Lloyd Alter

"Heating systems alone do not deliver warm, healthy or affordable homes."

As I keep hearing, we need to be very careful that installing low carbon heating doesn't end up making people's living conditions worse. @passivhaustrust.bsky.social

passivhaustrust.org.uk/news/detail/...

How coal failed in the Texas deep freeze Industry has claimed that coal is more reliable than natural gas and renewable energy during extreme weather events because it's stored on-site. But the

www.eenews.net/articles/how...

@oliver-moore.bsky.social it's not just the Parking Authority, it is a higher authority like the Catholic Church, cleaning their own stairs with a vacuum, they are so perfect, but the minute you are out the gate? Everyone (including their parishioners) can pray they don't fall on the ice.

In Ontario they relocate hospitals out of towns and cities so that the only way you can get there is by car.

The US government is once again trying to make coal cute. It's a month late for Christmas, but 17 years ago during the Bush admin, cute coal sang Christmas carols. Through the wonder of youtube that never forgets (Unlike Treehugger), here is "deck the halls with clean coal"

having a trans kid, I so appreciate this one. You used to follow me on Twitter years ago, but I still watch every post of yours!

Holland Mich had a coal fired power plant in town and the Prince family donating money made from renting mercenaries. Iceland sits on top of a volcano. I am not sure we want either for Toronto.

Mark Carney says,"Build Canadian!"Here's how. We have the talent and all the building blocks that we need.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced a “buy Canadian” campaign, specifically calling out the construction industry and building materials. Here are some of the options, from hemp to straw to mass timber. Time to look at Euro standards for elevators, heat pumps and stairs too.

That is so sad about the RenCen, I visited it last year and didn't take nearly enough photos of the building, I was so obsessed with the giant trucks on display.

It’s hot!

I still love it.

Better version than my photo of the editorial page this morning.

The editorial page of @theglobeandmail.com this morning is quite something: 1) a complete list of all the Canadians who died in Afghanistan while not “stepping back;” 2) The Board of Peace editorial cartoon.

Happy third anniversary of my new life working for me Do I still matter? I think so.

Norman Mailer wrote, “Every moment of one’s existence one is growing into more or retreating into less.” On the third anniversary of working for me, I wonder which direction I am going and if I still matter. lloydalter.substack.com/p/happy-thir...

Yay Canada! exporting Roshel armoured vehicles to ICE and Doug Ford loves it! Time to cancel Dough Ford (typo, but I am leaving it!) globalnews.ca/news/1155832...

@mark-carney.bsky.social says we should build with Canadian materials. I wrote a post earlier about this, calling for mass timber, missing middle housing, straw and wood fibre and more lloydalter.substack.com/p/how-canada...

My granddaughter asks why pay to get two newspapers every day (she loves the comics) but today, the @theglobeandmail.com and the @thestar.com were both brilliant. Interesting times make for interesting papers…

“There was no standing back. Only standing side by side, together on the front lines with our allies. From 2001-2014, Canada joined allies in the fight against terror in Afghanistan. CAF men and women were on the ground from the beginning, not because we had to, but because it was the right thing to do. Canadian troops led allied efforts in the perilous Kandahar Province. Combat operations were regular duty, demanding sacrifice from our soldiers. ​ 158 of our personnel, along with a Canadian diplomat paid the ultimate price. Lest we forget.”

David McGuinty, Canada's Minister of National Defence, has responded to Donald Trump's claim that America has "never really asked anything" of NATO, that the alliance sent only "some troops" to Afghanistan and that "they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines."

It's pretty blunt.

About the only recommendation I have is to get an e-bike. That's what I did.

He's retweeting from 2018. @billmckibben.bsky.social answered then.

Sunoco completes $9.1B US deal to buy Parkland | CBC News Parkland owns the Ultramar, Chevron and Pioneer gas station chains as well as several other brands in 26 countries. It also runs a refinery in Burnaby, B.C., which supplies nearly one-third of the reg...

unfortunately Ultramar was sold to Parkland which last year was sold to Sunoco so as of January 2026 Ultramar is owned by Sunoco again. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Are 32 fossil fuel firms responsible for half the world's carbon emissions? We have to look in the mirror, take personal responsibility, and do everything in our power to stop buying what they are selling.

The new Carbon Majors report is out, and I have my usual problem with it: Instead of blaming others, we have to look in the mirror, take personal responsibility, and do everything in our power to stop buying what they are selling.

What did Groucho say?” I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member”

great stuff from @katewagner.wehwalt.net

There is a line in the book “Is Paris Burning?” where General Dietrich von Choltitz, who disobeyed the order to destroy the city, says, “Hitler is mad. Are you blind? Didn’t you see him at Berchtesgaden?” I think you could write a modern version: “Didn’t you see him at Davos?”

A fork in the road: Are current events pushing us into a hotter world? World affairs are moving us from the "middle of the road" to a "rocky road." This all has implications for climate change, as predicted in IPCC reports.

My post and my lecture for today were written before Mark Carney's speech, but I revised both to include a paragraph describing how "A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile, and less sustainable.” It's a look at how we are slipping into more dangerous "Shared Socio-economic Pathways"

renewing my Heatmap subscription

This morning I woke up and posted this, how I wanted to go back to bed. Tomorrow morning I am going to wake up proud to be a Canadian, knowing that there is an alternative to this horror story. Thank you Mark Carney.

In short, we just watched the US put a gun to its head and commit the equivalent of hegemonic suicide on the world stage. Nothing will be the same ever again.

"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen"

The trouble is, you need a buyer, and who would touch the stuff?