Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Ah, I think I follow. I think what you're saying is "if I spend all the extra capex on 20-25 GW of combined capacity, is the reduced opex from all the free renewables hours better economics"?

If so, it would definitely need some math but my gut says no. Capex+returns usually drives the day (especially when you add on the expected project overruns and inflation risks if the whole world is trying to build the same thing at the same time).

Honestly, uncalculated common sense would suggest you'd be better off to just build 10 GW of clean gas for that 10 GW of demand, run it all the time, and never bother with the billions of dollars for that 10-15 GW of wind/solar. Know what I mean? And this wouldn't be a scenario with lots of carbon taxes because CER is forcing that gas to be abated. You can't pay to pollute your way out.

It just seems like, in this province, all roads of more wind/solar just lead to more inefficiencies. But I can't blame them for their rapid expansion. The TIER credits just make them pretty damn economic projects.

If you look at the boundary project in Saskatchewan to do CCS off of coal it cost 100% of the Capex and 25%-35% of the power generation of the plant. So likely around double the cost of power. It also benefits as it has a customer for the Carbon and it’s not just straight sequestration.

So even with wind / solar at fairly minimal efficiency during winter it’s likely worth building to a significant degree unless Carbon Capture drastically reduces in cost. And CCS won’t follow a Moore’s law type function like solar does so new capture tech would be required to get significant savings.

I think compressed air batteries or hydro batteries to handle daily and cyclic demand cycles likely end up being the most practical options along side a significant nuclear base load.

[Fuzz]

It's comforting to have such smart conservative fiscal mangers at the helm while we navigate these stormy seas they create with their own hot air.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

When the hell are we going to hit bottom?

Well the UCP keeps digging the hole…

[Yoho]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1692574127331385804

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Wonder how much this disaster will cost Albertans versus what it would have cost to just consolidate and build the superlab in Edmonton (including cancelling it when they did).

Are Albertans having fun yet with this government?

We still have years and it WILL get worse.

[TheIronMaiden]

Solar farms are very compatible with (dairy) cattle farming.

The combined use of solar photovoltaics and agriculture may provide farmers with an alternative source of income and reduce heat stress in dairy cows. The objective of this study was to determine the effects on grazing cattle under shade from a solar photovoltaic system. The study was conducted at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris, Minnesota on a grazing dairy. Twenty-four crossbred cows were randomly assigned to 2 treatment groups (shade or no shade) from June to September in 2019. The replicated (n = 4) treatment groups of 6 cows each were provided shade from a 30-kW photovoltaic system. Two groups of cows had access to shade in paddocks, and 2 groups of cows had no shade in paddocks. All cows were located in the same pasture during summer. Behavior observations and milk production were evaluated for cows during 4 periods of summer. Boluses and an eartag sensor monitored internal body temperature, activity, and rumination on all cows, respectively. Independent variables were the fixed effects of breed, treatment group, coat color, period, and parity, and random effects were replicate group, date, and cow. No differences in fly prevalence, milk production, fat and protein production, or drinking bouts were observed between the treatment groups. Shade cows had more ear flicks (11.4 ear flicks/30 s) than no-shade cows (8.6 ear flicks/30 s) and had dirtier bellies and lower legs (2.2 and 3.2, respectively) than no-shade cows (1.9 and 2.9, respectively). During afternoon hours, shade cows had lower respiration rates (66.4 breaths/min) than no-shade cows (78.3 breaths/min). From 1200 to 1800 h and 1800 to 0000 h, shade cows had lower body temperature (39.0 and 39.2°C, respectively) than no-shade cows (39.3 and 39.4°C, respectively). Furthermore, between milking times (0800 and 1600 h), the shade cows had lower body temperature (38.9°C) than no-shade cows (39.1°C). Agrivoltaics incorporated into pasture dairy systems may reduce the intensity of heats stress in dairy cows and increase well-being of cows and the efficiency of land use

https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...22030220310730

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Solar farms are very compatible with (dairy) cattle farming. https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...22030220310730

That’s quite interesting and insightful. Wonder what the cost is (if f any) to upgrade the structure supporting the panels?

[Superflyer]

Speaking of high electricity prices, I see that Atco has a new Corporate Director
https://www.atco.com/en-ca/about-us/...directors.html

[Monahammer]

The southerns define alberta business culture. Government subsidies that convert into a pure #### you got mine play.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

That’s quite interesting and insightful. Wonder what the cost is (if f any) to upgrade the structure supporting the panels?

You'd likely run electric fence along the supports. If not that you can wrap anything you really don't want cows to rub on with a little barbed wire, though a hot fence works better imo.

[FlameOn]

So no way a Lab Corp is going to sell Dynalife back at AHS without a good amount of premium on the remainder of the contract. The UCP took a part of the health care system that was working incredibly well, broke it to sell off and replaced it with horrible service, then will pay a huge premium to fix the mess they created. Makes my blood boil the amount of wasted money because of ideological stupidity. Worst part of this, if you watch the announcement at the 6ish minute mark of the presser, LaGrange says APL taking over lab service again was part of a "short term fix" i.e. they are not done "fixing" healthcare.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by Yoho

https://twitter.com/user/status/1692574127331385804

Following on my earlier posts, this is such a stupid take. You can’t replace all of our carbon based generation because the sun ******* sets and the wind ******* dies down.

These guys are such idiots. This land use argument is so far down the list it makes them look the fools they are.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

You'd likely run electric fence along the supports. If not that you can wrap anything you really don't want cows to rub on with a little barbed wire, though a hot fence works better imo.

Free electricity for the electric fence!

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Yoho

https://twitter.com/user/status/1692574127331385804

105,000 acres is ~164 square miles.
Where could we possibly fit that?
That’s gotta be, like half of Alberta.

Or, you know ~0.067%
Or ~ 0.2% of the 50 million acres of farmland in Alberta.

Seriously, in what world is swapping 0.2% of farmland to provide 100% of your power (Even if it is only when the sun shines) not a good deal?

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

105,000 acres is ~164 square miles.
Where could we possibly fit that?
That’s gotta be, like half of Alberta.

Or, you know ~0.067%
Or ~ 0.2% of the 50 million acres of farmland in Alberta.

Seriously, in what world is swapping 0.2% of farmland to provide 100% of your power (Even if it is only when the sun shines) not a good deal?

I may be wrong but isnt the open excavation of oil sands roughly 100,000 acres on its own?

I would love if someone in the know could break down O and G land use.

[FireGilbert]

Recently had a presentation at work where the head of energy transition called Alberta and Western Australia the two best jurisdictions in the world for carbon capture investment due to cooperative governments willing to work with oil and gas companies.

[TorqueDog]

God dammit Rob Ward, what a stupid take.

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I may be wrong but isnt the open excavation of oil sands roughly 100,000 acres on its own?

I would love if someone in the know could break down O and G land use.

According to this page, there are 500 Sq km of oil sands under excavations.

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclope...surface_mining

I would imaging this figure does not include tailings ponds.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I may be wrong but isnt the open excavation of oil sands roughly 100,000 acres on its own?

I would love if someone in the know could break down O and G land use.

There have been plenty of efforts to convert old oil & gas facilities into solar facilities, it actually makes the solar more economical since a lot of the infrastructure is already there. Not sure about oil sands - probably not close enough to where the power is needed. But lots of bureaucratic obstacles to doing it.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

So no way a Lab Corp is going to sell Dynalife back at AHS without a good amount of premium on the remainder of the contract. So the UCP took a part of the health care system that was working incredibly well, broke it to sell off and replaced it with horrible service, then will pay a huge premium to fix the mess they created. Makes my blood boil the amount of wasted money because of ideological stupidity. Worst part of this, if you watch the announcement at the 6ish minute mark of the presser, LaGrange says APL taking over lab service again was part of a "short term fix" i.e. they are not done "fixing" healthcare.

I feel like we need a new word for this feeling I'm going to start getting used to


Shandrofreude perhaps?


for moments like this where this decision fills me both with joy (the current level of service was making everything absolutely unbearable) and rage (because it was so obvious how many horrible decisions we are going to pay for forever happened along the way)