Premier is off-base on net zero claims
By Lethbridge Herald on May 8, 2025.
Editor,
Premier Danielle Smith says that the federal net zero regulations on electricity production set a carbon emissions limit that is completely unattainable, and would make Alberta’s electricity system more expensive and “more than 100 times less reliable.” (Lethbridge Herald, May 3)
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Pembina Institute, a respected environmental research organization, says that the Alberta government’s concerns around reliability and affordability are unchanged from concerns that Alberta repeatedly raised with the federal government in 2023 and 2024.
The final version of Canada’s Clean Electricity Regulations includes several revisions in response to Alberta’s concerns, such as an increase in the carbon intensity threshold for gas plants, as well as extending the number of years existing gas plants could remain in operation.
This ensured that the final Regulations balanced reliability needs, while still setting a clear course ahead for investment in low-cost, low-emissions electricity production and grid modernization. Yet Alberta continues to cite these same concerns, essentially ignoring the collaboration that took place with the federal government.
For the past two years, electricity investment in Alberta (especially its renewables sector, which was previously leading Canada), has suffered under repeated layers of regulatory and policy uncertainty introduced by the Alberta government. The seven-month moratorium on renewables imposed by the Alberta government in August 2023 resulted in the cancellation of 39 wind and 122 solar projects, representing over 14,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
Instead of fully utilizing the range of tools at its disposal to build a clean electricity grid for the future, the provincial government claims that a continuation of the status quo gas-fired power is the only solution to reliability and affordability.
Does Premier Smith not understand the existential threat that climate change poses to Canada and the world? There is ample evidence in the increasing drought, water scarcity, wildfires, and more frequent and severe storms that continue to wreak destruction on our communities.
Instead of fighting the federal government, Premier Smith should cooperate through initiatives that will help Canada reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and thus contribute to the international effort to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Anne Morris
Lethbridge
13-12
Maybe you would be interested in performance data Anne?
http://ets.aeso.ca/ets_web/ip/Market/Reports/CSDReportServlet
Potential benefits of atmospheric CO2
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth-study-finds/
Climate change isn’t suddenly fine because you can find a few things that it will improve. If we flooded the city the fish in the river would love it, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.
Thanks! Yes! Lots of misinformation on climate change and energy online. Not so many facts!
I don’t find it particular hard to find facts – you’ve already linked to NASA which means you’re looking in the right place. They’ve got excellent articles on how we know that climate change is serious and human caused:
https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/
That it’s largely through burning fossil fuels:
https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/causes/
And that there will be serious consequences if we don’t take steps to reduce emissions:
https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/effects/
You’re certainly right that there’s plenty of misinformation, but if you’re careful with your sources, it’s easy to find the reality as well.
More cherry picked data by this person (DP). If he had bothered to read the whole article , he would or should know that there are several caveats contained within the whole article. Plus, even this article goes on to say the bleedin’ obvious regarding the negative effects of CO2:
“While rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the air can be beneficial for plants, it is also the chief culprit of climate change. The gas, which traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere, has been increasing since the industrial age due to the burning of oil, gas, coal and wood for energy and is continuing to reach concentrations not seen in at least 500,000 years. The impacts of climate change include global warming, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and sea ice as well as more severe weather events.”
In future , before citing something designed to back up your assertions, read the whole thing first before committing to a dubious inference.
More good reading
https://energytalkingpoints.com/how-to-solve-americas-electricity-crisis/
http://www.computare.org
It should be recognized that we need to view Alberta’s electricity generation in a wider context within the nation , as a whole. Provinces like BC, Ontario and Quebec , have substantial Hydro power while Alberta is blessed with huge natural gas reserves. If, as a nation we truly wished to lower our carbon footprint we would get together and build a national electrical grid , which would allow Alberta to use it’s abundant natural gas as it’s principal fuel , without the imposition of climate alarmist, and the utter futility of impossible net zero objectives.
To observe a classic example of unintended consequences we need look no further than Spain’s recent announcement of 100 % renewable electrical energy status. Six days later, it suffered a national blackout that caused outages in France and Portugal also.
There needs to be some common sense, and a national grid makes sense.
Logic and common sense have left the building. Climate cultists and subsidy suckers do not like facts.
Those like myself , who accept the so called “climate crisis” are not “cultists” as Buckwheat, MAGA, Trump worshiping acolytes, David Parker et al would have you believe. Anyone disagreeing with him (and I assume Buckwheat is a “he”) are belittled, considered “Marxist” , “Socialist” and now “subsidy suckers”. See my post above pointing out the naivety of Pendergast’s claims cherry picked from a well reasoned article.
The Premier’s claims that the only way to generate electricity is to burn massive amounts of carbon are, of course, refuted by the myriad jurisdictions that generate power from clean sources. The fact that these other sources are now cheaper and lead to lower electricity prices is not important to a fossil fuel-captured government. Alberta having the highest provincial electricity prices in Canada is a cross the people must bear, under the utilities mismanagement of Nathan Neudorf and the UCP.
Here’s a comparison of electricity prices across Canada: https://www.hydroquebec.com/data/documents-donnees/pdf/comparison-electricity-prices-2024.pdf