Helium startups on the Prairies hope to keep domestic supplies afloat

To the untrained eye, the collection of pipes and structures rising out of the prairie 200 kilometres east of Calgary looks like any other natural gas processing plant in southern Alberta.  But the Steveville plant isn’t focused on extracting hydrocarbons. Instead, the prize it’s seeking deep underground is helium.  The element is most commonly associated with … Read more

Exclusive | China wielding ‘bargaining power’ with Russia over Power of Siberia 2 natural gas pipeline

To export at least 98 billion cubic metres per year of gas from Russia to China as promised by Russian President Vladimir Putin, figures from Spanish multinational financial services firm BBVA showed that the new pipeline is needed because the Power of Siberia 1 is limited to 67 billion cubic metres per year. It’s a … Read more

We’re drunk on oil and gas, need to ‘phase-out’ fossil fuels, Markey says

Any agreement for fighting the negative impacts of a changing climate to emerge from the international summit currently being held in Dubai must include a plan to “phase out” the use of fossil fuels but nevertheless may not, according to the Bay State’s junior U.S. Senator. U.S. Senator Ed Markey, speaking from the COP28 summit … Read more

Deal to lower Visa, Mastercard processing fees will come up short for many retailers, critics say

The federal government says it has hammered out the final details with Visa and Mastercard to lower credit card transaction fees for merchants, but small business advocates say the deal doesn’t go nearly far enough. The deal concerns what is called an interchange fee, also known as a “swipe fee,” which sets aside a percentage … Read more

N.W.T. premier says he wants complete carbon tax exemption for territory

Canada’s newest premier says that in an ideal world, Ottawa would provide his territory with a blanket exemption from the carbon tax. “I mean, ideally, a complete exemption for the territory is what we would hope for,” said R.J. Simpson, chosen this week as premier of the Northwest Territories, in an interview Sunday on Rosemary Barton … Read more

Alberta premier’s arguments on increasing oil and gas production ‘logically incoherent’: Wilkinson

Federal Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s claim that Canada can achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 while simultaneously increasing oil and gas production is “incoherent.” Smith has long argued that carbon neutrality is about a transition away from emissions and not a transition away from oil and gas production, a source of … Read more

EU urges COP28’s oil chief to ‘lead’ on fossil fuel phaseout – POLITICO

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European Union says it’s time for the oil boss presiding over this year’s global climate talks to step up and push for a fossil fuel phaseout.  Spanish Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera, who represents EU governments in the negotiations, said Sultan al-Jaber, the COP28 president and CEO of the … Read more

2023 set to be hottest year on record, UN says

The United Nations weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt and heat waves in the future. The World Meteorological Organization also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4 degrees C from … Read more

Ships could capture energy from waves by imitating whales

In an effort to reduce the environmental impact of commercial ships, a group of U.K. researchers has scoured through the research into a unique technology that imitates the action of a whale’s tail to help propel ships and reduce fuel consumption. The findings of the review-study from Cranfield University, published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews … Read more