Learning about carbon footprints

You always hear the word carbon footprint but how many people actually have a grounded understanding of what it means?

Full story [The Enterprise-Bulletin]

Green shift: Green going mainstream as businesses, governments look to the future

From the construction of LEED buildings, to the purchasing of green energy to recycling animal waste, businesses and governments everywhere are going green and not looking back

Full Story [canada.com]

Friday Facts

Wind power generation is a clean, renewable source of energy which produces no greenhouse gas emissions or waste products. One modern wind turbine will save over 4,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

Source: Canadian Wind Energy Association

Green Energy Act could create 90,000 “green” jobs, report concludes

Here are 90,000 potential reasons why the Green Energy Act (GEA) in Ontario bodes well for the economy and the environment

Full Story [Daily Commercial News]

Abundant oil means stable gas prices this summer, says energy regulator

The National Energy Board predicts stable oil prices this summer due to the current economic situation combined with high oil and gas inventories

Full Story [CBCnews.ca]

Speaking Volumes book club: why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller

Here’s an interesting discussion among a panel of experts around a book that suggests limited oil supply will lead to the end of globalization

Full Story [National Post]

Doing what you can

Does this sound familiar?

You’re keen, even eager to start your annual spring cleaning ritual. The windows need washing, the balcony needs sweeping, the BBQ needs a good scrub. None of that sounds too bad.

Then you remember that nasty pile. It’s hidden away in a hard-to-reach corner of the garage, maybe even under a tarp or some old newspapers. Perhaps it’s taken up permanent residence under the work bench. You want to get rid of it…but how? And where?

Your own collection of hazardous waste stumps you every year – and worse yet, keeps growing. Every household has a pile like this. Old paints, batteries, electronics, petroleum products, antifreeze, solvents – stuff you can’t put in the trash or blue bin.

In Ontario, a new province-wide program aims to do something about it. Operation Do What You Can is the synthesis of two hazardous waste disposal programs: Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) and Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW).

OES encourages reuse, recycling and, if needed, proper disposal of unwanted electronic equipment. MHSW makes sure consumer products such as paint, solvents, used oil filters, single use batteries, antifreeze, propane tanks, fertilizers and pesticides are managed in an environmentally appropriate manner. Why bother? Less of these materials going to landfills is a good thing; whether leaching toxic chemicals into groundwater, or never biodegrading, there’s a reason these items don’t belong in the trash.

The target is to divert more than 33,000 tonnes of potentially hazardous or special waste in the first five years, up from the 16,000 tonnes currently collected. This form of pollution prevention, has direct implications for energy – namely, saving it.

How? There aren’t any studies demonstrating exactly how much, but provincial energy and environment ministries are in general agreement: mixing hazardous with “standard” waste is far costlier and energy-intensive than dealing with hazardous waste alone.

All these organizations ask of Ontarians is to help by “doing what you can.”

Biggest polluters closer to climate deal: Canada

Those with the largest carbon footprint are, step by step, getting closer to an agreement on a deal to fight global warming before Copenhagen this December

Full Story [Reuters]

Google versus evil

There are few companies as devoted to the sustainable energy revolution as Google. We’ve talked about some of the tech giant’s green initiatives in this space before, but RE<C deserves special mention.

RE<C is perhaps the most ambitious of Google’s various projects, both in scope and timescale. In short, RE<C aims to develop electricity from renewable sources – cheaper than electricity produced from coal with a goal of producing one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity.

A gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco. Okay, you say – that’s an admirable goal, and maybe our grandchildren zipping around in Jetsonesque aircars will enjoy it. Perhaps they will – but so will we.

Google aims to accomplish this in years, not decades.

Initially, RE<C will focus on what’s possible today. Advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems – all available and in use currently. However, Google wouldn’t be Google if they weren’t keeping an eager eye to the future.

RE<C is an opportunity to explore other potential breakthrough technologies, too. The company has created a renewable energy R&D group within Google’s engineering ranks. There’s an open invitation for talented engineers, technologists, energy experts and others to join.

Where will this lead? During the second world war, the government placed leading scientists in seclusion and had them work around the clock on a top-priority project. The due date was always “yesterday.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Needless to say, the Manhattan Project was a success.

Whatever you think of the actual goal achieved, it worked. Hopefully, Google’s RE<C project meets equal success.

Wednesday Words

N0x  |  potent greenhouse gas which has a large number of natural sources and is a secondary product of the burning of organic material and fossil fuels

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