The Canadian government has decided to end the use of coal for electricity by the year 2030. To make up the lost production the provinces which still use coal will have to replace their power plants with sustainable alternatives. This makes a lot of sense since using coal for electricity
Continue readingTag: electricity
Scripturient: 552 kWh? We can do better
I received a report in the mail from Collus PowerStream giving me an overview of my electricity usage for the one-month period of August. A hot, humid August that no doubt had us running the air conditioner and ceiling fans more often than we normally do (we actually like it
Continue readingThings Are Good: Solar Sales Soaring Sixfold
Bloomberg is reporting that they anticipate a sixfold increase in star capacity thanks to the efficiency of a having a naturally-occuring ball of fire in our solar system. The sun is an abundant resource which shines its rays on us and now we have the industrial means to convert the sun’s rays into a powerful […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: The Importance of Infrastructure Changes for a Sustainable World
With COP21 happening this week in Paris there are many approaches to fighting climate change being discussed. No matter what approach is used there will have to be structural changes in how energy is delivered and how goods are transported. Over at Gizmodo they took a look at how quickly we can transition to a […]
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Continue readingCalgary’s CTrain—embracing green
Fortunately, while our federal government remains a persistent laggard on global warming, the provinces and cities are stepping up. Calgary is no exception. In 2012, the city committed to meeting all its electrical needs from renewable sources. One result was the construction of two wind farms totaling 144 megawatts. The
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Growth of Solar Power is Shaking Power Companies
Solar panels have come down in price rather dramatically in the last decade and if this trend continues it can be the death of old-school electric utilities. That is, unless the energy companies embrace solar and embed it into their system. Smart companies see the writing on the wall and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Electricity “review” a waste of time, money #nlpoli
Now we know why it took the provincial government so long to release the “review” of the provincial electrical system that former Premier Kathy Dunderdale made up off the top of her head when people were trying to take her head off over Nalcor’s giant blackout in January. The “review”
Continue readingThings Are Good: Lower Your Energy Consumption in Easy Ways
With more technology around the home more energy is required to power the devices, and this adds up when millions of people plug things in. There are enough energy consumers out there that needlessly leave things running leads to a ton of wasted energy being produced. Fortunately there are many
Continue readingThings Are Good: Formula E is the All-Electric Alternative to Formula 1
Car racing is a popular sport around the world and it used to be a great testing bed for new, more efficient, technology used in internal combustion engines. Today, the technological improvements seem to be more on material science rather than fuel efficiency (most racing leagues still allow leaded gasoline).
Continue readingThings Are Good: Wirelessly Charging Electric Buses to be Tested
The city of Mannheim will be testing a new kind of electric bus which can be charged wirelessly. Bombardier, who makes the buses, is hoping to prove that using electric buses can be cheaper and more efficient than current models. Every time the bus stops to pickup or drop off
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Our Renewable Future part 1: clearing “myth”conceptions
With Obama talking the talk on climate action in his State of the Union address yesterday, now seems a good time to start compiling a planned set of blog entries about renewable energy. Many many others have done so online already (as evidenced by the fact I’m linking to them!)
Continue readingThings Are Good: LED Street Lights Save Los Angeles Millions
Four years ago Los Angeles decided to change its street lighting to LEDs and the results have come in and the savings are phenomenal. They have converted a little over half of all their street lights and are already saving $5,325,793 annually in lighting costs. It’s worth noting that LEDs
Continue readingThings Are Good: Tidal Power in UK is Promising
The UK is looking into ways to make their power grid more environmentally sustainable and being an island nation they have looked into using tides. Tidal flows are predictable and reliable which means that power companies can predict energy generated from tide-powered turbines, unlike with unpredictable wind. A new study
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ice Can Help Power Grids During Peak Use
Air conditioners use a ton of energy and when everyone has their’s running the load on the power grid can be pushed to the limit. At night, when it’s generally cooler, the power grid isn’t being used nearly as much. A company called Ice Energy is using that extra night
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Unions oppose energy conservation device #nlpoli
Unions representing Hydro-Quebec employees are oppose to a plan to install so-called smart meters in Quebec homes. According to the Montreal Gazette: One week before the Régie de l’énergie is to begin hearings on the controversial venture, the Syndicate des employés de techniques professionnels et de bureau d’Hydro-Québec denounced the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Electricity prices round-up #nlpoli
In Quebec, Arcelor Mittal mines is looking to hang onto its industrial discount electricity rate of 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour even though the company didn’t delivered on its commitment to build a second pellet plant in the province. The Parti Quebecois wants to make sure that the company processes
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Re-regulating electricity – a great issue for the Alberta New Democrats
An Alberta voter contemplates what’s likely to happen to electricity prices if “deregulation” continues. Below: Brian Mason, Dilbert. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t understand Alberta’s shocking electricity prices. You’re not supposed to. Sales of electricity in Alberta are now managed through what Dilbert calls a “confusopoly.” It’s a system
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A grain of salt #nlpoli
Around this time of year the country’s major banks issue their economic assessments of the current year and their forecasts of the coming one. Royal Bank issued the most recent one. Not surprisingly, the bank’s economists are forecasting that the provinces that are most heavily dependent on natural resources will
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Muskrat Morass Deepens #nlpoli
Kathy Dunderdale, Ed Martin and their supporters have a basic problem. In 30 seconds, opponents of the multi-billion project can give a simple, coherent, and unassailable reason why they oppose the project. In 30 minutes or 30 days or 30 weeks or even 30 months, the provincial Conservatives and Nalcor
Continue readingOn the Green Party platform.
Finally — for now, at least, until the Tories and NDP release the rest of their platforms, and the Libs release anything at all — I’m going to take a quick look at the Green Party of Ontario’s platform. It’s the shortest, and the slimmest when it com…
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