New Brunswickers urgently need more affordable, reliable and cleaner electricity as we head into an uncertain future. In response, CRED-NB has developed a plan for electricity generation that includes guideposts and key steps for provincial policy-makers.
Can clean, renewable power be cheap? In a word, yes!
The details are here.
New Brunswickers urgently need more affordable, reliable and cleaner electricity as we head into an uncertain future. In response, CRED-NB has developed a plan for electricity generation that includes guideposts and key steps for provincial policy-makers.
Can New Brunswick have cheap, clean, renewable and secure power? In a word, yes!
The details are here.
What is the best way for utilities to delay the transition from fossil fuels? Propose to build nuclear reactors.
Electricity utilities wanting to “decarbonize” have several options for replacing the fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas) plants on their grids: aim to increase energy efficiency and productivity; add new renewable energy and storage resources; consider adding carbon capture and storage (CCS); or propose to build new nuclear reactors.
By objective measures, building new nuclear power plants will cost more, take longer to deploy, and introduce catastrophic accident risks—relative to improving energy productivity, expanding renewables with energy storage, and developing distributed energy resources. CCS suffers from limits of appropriate geology, reduced plant efficiency, and high costs.
However, if the goal is to keep fossil fuel-fired plants operating as long as possible, promising to build more nuclear energy has definite appeal.
Read the complete article here.
Dr. Susan O’Donnell is a core member of CRED-NB, on the board of the NB Media Co-op and adjunct research professor and lead investigator of the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. Dr. Mark Winfield is a professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University in Toronto, and co-chair of the faculty’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.
Ongoing concerns about energy poverty and spikes in NB Power bills sparked public protests earlier this month. On Monday, Premier Susan Holt and Minister responsible for Energy René Legacy, held a media event short on details but full of promises that changes are coming to the troubled public utility.
The government revealed that the public review of NB Power announced three weeks ago will take place this year and wrap up with a government decision no later than March 2026. More details are promised “later this spring.”
The review, to be led by three expert leads supported by steering and advisory committees, will engage with stakeholders and the public and focus on financial sustainability, governance and utility structure, investor attractiveness and strategic partnerships, and customer expectations.
Despite the link between energy generation and the climate crisis, the review will not include any guidance or requirement that the solutions proposed align with the province’s climate action plan. Minister Legacy said he thinks that “groups will come forward and ask about anything to do with clean energy, so that will come up as a focus.”
Read the full article here.
Susan O’Donnell is a core member of CRED-NB, on the NB Media Co-op board of directors and the lead researcher for the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University.
Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) has released Made-in-Canada Climate Solutions: 2025 Election Priorities, setting out its calls to action for federal parties this campaign.
The calls to action are based on six pillars:
See the CAN-Rac press release HERE
CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network.
Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat (CAN-Rac) Canada is a coalition of over 180 organizations operating from coast to coast to coast. Their membership brings environmental groups together with trade unions, First Nations, social justice, development, health and youth organizations, faith groups and local, grassroots initiatives.
The Mactaquac hydroelectric dam 20 km upriver from Fredericton is a major source of electricity in New Brunswick. Although only halfway through its expected life, it requires major refurbishment. Is spending $8.9 billion to fix a 60-year-old power generation station really the best path forward?
NB Power must answer this important question soon. The utility’s decision will impact the future price of electricity and its ability to pay down its crushing debt.
Three considerations are how much electricity the dam generates, the maximum power it can produce, and how “dispatchable” it is. Power is dispatchable if it can be turned on, up, and down as needed.
Mactaquac is an important source of clean, renewable energy. The key question that will impact future energy costs is: how does the cost of refurbishment compare with building a new alternative source of renewable energy generation? An additional consideration: how many new jobs would the alternative create in New Brunswick?
To read more click HERE.
Tom McLean is a member of the Core Group of the Coalition of Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED NB) which is developing a strategy for affordable renewable electricity supply in New Brunswick.
Seniors for Climate, a Canada-wide movement of concerned older adults, invites you to an Earth Day Rally at the Legislature, 706 Queen Street, Fredericton on Tuesday, April 22, from noon to 2 pm.
At this action-packed gathering, we’ll hear from climate and community leaders, connect with grassroots groups taking positive social and climate action, listen to great music, and shout out loudly for our politicians to stop the burning of fossil fuels and move rapidly to clean, affordable, and reliable renewable energy. Later is Too Late!
At 11:30 am just before the Rally, join us in front of Fredericton City Hall, 397 Queen Street, to hear the Mayor proclaim April 22 as Earth Day in Fredericton at 11:45, then make your own way to the Legislature. You are permitted to carry signs. Share this message with 10 friends, youth to seniors, and invite them to share with 10 friends, and so on. If everybody shares, we could see 1,000 people!
Come, bring a friend, bring signs and lend your voice.
Recently, Point Lepreau has been scrutinized for costs that could reach $294 million for its 249-day outage, its contribution to about three-quarters of NB Power’s nearly $5.4 billion debt, and whether it should be shut down. Missing from discussion, however, are the reactor’s tritium emissions and the health hazard they pose.
All CANDU reactors like Point Lepreau use heavy water to sustain a chain reaction to produce steam that drives a turbine to generate electricity, and to prevent the core from overheating and melting down. Over time, tritium, or radioactive hydrogen, builds up in the heavy water. To reduce the risk of exposing nuclear workers and the public to increasing radiation levels, the heavy water from the moderator system must be treated or replaced.
NB Power was asked if Point Lepreau’s heavy water had ever been replaced or treated. Through email, Kathleen Duguay, manager, community affairs and nuclear regulatory protocol at Point Lepreau responded as follows: “The Station has not undergone a replacement of heavy water since the reactor began operations.”
This commentary by Ann McAllister was published in the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal on March 1, 2025. To read more click HERE.
Ann McAllister, a retired teacher, participated as an intervenor in the relicensing hearing for the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station held by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in May 2022.
Canadians are heading to the polls on April 28th, in a moment when we’re facing the human & economic costs of both climate change and the trade war.
Climate Action Network and civil society groups from coast to coast are calling on parties not to sacrifice Canada’s climate progress to Donald Trump’s destructive agenda during this election & beyond.
See Climate Action Network full statement with quotes from civil society by clicking HERE. CRED-NB has signed onto this statement.
Pour le français cliquez ici.
Today, climate-concerned organizations from across Canada published an open letter to Mark Carney, calling on the newly elected Prime Minister-designate to future-proof the Canadian economy by putting forward climate-aligned finance policy.
The letter, signed by 57 organizations and individuals, calls on Canada’s next Prime Minister to make good on his record of inviting financial actors to the climate problem-solving table and take the necessary next step of championing legislation that legally requires their alignment with a stable, climate-safe future ahead of an upcoming federal election.
See full press release HERE.
