A New Year and a New Barrage of Headlines, Predictions and Carbon Policy

01/12/21 • 31 min

The news flow has started off 2021 with a bang!
Saudi Arabia surprised the oil markets announcing a voluntary 1 MMB/d cut to their production for February and March.
The Democrats gained two seats in the Georgia election, granting them greater power in the US Senate.
The stock markets saw the change as a positive signal for clean energy companies.
Bitcoin is attracting attention, but are digital currencies consequential for energy?
Next, after a tough year for making predictions in 2020, we introduce some foolproof predictions for 2021. See Peter Tertzakian’s recent commentary “Look Into 2021.”
Finally, we review the barrage of policy strategies, draft legislation, and action plans released by the Canadian Federal Government at the end of 2020:
December 11, 2020: “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy”
December 16, 2020: Hydrogen Strategy for Canada
December 18, 2020: Small Modular Reactors Action Plan
December 19, 2020: Draft Clean Fuel Standard Legislation
We debate the $170/tonne carbon tax by 2030. How would the tax impact energy prices, and how do the rebates work? Will the policy result in people reducing their GHG emissions?
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Previous Episode

2020: A Year Like No Other

On this week’s podcast we look back on the events that shaped the challenging year that was 2020. Early in January, tensions between the United States and Iran briefly pushed oil prices over $60/B. But when Coronavirus spread from China to the rest of the world, oil price plunged. The darkest days of the pandemic were in April, when oil demand dropped over 20% and price momentarily fell to negative $US 37/B (WTI). By summer, historic production cuts by OPEC+ and increasing demand brought more stability to the oil markets. Other issues came into focus, including climate change and the death of George Floyd. As 2020 wraps-up, vaccines are rolling out and bringing hope that 2021 will be a better year!
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Next Episode

The Next Chapter in Canadian Nuclear Energy Leadership: Small and Modular

This week our guest is Diane Cameron, Director of the Nuclear Energy Division at Natural Resources Canada. Canada is already a global leader in nuclear energy and safety. Canada is the second largest producer of uranium and home to the world’s largest fully operational nuclear power generation facility in Ontario. The next chapter in Canadian leadership is well underway with the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR).
On the podcast, Diane tells us about the government’s Action Plan, that aims to deploy SMR technology in Canada within the decade.
Peter and Jackie ask Diane: What is the state of nuclear energy internationally? How do the small units differ from the traditional large nuclear plants? When and where are small modular reactors likely to be deployed first in Canada? Is there an opportunity to export Canadian SMR technology abroad?
View the Canadian government’s SMR Roadmap (2018) and the SMR Action Plan (2020).
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