The Globe and Mail offers the most authoritative news in Canada, featuring national and international news
Clean electricity was one of the stars of Tuesday’s federal budget, with almost $1 in every $8 of new spending the budget anticipates in the next five years targeting Canada’s electricity dreams.
The only way to do all of that is to make a lot more power, and make more of it come from renewables. The country is already getting off coal, the most emissions-intensive source of electricity. Ontario eliminated coal in 2014, and by 2030, Canada’s regulations require all coal power plants to be closed or abated with carbon capture and storage technology.
Renewables are already growing quickly. In 2010, wind made up less than one per cent of the total power that was generated. The Canada Energy Regulator predicts that by 2050, wind will make up almost one-fifth of the country’s total electricity production.In the 19th century, it was a national railroad. In the 20th, it was a national highway.
Electricity Canada’s recent report on the “state of the Canadian electricity industry” in 2023, says the federal government alone has more than 90 different regulations affecting electricity, from greenhouse gas policies and fisheries and migratory birds. But it is getting cheaper to build renewable power. Unlike a coal, gas or nuclear plant, which all have to buy input fuels to make electricity, solar and wind farms source their power for free, so the costs have more to do with construction and maintenance.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Globe editorial: The dangers for Canada in Joe Biden’s new dealFriend-shoring could easily devolve into not-so-appealing protectionism and, with not much more of a jump, to the frontal assault on free trade by Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump
Read more »
Globe editorial: The Trudeau Liberals build a budget on a cloud, and collective amnesiaThe government’s claims to fiscal restraint are based on sleight-of-hand projections and the hope that Canadians won’t remember past budgets
Read more »
Globe reporter Josh O’Kane among Shaughnessy Cohen book prize nomineesThe five finalists were chosen by jurors Terri E. Givens, Nik Nanos and Jacques Poitras. The winner will be announced May 10
Read more »
Small but mighty – five reasons why small caps are set to outperformQuality small-cap stocks can offer investors outsized returns and bring diversification to a portfolio, says a portfolio manager
Read more »
Two final bodies pulled from rubble after Old Montreal fire, five bodies identifiedThe bodies of the final two missing victims of a fire in Old Montreal were pulled from the rubble on Monday, as investigators shifted their attention to uncovering the causes of the deadly blaze.
Read more »