Friends of Science

SUPPORTING TIMELY-DECISION-MAKING FOR MAJOR PROJECTS
https://blog.friendsofscience.org/2026/05/29/supporting-timely-decision-making-for-major-projects/

Scotland's power grid is losing "inertia"—the physical property that keeps frequency stable and lights on. No operational grid-forming inverters exist anywhere in the world. Spain's April 2025 blackout was caused by exactly this: too much wind and solar.

Belgium's nuclear phase-out was not replaced by renewables. Domestic dispatchable production fell 23%, imports jumped from 1% to 14%, and CO₂ intensity barely budged. A new study finds offshore wind yields are overestimated by up to 50%.
The engineering is clear: intermittent sources cannot sustain a modern grid.

Canada Alberta MOU - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Canada-Alberta Implementation Agreement: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly On May 15, 2026, Canada and Alberta signed and implementation agreement related to an MOU signed in Nov. 2025. The new agreement was intended to clear the w...

When carbon taxes are sold as "revenue neutral." The reality? BC promised refunds, then spent the money on pet projects within two years. Global data (I4CE): only 29% of carbon revenues are returned as tax cuts; 37% goes straight to general government budgets.

Once politicians have that revenue stream, they will not give it back. It becomes one of the largest taxes in Canada, imposed on top of an already uncompetitive economy.

Big Hat. No Cattle.

Big Hat. No Cattle. The Oilers are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And the Spring Economic forecast is out, too. After being promised that Canada would 'build at speed not se...

Ottawa wants a 30% cut in fertilizer emissions by 2030. Synthetic fertilizers account for just 1.7% of Canada’s total GHG—so this target chases 0.5% of national emissions.

A Fertilizer Canada study found a 20% cut would wipe out $10.4 billion in canola, corn, and wheat production in a single year, with $40.5 billion in cumulative losses by 2030. Hitting the full 30% would cost another $4.6 billion in farm investment.
With 900,000 people already facing starvation from conflict and supply-chain breakdowns, the policy trades a real present crisis for a theoretical future one.

AI data centres are creating new "data heat islands"—+2 °C average land surface temperature, up to +9 °C. But as Anthony Watts notes, that's satellite-derived LST, not air temperature. Replace vegetation with pavement and the surface heats regardless of whether the atmosphere has changed.

Meanwhile, 81% of UK Met Office stations are now low-quality Class 4/5 "junk" sites with recognized errors up to 5 °C, recording 1-minute heat spikes from jet engines and solar farms. If we cannot measure temperature correctly, why are we restructuring the global economy?