Tag: Renewable Energy

Podcast: Break In Case of Emergency

CRED-NB is an active member of Climate Action Network – Canada. A fellow network member, the Climate Emergency Unit, has started a new podcast called Break In Case of Emergency. So far it’s BC focused but we think they will have a lot of relevant information to share, especially since they have a Canadian perspective.

The podcast features urgent conversations about the crisis that connects us all. As global temperatures soar and communities face devastating climate disasters, they share conversations with frontline activists and organizers about what a true emergency response looks like—beyond government inaction, corporate greenwashing, and climate denial. Through critical analysis, storytelling, and radical imagination, they examine the systems of power that are blocking climate action and explore what’s required to build a movement for a just, livable planet.

Try a listen at https://www.climateemergencyunit.ca/podcast

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Suzuki Foundation Webinar on Clean Electricity in Canada – March 5

POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER

Where is Canada in its journey toward affordable, reliable, clean electricity for all? And how can we push for the change we need to ensure our electricity system benefits the many, not the few?

Join an engaging discussion about clean electricity and energy justice.

When? Wednesday, March 5, 3:30 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. ET

Where? Zoom

Why? Because renewables offer so much opportunity, but we need to come together to keep the momentum building.

In December 2024, Canada finalized its clean electricity regulations to help usher in a renewable energy future. This was an unprecedented win for clean electricity in Canada, but it also included damaging loopholes for fossil fuel companies.

In this webinar, the panel of experts will:

  • Break down the good, the bad and the ugly of Canada’s clean electricity regulations.
  • Present today’s political context of the Trump administration’s gutting of environmental policies, a federal election, a trade war with the U.S. and a possible legal battle with the Alberta government.
  • Set the stage for what comes next as we try to realize the opportunities of Indigenous-led and community-led renewables.

Whether you supported the campaign for clean electricity regulations, campaigned for renewable power for all or want to learn what all the fuss about renewable electricity is, this session will provide insights and pathways for action.

If you can’t make it but would like to watch the recording, please register to receive the recording automatically to your inbox.

Webinar: Beyond the Shock Doctrine: Conversation on Tariffs, Climate and Solidarity

2025-02-12 Beyond the Shock Doctrine Webinar - horizontal

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) and we signed and shared a statement about how we should respond to tariffs. Now CAN-Rac has organized a webinar, Beyond the Shock Doctrine: Conversation on Tariffs, Climate and Solidarity, Wed. Feb. 12 @ 8 PM Atlantic.

Hosted by Climate Action Network Canada and the UBC Centre for Climate Justice, this conversation will feature Naomi Klein, Co-Director of the Centre for Climate Justice, Syed Hussan, Executive Director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, and Lubicon Cree advocate Melina Laboucan-Massimo, founder and Executive Director of Sacred Earth Solar.

Join this important conversation by registering here. Spots are limited!

CRED-NB’s vision for Canada’s electricity grid and network 

The House of Commons standing committee on natural resources is conducting a study on Canada’s electricity grid and network. CRED-NB submitted a brief for the study that will be considered when the committee drafts its final report to Parliament. Our brief is HERE.

We have three main recommendations:

1) Canada should use the fastest and most affordable pathway to a zero GHG emission power grid in Canada: replacing fossil fuel-fired generation solely with renewable energy sources complemented by energy storage, transmission interties and demand-side management.

2) Canada should minimize the time and resources spent on developing new nuclear reactors, especially risky new experimental reactors, as they are not required to build a zero GHG emission energy grid in Canada.

3) All federal funding for research and development of new nuclear reactors and all grid energy technologies should be moved to government research granting agencies.

CRED-NB is encouraging other groups and individuals to also submit briefs for this study. Our brief could provide a template. The link to the study is HERE.

NBASGA’s vision for a renewable energy future for New Brunswick

CRED-NB champion, the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA), put its comments on the energy transition up on its website, HERE.

In its submission, NBASGA argues that renewable energy – primarily wind and solar – should be the focus of the lion’s share of New Brunswick’s energy investments. It is the only option that checks all the strategic focus boxes, including affordability, energy security and reliability. Similar to CRED-NB, NBASGA believes that new nuclear energy is not needed. The submission quotes the latest research showing that SMRs are too expensive, slow and risky.

How does electricity work when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? Storage!

Energy storage plays a key role in helping wind and solar power dominate the growth in electrical grid capacity. Storage includes batteries or other systems that hold energy until it’s needed. With adequate storage, the New Brunswick electrical grid no longer needs energy sources such as natural gas that emits greenhouse gases (GHGs) or risky and expensive nuclear power.

Read the full article in the NB Media Co-op by CRED-NB’s Tom McLean, HERE.

CRED-NB Letter of Comment on NB Power’s rate increase request 

In our submission to the New Brunswick Energy & Utilities Board (EUB), CRED-NB urges the EUB to require that NB Power validates its demand for higher power rates by taking proactive, economically and environmentally responsible action to improve its overall performance while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to address the climate emergency in the years leading to 2030. We submit 11 improvement strategies that can help NB Power achieve its prime requirements and advancements at the lowest cost, in the least time, and with greatest benefit. Read our submission HERE.

Balancing the conversation on New Brunswick’s energy future: webinar April 23

CRED-NB core member Tom McLean will be presenting CRED-NB’s vision of a nuclear-free renewable energy future on Tuesday, April 23 at 1 PM by zoom. The event, part of the Atlantic Canada Climate network speaker series, will describe how New Brunswick can meet its future energy needs with renewable energy and storage technologies. Register HERE for “Balancing the Conversation: Nuclear-free Renewable Energy Futures with CRED-NB.”

Hydrogen: super fuel or another big distraction?

New Brunswick this week released a “5-year roadmap” for hydrogen development, predicting that the strategy will make the province a clean-energy powerhouse.

Hydrogen will be an element in a future energy system that emits fewer GHGs. However the government’s plan misses the mark.  Here’s CRED-NB’s initial analysis:

  • Electricity and heat pumps are a far cheaper solution to heating buildings than hydrogen.
  • It is far better & cheaper for transportation to be muscle or battery powered. Green hydrogen is too expensive except for flight and long-distance shipping.
  • Hydrogen is hard to contain so exporting it will be difficult. That’s why most hydrogen is produced close to where it is used.
  • Green hydrogen (produced by renewable energy) can be a clean back-stop to wind and solar electricity generation but the priority should be using more efficient storage.
  • Green hydrogen must be made with wind power to keep the cost down. There will be no market, local or export, for hydrogen made with nuclear power as it will be far too expensive.

CRED-NB spokesperson Tom McLean got a few words in about this during a CTV clip about the government’s plan the day it was launched. Watch it HERE.