Following Germany to Dunceville

Ontario is that you?

As Ontario politicians continue to promote the Green Energy Act and its perceived, but yet unproven advantages. As Brad Duguid, the newly appointed Minister of energy and Infrastructure has been actively promoting the Green Energy Act (GEA) and its Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program in the Ontario news outlets, websites such as Wind Concerns Ontario, a collection of municipal groups who are staunchly opposed to wind turbine installment, have been waging their attacks on the lack of transparency the Liberals have employed. Although I don’t particularly agree with everything that WCO believes I do share their fears and agitation with this administration and its rush to implement costly, unproven renewable energy. The bothersome thing is that the green blinders have been placed on our provincial horse and all we see is the finish line, impervious to the fact that the track is full of pot holes. Some energy reporters have pointed out that the GEA’s Feed-in tariff program is very much based on the German model. The German Renewable Sources Act (EEG) has been touted as a a model to be replicated elsewhere, but according to a report from the Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research one of Germany’s leading independent research institutes comprised of professors from four universities, the implications of a comprehensive FIT program have resulted in many unforeseen consequences.

Cyber-thieves steal thousands of carbon credits

...that's not how you mask an ip.

Last week I wrote about the inherent failures of the Carbon credit/trading system specifically the problem of big polluters benefiting from a swath of cheap carbon credits readily available from renewable energy producers. Under environmental cap-and-trade laws, there’s a limit to the greenhouse gases companies can emit. Companies that exceed this limit can purchase so-called carbon credits from entities that produce fewer greenhouse emissions than the limit provides them. The scheme has produced a robust market for the trade of credits. More than 8 million tons of CO2 emissions worth $130 billion were traded in Europe last year. Well it seems that some of these carbon credits were stolen as cyber-hackers made off with close to 250,000 carbon credit permits worth more than $4 million. Gone are the days of credit card fraud and cheque manipulation, these days fraudsters are well versed in the ever growing minutiae of online transactions. Most Internet users are familiar with the e-mail scam known in the jargon as “phishing.” A plausible-looking e-mail arrives in your in-box, supposedly from your bank or a Web site like Ebay, informing you that your account has been “compromised” and that you urgently need to log in to the company’s Web site to rectify matters. The catch is that the Web site the e-mail directs you to is a spoof created by the hackers, meaning that anyone who falls for the trick is unwittingly handing over their all-important user names and passwords to the criminals.

No experience? What about innovation?

ohhh man

The Ontario governments announcement last week of a $7 billion ‘manufacturing’ investment deal with Samsung has been met with a large amount of criticism and scorn. Many people are wondering why a back room agreement had to be utilized to hook the South Korean giant. With all the government bailouts and corporate malfeasance that has littered the business landscape of late, how could a ’subsidy incentive’ program – provided for a foreign conglomerate – bode well for the liberals? You know, what are they thinking? Here’s what Brad Duguid, the newly appointed minister of Energy and Infrastructure suggested on Sunday;

Well its a matter of scale We could have held back and waited for this amount of job creation to take place, where this critical mass would come together but that would happen over a longer period of time. This initiative, what it does is it invests $7 billion immediately, over 6 years, into the province, it really is a huge boost forward. Its created an international interest that really does designate Ontario as perhaps the global leader now in the development of green energy.

Congress likes nuclear

Obama adressing congress

For those who didn’t catch it last night, President Barack Obama’s state of the Union was the same ceremonious, self-adulating event that all state of the unions are. Praise the American people for all their hard work and gumption, Point out all the things your administration has done to protect jobs, American interests, etc, and provide the tired and undetermined prospect of continuing hegemonic dominance in all areas of importance geo-politically.

Hahaha maybe I shouldn’t be that hard on Obama, his first year in office has been a tumultuous one riddled with false starts and roadblocks to his ‘change’ initiatives. Sadly democrats have shown a splintered foundation and lack of conviction and resolve in regards to energy/environmental policy and health care legislation. The republicans, once again have shown themselves to be a tight-knit fraternity, holding together to trump the democrats and their aspirations. Indeed not much has changed in Obama’s first year but if the state of the union emboldened any hope it was in the bi-partisan showing of support for Nuclear.

Carbon trading conundrum

“Our goal remains exactly what it was before: to price carbon and to create a target for reduction of emissions that is real.”

- John Kerry (D)

The pricing and allocation of Carbon credits is the next logical step in lowering our Co2 emissions. Since the establishment of a global price for Carbon was effectively zapped at the Copenhagen climate conference last December, nations and regions have been left to their own devices, trying to pass and legislate a fair and effective way to price carbon. Canadian environment minister Jim Prentice has maintained the party line and declined to implement any comprehensive carbon pricing plan until the United States does

We are talking about a cap-and-trade system, a continental cap-and-trade system that involves absolute emission reductions, not intensity targets

Short-sighted sell outs

Governments the world over have, in the past couple of years, come into some hard times. As is the tradition when these deficit defining periods arise is the suggestion to sell off public institutions to private parties. The idea to sell off public assets is indeed lucrative but selling our historical heirlooms to satisfy a gambling debt seems unwise. The ability to loosen structural liability is always tempting, but is it short-sighted?

Employing Duplicity to sell green energy

Investment with a guarantee...only in Ontario

“The reason that Samsung and Korea Electric Power are making this investment in Ontario — and not New York or Michigan or Texas or California — is because of Ontario’s Green Energy Act.”

- Dalton McGuinty

Ahhh the power of misguided ambitions. Yesterday we brought you the news of a newly inked energy deal between Ontario and renewable energy producer Samsung and the inherent failure with the ’subsidy incentive’ programs offered up by state legislators in Michigan.

Korean-based Samsung will receive $437-million in incentive payments over the 25-year life of the deal if it fulfills its obligation to create 16,000 jobs. This will be done, in part, by having Samsung woo green energy companies to the province. This is the incentive that will add the $1.60 to consumers’ electricity bills.

New Samsung deal a potential boondoggle

Bewildered...MAINTAIN POLITICIAN THUMB!!!!

A controversial green energy deal between the provincial government and Samsung Group worth up to $7 billion will be unveiled Thursday, the Star has learned. Sources said Tuesday that Premier Dalton McGuinty will reveal the details of a landmark agreement with the South Korean industrial giant to manufacture renewable energy equipment such as wind turbines here. Samsung will also develop 600 megawatts of wind and solar farms in Ontario, which the Liberal government believes will help meet its target of 50,000 new jobs created over three years through the Green Energy Act.

Cabinet shuffle won’t solve the problems

looking into the mid-distance and wondering about the upcoming year

The Ontario cabinet shuffle announced Monday were the most comprehensive changes to cabinet since Premier Dalton McGuinty first won majority government in 2003. The changes also come come as an attempt to energize the Liberal benches, which have recently been beset by scandal and mounting challenges on other fronts. MMP Brad Duguid (Scarborough centre) will now oversee Ontario’s $26 billion nuclear rebuilding efforts and a Green Energy Act aimed at creating 50,000 jobs in three years. The promotion shows he has the confidence of Premier Dalton McGuinty. “I’ve given him a big job. I’m confident he can get it done,” McGuinty said. Well we’ll see.

Luring investors with a guarantee

On January 29, 2010 a grouping of venture capitalists, green energy enthusiasts and energy industry insiders will be convening in Toronto to discuss the Green Energy Act (GEA) and its newly established Feed-in Tariff program (FIT). The GEA Finance Forum will present financial sector attendees with information about the investment opportunities presented by the new Ontario Green Energy Act, and methods of participation in the market, including sector player and project presentations. Presented by MaRS, the GEAA and D&D Securities, the GEA Finance Forum serves to educate the financial sector as to the extent of this opportunity, and present methods of participation. The primary audience of the event includes the financial institutions who will support the Act’s build-out, and the sector players who will require that finance.

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