- All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860)
Many years working at electric utilities has served as fertile ground for the observation of energy. My goal is to interpret the mass of information available and to clearly explain the truth (as I understand it) about various subjects. This blog was previously entitled “Energy Matters”. The new title “REAL POLITIK” indicates that a wider scope of subject matter will be examined. Energy and Politics are intertwined.
My passion for writing on energy subjects is borne of optimism that we could change our society if only we understood the problems and knew what to do. Working against this change is corporate self interest that requires “business as usual” and ever increasing volumes of energy. The day when our economy will receive a great shock from peak oil is unfortunately quite near. Time will tell whether we succeed in transforming our footprint into a sustainable level.
My interest in politics comes from listening to politicians telling stories that have no logical basis in fact and wondering what the real story is.
Many of the articles presented here have been previously published in the Telegraph Journal of Saint John.
At the moment, a large part of the media is captive to the interests of the industrial / business elite. Therefore, a real discussion about all of the solutions or even acknowledging the problems is not possible.
I was thinking of the similarities between solar energy and voters. In both cases, it is a rich and wonderful resource but diffuse in location. Hence, difficult to collect in large quantity. LOL.
Have a great day!
Roy
Realpolitik / Energy Matters 
Roy, I am enjoying your articles. I’ve had a Smart meter from SJEnergy for about a year and have done some experiments to see how I can shift how I use power without making a large adjustment in my lifestyle (I have a wife). Not much of a problem to shift a lot of my electrical use to off peak times. My house is heated with electric hot air.
A couple of issues I have is that I can’t get SJEnergy to convince NBPower to get better rates for off peak usage and get no response when I asked them what innovative things are being done to make the new building they are constructing an example of energy efficiency construction. I had the opportunity to tour the new building being constructed for Manitoba Hydro in downtown Winnipeg where a lot of effort is being put toward energy efficiency.
I haven’t seen any comments from you on solar energy as a potential energy solution. SunEdison seems to be doing a lot of good work in that area:
http://www.sunedison.com/customers-projects.php
Keep up the good work.
Bruce
Thank you for all your wonderful thinking – Rob Paterson
Roy …you know I follow you’re work and I can tell you that a lot of others do as well. The proposed sale of NB Power has given New Brunswickers a needed wake up call . People are looking for good information … keep it coming .
Politicians and voters need to know that the status quo as regards NB Power is not an option and that playing politics with the utility has got us to this point. I heard a story (today) of a former NB Power manager who was told by the chairman (a politician) to award a no bid contract to a shop in his riding for which the company had no previous experience . I expect all NB Power managers could tell similar stories.
Best regards,
Charles McNair
It would be interesting to see *what* Governments had a hand in the current state of NB Power. It seems to me that the decision to rely on fossil fuels in the face of the constant rise of prices, the botched deals, and lack of leadership must come from somewhere…
Hello Roy:
Sorry to hear we won´t be reading you columns in the TJ any more. We heard from you about this via webmail here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where we’re spending a few weeks working with a human rights group during a difficult political period following a coup d’etat last year. We’ll be back home in St. Andrews about the 22nd. of April.
There are so many of us in NB who are in agreement with your comments about the need for a change in the media situation in our province (or it is really ours..hm.) As you’re no doubt aware, there’s a fairly new on line media coop centered in F’ton. Our feeling, though, is that there should be a concerted effort to create a provincewide online bilingual alternative to the Irving papers that, with good organization, could eventually produce a weekly print edition and perhaps even get beyond that.
We’ve been involved with alternative media since the 60’s and think this is one of the most important kinds of work needed now to free our province from the poor stepchild/neo-fuedal status we’re stuck with now.
I’ve had mixed feelings about writing op eds or even letters to the editor for the TJ, and I’ve stopped for various periods of several months. Maybe it would make sense to try to organize something of a boycott of progressive voices like Carl van D, Max Wolfe, and others who might be willing to be part of this. The problem I have is that TJ readers would be deprived of any exposure to progressive ideas of all kinds–I’m thinking specifically of Janice Harvey’s column, for example, and how much readers would miss if she were gone.
Hope you’ll be able to share your experience and the reasons for your decision to stop writing colums via CBC radio in all three of our “big” cities anyway. Maybe you’ve already done this.
hasta luego from both, Larry and Lee Ann