In 2026, this personal blog will begin its 19th year. Financial contributions from readers keep the lights on. If you judge IN-SIGHTS to be worthwhile, please contribute by clicking on this post and following the link provided.
18 years
Why not geothermal?
Los Angeles-based Critical Energy is developing modular power plants that can be mass-produced in factories, transported in sections by 18-wheelers, and installed in as little as two weeks to meet soaring electricity demand from AI data centres. The AI boom is intensifying interest in modular generation and geothermal energy as data centre operators need dependable, around-the-clock power.
ICYMI
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy has continuously held elected offices since 1999. He was first voted into the Connecticut House of Representatives and then into the State Senate. Murphy entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and served three terms. Murphy ran successfully for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and was reelected in 2018 and 2024, each time with about 60 percent of the vote. This week, Senator Murphy accused President Donald Trump of overseeing what Murphy called ‘500 days of corruption’ in the White House. His speech is worth attention:
A toxic cocktail of air pollutants
Having committed itself to promoting and subsidizing British Columbia’s fossil-fuel industry, David Eby’s government will not restrain a company planning to release substantially greater quantities of harmful air pollutants. Nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, fine particulate matter, and benzene will degrade local air quality, and these are associated with serious respiratory and cardiovascular risks.
Tax breaks for billionaires instead of public housing
The Tyee and Canada’s National Observer consistently produce independent journalism worth our attention. While browsing recent stories at The Tyee, one stood out. It’s an account of a billionaire family receiving a tax break for a long-vacant Vancouver property that once housed hundreds of low-income residents. Today, Little Mountain is devoid of residents, despite years of promises that affordable housing would return.
Day after day
People with rust in their arteries (like me) probably remember a song that was briefly popular in 1969…
Nincompoops turned out to be correct
After more than 15 years of BC Hydro insisting demand was rising for electricity, Adrian Dix has now admitted what I documented repeatedly at IN-SIGHTS. CTV quoted the minister responsible for BC Hydro: “There’s been two decades of flat load growth at BC Hydro.”
Underwater data centres, part 2
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence may force us to choose between imperfect alternatives. If demand for computing power continues to rise, policymakers have to weigh the environmental and social impacts of locating data centres above the ocean surface against those of placing them below.
Underwater data centres
China is the first country in the world to operate an underwater data center. It is part of a strategy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the environmental impact of powering artificial intelligence facilities. This is a partnership between HiCloud Technology and state-owned China Communications Construction, which involved an investment of about C$330 million
Creating new markets for a fossil fuel
The Tyee is reporting on why the federal government wants to promote and subsidize a national network of data centres. Apparently the Liberals discount peer-reviewed science that says the global warming emissions from burning natural gas are higher than those from clean energy sources like wind or solar.
Stupidity worth more than C$100bn
Futurism describes itself as a leading source of cutting-edge science and technology news. That may not position the Florida-based journal as the most reliable place for financial and investment news, but it produced an article in 2025 about Elon Musk that should be examined before any of us move our pennies to buy shares available after the SpaceX public offering.
What the wounds are telling us
De Volkskrant (The People’s Newspaper) is a Dutch morning daily, the third largest newspaper in The Netherlands. Its journalists Maud Effting and Willem Feenstra won the 2026 European Press Prize for Distinguished Reporting for What the wounds are telling us, a powerful investigation of targeted violence through the testimony of victims, medical professionals, and forensic analysis. De Volkskrant’s article is not easy reading.
Making antisemitism respectable?
Years ago, veteran war correspondent Robert Fisk warned against equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. He argued that conflating opposition to Israeli government policies with hostility toward Jewish people served to suppress debate and protect the state from legitimate criticism.
Ottawa Backed the War. Then Hedged. Then Went Quiet.
Canada’s double standard on Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, isn’t a diplomatic nuance. It’s a choice — and British Columbians are living with the economic fallout.
Tar sands pollution up to 64 times higher that official estimates
Peer-reviewed science found that emissions from Alberta’s oilsands may be far greater than regulators and the public have been led to believe. Aircraft measurements revealed gas-phase organic carbon emissions up to 64 times higher than official estimates reported by the industry. Total organic carbon emissions in Alberta are equivalent to those from all other sources across Canada combined.
The Age of Ensh*ttenment
Because satire ruffled a few powerful feathers, Australia passed legislation that could land people in jail if they falsely present themselves as representatives of government agencies. That did not stop Juice Media’s Giordano Nanni, Lucy Cahill, and colleagues from working to make influential figures uncomfortable. The Melbourne-based collective has amassed millions of views with videos that use satire to expose political hypocrisy, climate inaction, and corporate greenwashing…
“I know it when I see it”
The New York Times published a piece by Brown University Professor Omer Bartov, titled, “I’m a Scholar of Genocide. I Know It When I See It.” At the risk of this being labelled antisemitic, I repeat words of journalist Gideon Levy published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Intéressant
It is interesting to note that the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s estimate of a $578 million cost for Vancouver’s round-ball games is less than two weeks old and is already outdated. Official sources now say British Columbia’s cost for seven matches on the West Coast could reach $729 million.
If a longtime ally is lost, Canada must build new alliances
Trump turns 80 in two weeks. Actuarial tables suggest he could remain alive and politically active for another seven or eight years — meaning Americans shouldn’t assume his influence simply expires with his current term.
Justice delayed is justice denied
In late May, BC Supreme Court Justice Sharon Matthews ruled in favour of 880 migrant workers recruited for jobs at Mac’s Convenience Stores through immigration consultants. The workers had been induced to pay thousands of dollars in illegal recruitment fees after being promised jobs that often did not exist or did not match what had been promised.
And Now for Something Completely Different
Occasionally, I leave aside the misery of politics, poverty, patrimonialism, and provisos that make life difficult. Tonight was one of those times. Gwen and I spent the evening at North Vancouver’s Presentation House Theatre, enjoying a joyful production of Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon by the North Shore Light Opera Society, a group in its 78th year.
in-sights.ca 
[…] Los Angeles-based Critical Energy is developing modular power plants that can be mass-produced in factories, transported in sections by…