Led by Quebec Canadians Believe that Climate Change is Real

Of all Canadian provinces, Quebec is most likely to accept the reality of climate change, while people in the Prairies are the most resistant. According to IPAC-CO2 Research Inc., only two per cent of Canadians believe that climate change is not occurring. However, when it comes to the cause of climate change or what to do about it, Canadians are woefully ignorant. While most Canadians believe that Climate Change is real (54%), the majority still do not attribute it to human activity. When asked about anthropogenic climate change the East is better informed than the West. When asked whether they believed climate change is a man made phenomenon, twice as many people from the East agreed with the statement.


Climate Change is Man-made

Quebec (44%)
Atlantic Canada (34%)
British Columbia (32%)
Manitoba (24%)
Alberta (21%)
Saskatchewan (21%)

“Our survey indicates that Canadians from coast to coast overwhelmingly believe climate change is real and is occurring, at least in part due to human activity” explained Dr. Carmen Dybwad, CEO of the environmental non-government organization. “These findings have been consistent from 2011 and 2012. Canadians care about issues like extreme weather, drought and climate change.”

“Canadians most commonly (54%) believe that climate change is occurring partially due to human activity and partially due to natural climate variation,” said Briana Brownell of Insightrix Research, who conducted the survey for IPAC-CO2.

When it comes to what to do about it, 35% of Canadians believe the priority should be to promote cleaner cars running on electricity or low-carbon fuels while only 13% favored a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from the whole economy. The strongest support for a carbon tax comes from Quebec (24%) while the least support comes from B.C. (6%).

Rather than support low or zero carbon solutions, the study suggests Canadians seem to prefer Carbon Capture and Storage. Although 71% of residents of Quebec indicated they would be concerned about carbon sequestration.

This research was conducted by Insightrix Research, Inc. on behalf of IPAC-CO2. This online survey of Canadian residents was collected from 1,550 Canadians between May 29 and June 11, 2012.

Click here to see the survey.

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Revolutionary Liquid Energy Storage Technology

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new inexpensive battery technology that could revolutionize energy storage. This new battery technology could prove to be the holy grail of renewable energy storage, particularly at night when there is no light to power solar cells or when there is no wind to turn turbines. The new storage technology could overcome the obstacle of intermittent supply which is the greatest obstacle facing the widespread adoption of clean energy.

This technology could also significantly reduce the size of electric car battery systems and potentially double the range of electric vehicles.

Initial tests have used batteries the size of a shot glass, a hockey puck, and most recently a six-inch-wide version, with 200 times the power-storage capacity of the initial version.

The new approach to batteries was created by Donald Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of a paper along with MIT Materials Processing Center Research Affiliate David Bradwell MEng and their team. They published their research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 2012.

In this revolutionary technology there are two types of this semi-solid liquids one is positively charged, the other is negatively charged. These two liquids are pumped through the system which causes the exchange of lithium ions across a permeable membrane that triggers an external current. All three layers are composed of materials that are abundant and inexpensive (magnesium, magnesium chloride, and antimony) . The battery system operates at a temperature of 700 degrees Celsius, or 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit.

As reported in a Yale Environment article, lead researcher Yet-Ming Chiang says the power-per-unit potential will be 10 times greater than conventional designs.

This affordable storage capacity has greater longevity and lower cost than existing methods of energy storage and could make all the difference in the drive towards clean energy.

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Renewable Energy Storage by Donald Sadoway (Video)

In the recent TED2012 talk Dr Donald Sadoway spoke about "The Missing Link to Renewable Energy", describing the future of large-scale batteries that store renewable energy. Energy storage is the key to harnessing renewables like solar and wind. The ability to be able to store and use power at night or when the wind is not blowing is the holy grail of renewable energy. Sadoway's battery miracle is an inexpensive, incredibly efficient, three-layered battery using "liquid metal." In this video Sadoway outlines the future of large-scale batteries that store renewable energy.

The innovative approach envisioned by Dr Sadoway will help renewable energy to bury fossil fuels. As he says: "We need to think about the problem differently. We need to think big. We need to think cheap."

Sadoway was born on March 7, 1950. Sadoway is of Ukrainian heritage and was raised in Oshawa, Ontario, he receiving his PhD from the University of Toronto in 1977. Dr. Sadoway's main area of study is on chemical metallurgy. Sadoway received a NATO postdoctoral fellowship from the ational Research Council of Canada and went to MIT to conduct postdoctoral research under Julian Szekely.

In 1978, Dr. Sadoway joined the MIT faculty. He is best known for his expertise on batteries and has done a vast amount of research on how to improve the performance and longevity of portable power sources.  Dr. Sadoway is one of the world's leading researchers in the area of materials engineering for energy-storage technologies.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Video: The Debate on Global Warming

Here is an amusing video poking fun at climate deniers. David Mitchell laughs at the "heated debate" about global warming. With all the evidence for global warming (97 percent of all climate change scientists agree that man is is the cause) deniers should offer some proof that it doesn't exist. In the meantime we should be looking for solutions.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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