A river runs through it – Zibi is a carbon-neutral community right on the Ottawa River. It gets electricity from run-of-river, heat from district energy, and represents a new climate-resilient form of urban design.
Alberta’s electricity was 81% coal-fired in 1981. By 2023 it will reach 0%. Now for the hard part – getting to net-zero. Green Energy Futures talks to economist Dr. Blake Shaffer about how to go the distance and reach net-zero emissions.
Dagmar Knutson was growing very tired of the rhetoric and polarization that swirls around climate change and energy transition in oil-rich Alberta. So she formed Ten Peaks Innovation Alliance and has organized a conference to bring teachers and students together to transcend polarization and begin collaborating on building the low carbon energy future we all need.
Schneider Electric was named the most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights a Canadian sustainability rating firm. The France-based global company already used 80 per cent renewable energy for its operations and wants to be carbon neutral by 2025.
With COVID shutdowns David Betke created GreenShows a carbon-neutral online event hosting service that radically reduces travel, increases participation, and plants trees instead of handing out swag.
On the same day, Edmonton’s Mayor Don Iveson was awarded a national Clean 50 Award and city council passed its landmark 1.5-degree Energy Transition Plan which seeks to take Edmonton to net-zero by 2050.
Is nuclear power the only way we can reach net-zero emissions or is it a threat to civilization and a distraction from the development of other low carbon sources of energy such as solar and wind? We discuss this with energy experts Ed Whittingham, Dr. David Keith, Dr. Sara Hastings-Simon and former Canadian Green Party leader and current MP Elizabeth May.
Kent Rathwell’s new big idea is to create Carbon Plunk Parks near cities to plunk carbon back into the Earth where it came from by planting trees and actively sequestering carbon.
They said it couldn’t be done, but Kent Rathwell created the first zero-emissions wild bird seed company and then created the longest green highway in the world where you could charge your electric vehicle for free.
