Category Archives: Energy

(October 5, 2005) The title ‘Beyond Regulation’ is not intended to suggest that in future there is no need for regulation, but rather to suggest that we should look beyond its presently accepted role. Continue reading →

(March 19, 2005) Don’t like fossil fuels? Nuclear power? Hydro dams? Go fly a kite. Really. The next great energy technology may well involve implausible-sounding machines called Flying Electric Generators, windmills 30,000 feet high and tethered to the ground by power lines. These windmills would capture the plentiful power in the strong, steady winds that blow in the jet stream. Continue reading →

(October 16, 2004) To counter the high energy prices that consumers now face, governments in Canada and the U.S. have been subsidizing domestic energy production. This dirty government business lowers the bill a little for consumers but raises it a lot for taxpayers, making us worse off in the exchange. Continue reading →

(October 8, 2004) In a pinch, Canada could meet 100% of its electricity needs with wind power, numerous studies indicate. A report released last week by the authoritative General Accounting Office in the United States shows just how attainable a 100% wind power society would be. Continue reading →

(June 24, 2004) Go to YouTube and you can see a corporate video of a printing press running at 100 feet per minute, applying a nanoparticle ink to foil and producing solar cells. This machine is owned by Nanosolar Inc., which in turn is partly owned by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google. This one printing machine, Nanosolar claims, can produce solar cells with a capacity of 1,000 MW per year, the equivalent of a nuclear reactor at Indian Point outside Manhattan or two nuclear reactors at Pickering outside Toronto. Continue reading →