Saturday, October 16, 2021

A new 'Buy American' plan is alarming the auto sector — and the federal government

Freeland said she's 'very aware' of a proposal that

 could hurt Canadian auto production

Alexander Panetta · CBC News · 
GM workers in Michigan connect a battery pack underneath a partially assembled 2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV in 2018. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

For months now, a legislative proposal inching its way through the U.S. Congress has been stoking consternation across the border.

Canadian policy-makers and businesses have been warily eyeing Buy American proposals designed to shift auto production to the U.S.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said during a trip this week to Washington that she raised some of those concerns with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

"It's a focus. It's a priority," Freeland told a news conference Thursday after she attended global financial meetings. "I am very aware of the proposals being discussed here in the United States."

At issue are two massive trillion-dollar bills currently before Congress that form the heart of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda. The next few weeks could decide whether they pass.

WATCH: Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland discusses 'Buy American'

Freeland on Buy America

2 days ago
2:42
The CBC's Alex Panetta asks Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland for an update on Buy America provisions and how her government is responding. 2:42

One is a bipartisan infrastructure bill that's already passed the Senate. It's loaded with Buy American provisions.

The other bill has more specific implications for the auto sector.

It's the sprawling budget legislation intended to advance numerous Biden priorities on climate change, health care, daycare, parental leave and possibly immigration.

In that bill, Democrats plan to offer $12,500 US in tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles. Parts of those credits would be reserved for cars assembled in the U.S.

'A critical period' for auto investment

The timing has some Canadians particularly unnerved. Auto companies are on the cusp of making long-term choices about where to build and assemble their electric vehicles.

Auto-industry analyst Kristin Dziczek said the budget legislation could create an incentive to build new production lines in the U.S.

She said Canada has actually gotten off to a strong start in electric vehicle investment, with Detroit's Big Three all making major commitments there in recent months. Battery production is also growing in Canada.

Canada recently saw a gusher of investment in electric-vehicle construction, including some announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a Ford facility in Ontario last year. Some observers say those investments could dry up if the U.S. tax plans pass. (Sean Kilpatrick/CP)

But she added it's still early days in the electrification race. 

Most of the important investments will be made in the next few years, said Dziczek, vice-president of the Center For Automotive Research.

"It could be problematic [for Canada]," she told CBC News.

"We're really in the early stages. The investments made between now and 2026 are going to chart the course of the industry for decades to come. We are in the critical period."

She said the plan as currently drafted would block foreign-assembled cars from some credits immediately and from the entire $12,500 after 2026.

There are actually two versions of the legislation — one in the House of Representatives and the other in the Senate — and they differ slightly.

Dziczek said the House version is slightly stricter but both plans offer credits for cars built by union workers, cars assembled in the U.S., and batteries made in the U.S.

The plan is to boost Michigan plants

It's intended to make Michigan's big unionized factories more competitive against non-union manufacturers, including those based in the southern U.S.  

Canadian officials have been pushing for exemptions for Canada. 

They argue that the plans as currently designed would hurt North American competitiveness — and also hurt union workers in Canada.

They've argued that the idea of penalizing electric vehicle production in Canada even runs counter to the stated goals of the U.S. administration.

Biden's poll numbers have sunk and he wants a legislative win. His White House is urging lawmakers to pass his spending bills within weeks. (Leah Millis/Reuters)

The Biden administration has promised to work with Canada to develop electric vehicles, and to lean on Canada for more extraction of the minerals needed to make them.

Similar appeals for a Canadian exemption, however, fell flat in the infrastructure bill: it passed the Senate recently with no specific carve-out.

"We're watching this very closely," said Brian Kingston, CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association. "It's problematic." 

Plan compared to a 33 per cent tariff

Another auto industry official compared the plan to a 33 per cent tariff. 

That's because, after 2026, the whole $12,500 credit would be subject to Buy American rules — meaning a price advantage for U.S. electric cars worth one-third their average value — said Flavio Volpe.

"We're all kind of anxious," said Volpe, head of Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.

"It's an investment-chiller, potentially … It is concerning."

Insiders watching this file say the people most likely to scupper the provisions are Democrats in the southern U.S., whose non-union plants would be put at a disadvantage.

The tax plan has been championed primarily by two Democrats, both from the northern industrial belt in Michigan: Dan Kildee in the House and Debbie Stabenow in the Senate.

In May, when her proposal advanced through a Senate committee, Stabenow cast it as a matter of competing with China on next-generation technology.

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, seen here last month, is one of the Michigan Democrats pushing the tax plan. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

"China has hundreds of companies making electric cars, and they have help — over $100 billion of help so far from the Chinese government," she said.

"Our automakers and workers are the best in the world. They are making the private sector investments needed to electrify the industry, but they can't do it alone."

Ottawa polled Americans on 'Buy American'

The fact that Biden-era Democrats back Buy American politics is no surprise. It was clear well before they took power.

And it's a reason the Canadian government sought a better understanding of U.S. attitudes on Buy American issues in the lead-up to Biden's inauguration.

Ottawa commissioned a poll last winter for $129,853.54 that asked Americans and Canadians questions about continental issues, including trade.

It found U.S. respondents supported Buy American policies by a huge margin — but they supported a "Buy North American" policy by an even larger margin, with 79 per cent in favour and 17 per cent opposed.

Plan B — lawsuits

So what happens if Canada's arguments don't sway Washington lawmakers? 

The next step could be lawsuits. Volpe said that if the plan advances, he would expect to see a trade-discrimination case filed either before the World Trade Organization or through the dispute panels of the new North American trade agreement.

Freeland, meanwhile, said Canada has other levers to pull.

She said U.S. companies get about $1 billion a year in business from Canada's federal government.

And she said this year's federal budget, which included historic spending, also included a provision promising that Canada would take a reciprocal approach with countries on procurement.

"What Canada is saying to our partners is, 'Our procurement opportunities will be open to your companies just as much as your procurement opportunities are open to ours,'" Freeland said Thursday.

She said she discussed that with Yellen as well.

Posted by at No comments:

 Nova Scotia

Atlantic Canadian energy proponents aim to advance clean hydrogen

Atlantic Hydrogen Alliance says initiative will enable

 transition to low-carbon economy


Aly Thomson · CBC News · 
As energy industry stakeholders announced the Atlantic Hydrogen Alliance during a press conference on Friday, illustrator James Neish drew key messages from the speaker's remarks on large white paper. (Submitted by Allison Garber)

A number of Atlantic Canadian energy organizations are joining forces to advance the clean hydrogen industry in the region.

The Atlantic Hydrogen Alliance seeks to accelerate the development, production, use and export of green hydrogen, a low-carbon energy source already being explored in countries including France, Japan, Australia and Norway.

Hydrogen is created by splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis, but it's only considered green if a renewable energy such as wind or hydro power is used in the process.

Alisdair McLean, executive director of the Offshore Energy Research Association, said Atlantic Canada is behind other provinces in advancing the green hydrogen sector.

McLean said in order for the Atlantic provinces to meet ambitious emissions targets established by provincial governments and Ottawa, a significant increase in renewable energy resources — beyond renewable electricity — are needed.

"If we're serious about getting to net-zero [carbon emissions], we need to be serious about exploring hydrogen's potential in the region," McLean said during a press conference on Friday announcing the alliance at Pavillion 22 in Halifax.

This infographic depicts the life cycle of green hydrogen. (Submitted by Atlantic Hydrogen Alliance)

Earlier this year, B.C. became the first province to introduce a low-carbon hydrogen strategy, and Alberta signed an agreement that could lead to a $1.3-billion hydrogen plant.

The federal government also announced plans in late 2020 to increase the use of hydrogen to help meet its climate targets.

McLean said clean hydrogen can be produced in large scale, stored for months and transported easily.

It has a number of applications, especially for sectors not powered by electricity, such as the transportation industry, by using a combination of electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

"Hydrogen can also be used for grid scale energy storage, providing weeks or months of energy storage so we have reliable green electricity when demand is highest in the winter," said McLean.

He also said hydrogen can be blended into the natural gas distribution system to deliver cleaner energy to buildings and industrial consumers for heating.

Colleen d'Entremont, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy, says the public has been demanding options for lower carbon emissions, and green hydrogen is part of the answer. (Aly Thomson/CBC)

Colleen d'Entremont, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy in Saint John, N.B., said the alliance plans to create a roadmap for the development and deployment of hydrogen in Atlantic Canada.

She said the group also plans to work with governments to identify and develop the policies, regulations, codes, and standards needed for the sector.

The alliance will also facilitate the creation of one or more hydrogen "hubs" in Atlantic Canada, and begin to increase awareness and interest for hydrogen development locally, she said.

"I think true to the roots of Atlantic Canada, where we collaborate and we're all like-minded, it's an opportunity for us to work together to look at how can we further green up and reduce emission in the energy sector," said d'Entremont.

Halifax Mayor Mike Savage and MP Andy Fillmore were both on hand for the event. Both touted clean hydrogen as a viable option to help reduce emissions and vowed their governments would support such initiatives.

The alliance includes: Heritage Gas of Dartmouth, N.S.; Liberty Utilities of Fredericton; Saint John Energy; Atlantica Centre for Energy; EcoNext of St. John's, N.L.; Offshore Energy Research Association in Halifax; Port of Halifax, and Deloitte Canada in Halifax.

Posted by at No comments:
Nova Scotia

Artificial reef balls to provide new home for Bras d'Or Lake lobster

Mi'kmaw-led project may increase habitat for species in the saltwater lake

\
Brittany Wentzell · CBC · 
Jennifer Sylliboy speaks with the divers from COJO Diving. The team came from New Brunswick to work on the project. (Brittany Wentzell/CBC)

Bras d'Or Lake in Cape Breton is already known for a variety of plants and animals, both on the shoreline and underwater, and a new project aims to see if some areas can be improved for local species. 

The Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources is trying out artificial reefs to try to make that happen. 

"There's nothing wrong with the ecosystem here," said Jennifer Sylliboy, a researcher with the institute.

"However, our Mi'kmaw lobster fishers said that there [are] quite a few lobsters in this area, but if there was improved habitat then there would be way more lobsters."

Reef balls are moved from a truck to a pontoon boat. (Brittany Wentzell/CBC)

According to Sylliboy, locals fish lobster for food, social and ceremonial purposes in the area.

On Oct.13, 104 concrete reef balls were placed off the coast of Castle Bay Beach in Eskasoni. Students from the nearby school were bused over to watch as a crane lifted the reef balls from the back of a truck onto a pontoon boat. 

The project is collaboration of the institute, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, Nova Scotia Public Works, Thaumas Environmental Consultants and COJO Diving.

The reef balls weigh around 60 kilograms each. They're made from a pH-neutral concrete and will last around 500 years underwater.

One of the 104 concrete reef balls installed in Bras d'Or Lake. (Brittany Wentzell/CBC)

They are made with holes so fish and lobster can hide and live in them. They were made by community members in Pictou Landing. 

Sylliboy selected spots for the reef balls to be placed. Once dropped from the boat, divers went to the lake bottom to arrange the structures into a clock-like shape — one in the middle with 12 surrounding it.

"The ideal location for a reef ball would be a bottom that is not too sandy, not silty, kind of rocky but not too rocky, little to no vegetation, and is flat … and this area hits all those marks."

While they were on a boat observing the reef balls drop into the lake, Sylliboy and other staff pointed to a set of cliffs. They talked about playing on them as kids before erosion started to make them too steep.

Information Morning - Cape Breton7:33New artificial reefs in Bras d'Or Lake
Bras d'Or Lake is home to plenty of aquatic life but in some spots - that ecosystem could be improved. That's why the Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources has started what will hopefully become an artificial reef, using concrete spheres called "reef balls". 7:33

The hope is the artificial reef will also slow down that erosion.

The institute will monitor the reef balls over the next three years to determine how productive they've been and to see if the area has improved. 

"I'm hoping to see additional fish when we do this monitoring twice a year. I hope to see lots of different seaweeds and stuff growing, and hopefully I get to see some lobsters peeking out of the holes," said Sylliboy.

Posted by at No comments:

 

The pandemic drove rise in plastic takeout waste. Now's the time to end the trend, activists say

A Toronto startup gives restaurants and takeout diners a sustainable solution

Samantha Beattie · CBC News · 
Black plastic used by many restaurants can't be recycled. (David Donnelly/CBC)

Throughout the pandemic Toronto residents have increasingly relied on takeout food and its many throw-away containers — think black plastic that can't be recycled — generating a huge amount of unnecessary waste, environmentalists say. 

But the silver lining is people, businesses and governments are paying attention and looking for reusable solutions, said Emily Alfred, a waste campaigner with the Toronto Environmental Alliance, leading up to Waste Reduction Week. And in the long run, the pandemic didn't distract from the growing problem as many feared, Alfred added.

"Instead, it's increased the demand and made people realize even more that plastic and waste is also a health crisis," Alfred said. "Single-use plastic is also toxic and something we need to confront. We can't just ignore this." 

Erika Reyes is looking to change the way Toronto does takeout. She recently launched Inwit, a "zero waste" takeout program for restaurants.

"Inwit is a startup that wants to inspire more people to embrace sustainability, every day, one step at a time, even if it's not perfect," Reyes told CBC's Here and Now Thursday.

Customers order and pay for their food from participating restaurants on the Inwit app, Reyes said. It will be ready for pickup in insulated, stainless steel containers. They're required to return the containers within seven days, which restaurants wash and reuse, and then earn "impact points" toward their next purchase.

Reyes said the reusable containers are more sustainable than recyclable products like paper bags that are only used once and carbon-intensive to produce. Besides, many of the containers put in Toronto blue bins are not actually recycled, but instead end up as garbage, she noted.

Asked why she thinks Inwit will be successful, Reyes said: "When you align your choices with your values, it empowers you, it makes you feel really good, I think that will be what will bring more people."

Governments need to step in

But to make a serious dent in the plastic problem, and help businesses ramp up programs like Inwit, governments need to get involved, said Karen Wirsig, Environmental Defence's plastics program manager. 

"The problem seems insurmountable and certainly is not going to be solved by us as individual consumers," Wirsig told CBC News.

"This is where we really need rules and systems in place to ensure that reuse is not only possible, but also incentivized." 

She envisions a closed-loop system like the one used by the Beer Store, where customers return their empty bottles and get some money back, for beverage and takeout containers. 

During the most recent federal election campaign, the Liberal Party promised $100 million for plastic reuse and recycling infrastructure. 

"That is a wonderful opportunity for the federal government to get more actively thinking about how to support systems in communities around the country," Wirsig said.

The federal government also pledged to ban six single-use plastics this year, including bags, cutlery and some takeout containers. For the ban to have the biggest impact, it will be important to give businesses like restaurants alternatives to other single-use materials like wood, cardboard and glass that all have damaging environmental effects, said Wirsig.

But, she said, plastic remains the biggest concern. 

"It never really goes away. It might break down into smaller and smaller particles or it ends up in our air and in our soil and water in a different form," Wirsig said.

"That's why the panic is really about plastic."

With files from Farrah Merali

Posted by at No comments:
American Cement and Concrete Industry Releases Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality

But there are a lot of twists and gaps in the road and perhaps some wishful thinking.
By
Lloyd Alter
Published October 15, 2021 
TREEHUGGER.COM
Fact checked by
Haley Mast



The Portland Cement Association (PCA) represents the majority of cement and ready-mix concrete companies in the U.S., and it has a problem: making cement produces a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2). To deal with this, they have just issued the PCA Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality. They note: "The PCA Roadmap involves the entire value chain starting at the cement plant and extending through the entire lifecycle of the built environment to incorporate the circular economy."

Before we get into their detailed plans, let's look at some definitions and assumptions as they are important for understanding the roadmap.

The Chemical Fact of Life

Going carbon neutral with cement is a real challenge, because of the basic chemistry of cement. In the report PCA actually calls it the chemical fact of life:

"The fact that even if the industry were to eliminate all combustion emissions, the chemical process used to manufacture clinker creates a separate stream of CO2 emissions. For example, in the U.S., 60% of the CO2 generated by cement plants is from a chemical reaction called calcination. Calcination is the chemical fact of life in that it is the first step in a required series of complex chemical and physical changes to make cement. The chemical fact of life is also called“process emissions."

Or as I explained in my book, "Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle":

"The key component of cement is lime (calcium oxide), which you get by applying heat to calcium carbonate, basically limestone.

CaCO3 + heat > CaO + CO2

You can’t do anything about the chemistry. You can use less lime and substitute fly ash and pozzalan (what the Romans used, basically volcanic ash) and reduce the carbon footprint somewhat. But it is the fundamental nature of the material that making it emits CO2."

Mix that up with clays and a bit of gypsum and grind it into a fine powder and you get Portland Cement, named after the English Isle of Portland where the original limestone came from back in 1824. Add it to aggregates–sand and gravel–and water, and you get concrete.

Carbon Neutrality

The roadmap calls for carbon neutrality by 2050, but this is a nebulous term that I noted in an earlier post is not used much anymore, with net-zero being more popular. But the term is used all through this report, and it is first defined on page 18:

"Carbon neutrality is achieving net-zero CO2. This can be done by balancing emissions of CO2 with removal or elimination of emissions from society. The reality is that the cement and concrete industry will still be emitting CO2 in 2050. However, through direct reductions and avoidance measures, the industry can offset its remaining CO2 emissions."

The roadmap also has a definition at the end of the report:

"Carbon neutrality: The principle by which CO2 emissions resulting from a product or process are offset either by direct CO2 emissions reductions or through avoided CO2 emissions."


I find this to be a confusing definition and have asked for clarification because emissions reductions or avoided emissions do not sound like offsets. They do talk about direct carbon capture and storage as a way of reducing emissions, and these are considered offsets.

How much CO2 does the industry produce?

The PCA acknowledges that the manufacture of cement accounts for 1.25% of U.S. CO2 emissions. Others say it is much higher than that; even their own documents say cement accounts for 3% of industrial emissions.1 The U.S. imported 15 million metric tons of cement in 2020 and manufactured 88 million metric tons, emitting 900 kilograms of CO2 per metric ton, so whether it is 1.25 or 3%, it is still a lot of CO2.23


Worldwide, according to Carbon Brief, cement production is responsible for 8% of global emissions, but they use massive amounts of the stuff in China and they are responsible for most of it.45

So what's the roadmap?


Portland Cement Association

The authors of the roadmap freely admit that there is no "silver bullet." They write: "In 2021 there is no single process, product, nor technology that can get the cement and concrete industry to carbon neutrality."


So they are attacking it on all fronts, going at each stage of the lifecycle, from clinker to carbonation, through the whole value chain.



Portland Cement Association

Some of these make obvious sense, such as using decarbonated materials like construction and demolition waste, where they grind the concrete down to a mixture of cement powder and sand. Other materials like fly ash can reduce the amount of calcium carbonate needed to make cement.

Alternative fuels are a bit less wonderful or more fanciful: "These fuels range from cellulosic biomass to non-recycled plastics, residuals from paper and cardboard recycling, and agricultural wastes – all opportunities to give spent materials a second, productive life." Burning garbage produces more CO2 per ton than burning coal.6 And burning plastic is considered to be equivalent to burning fossil fuels that have taken a short side-trip through your take-out container.7 Getting the dioxins and other toxic chemicals out of the exhaust is difficult and expensive.

Then there is carbon capture and storage (CCS). We are talking vast amounts of CO2 in the flue gases and the technology doesn't yet exist at scale or affordable prices. The road map admits this, noting: "There are no commercial-scale CCUS installations at any cement plant within the U.S. To do so will require significant investments in research."



Portland Cement Association

All of the suggestions in the design and building section make sense, no matter what you are building out of, particularly avoiding overdesign. The days of my beloved Brutalist concrete buildings are over. The roadmap envisions that optimization can reduce emissions by 30% by 2050.



Portland Cement Association

There is much to admire in this report: It represents a serious attempt at a roadmap to reducing the carbon footprint of concrete. As Bill McKibben said about climate change, “There are no silver bullets, only silver buckshot.” It takes aim at every facet of the industry.

But if this is a roadmap to carbon neutrality, there are a lot of gaps in the map, a lot of "there be dragons" off at the edges. There is not a single drawing that actually shows neutrality. At best, we see a reduction in CO2 per cubic yard of about 60% but that is a long way from zero.


Without saying it out loud, the implication from reading policy priorities like "accelerate research, development, and commercialization of at-scale carbon capture solutions for industrial sources" and "invest in and incentivize creation of national carbon capture, transport, use, and storage infrastructure" implies they are relying on carbon capture and storage to make up the difference. That's a big bridge in this roadmap, what looks like about 40% of emissions. It's a long very road to carbon neutrality.

The Time Value of Carbon

The report talks a lot about how well concrete does on full lifecycle analyses and how recarbonization—the absorption of CO2 into existing concrete—is significantly underestimated, suggesting that as much as 10% of emissions are reabsorbed over the life of a building. This all may be true, but every kilogram of CO2 that goes into the atmosphere goes against the carbon budget that we have to stay under to keep the global temperature rise under 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius).

We don't have lifecycles to think about, we don't have time for recarbonization. We have to reduce emissions now. It's what's known as the time value of carbon—"the concept that greenhouse gas emissions cut today are worth more than cuts promised in the future, due to the escalating risks associated with the pace and extent of climate action."

So carbon emissions happening now are critical, yet cement production in the U.S. has increased every year since 2010.8 Even as it gets cleaner, we are using more of it.

It's pretty clear that we are always going to need concrete, and the concrete we use will get progressively better. But in the end, it is pretty hard to change the chemical fact of life, that making cement releases a lot of CO2, and the only way to deal with that appears to be to suck the CO2 out of the flue with carbon capture and storage, which doesn't currently exist. and we can't wait to find out if it will.

So it is a great roadmap, but it is driving us on to a long diversion. We have to use a lot less cement and concrete starting right now.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)