power? Or are we, once again, entertaining fantasies?
Finally, we’re suspicious of Hydro-Quebec because of the ongoing tiff with Newfoundland and Labrador, and we tend to side with Newfoundland. Yet a Lower Churchill hydro project would take some 15 years to deliver, even if it started now. This is an issue for another day. Meanwhile, Newfoundland, with its oil, will soon be in better shape than us. Plus, it did make one deal not long ago to wheel some power through Quebec. So let’s not keep our shorts in a knot over than one.
The Dalhousie group under David Wheeler reviewing Nova Scotia’s energy policy put out a preliminary report during the holidays. One of its cogent observations is that we know nothing for sure about the energy future and, above all, policy must remain flexible. Grabbing at this opportunity, if it’s available, would be a good start.
( rsurette@herald.ca)
Ralph Surette is a veteran freelance journalist living in Yarmouth County.
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