A little fit over microFIT

The Globe and Mail recently profiled a rising wave of resentment over a change in Ontario’s otherwise popular feed-in-tariff (FIT) program. A quiet change to the regime on July 2 reduced the rate paid to solar producers from 80.2 cents to 58.8 cents per kilowatt hour for ground-mounted solar photovoltaic, which has some producers up in arms. Solar PV hadn’t previously been separated into two distinct categories (roof- and ground-mounted).

The change won’t affect the rate being paid to existing producers, who sign a contract for at least 20 years guaranteeing a preferable rate, but it would affect those who are just beginning the process of singing up. That’s inflamed tempers faster than an efficient solar heating panel.

The Globe’s article quotes one would-be producer, John Verway of Copperhill Alternate Energy, in an open letter saying that the change is “a misguided and miscalculated change” that could “destroy the progress so many have made so far.”.

The guaranteed, relatively high rate being paid for renewable power is a cornerstone of Ontario’s Green Energy Act, designed to increase the production of renewable power and associated industries. Under the FIT program, the Ontario Power Authority guarantees that renewable power producers will be paid a subsidized rate in the long term. In the case of the microFIT program, these projects have to generate less than 10 kilowatts.

But while the contracts are meant to guarantee funding in the long term, the change to the payment schedule is happening immediately.

According to the announcement of the change, anyone wanting to comment on the change has until August 2. A subsequent announcement also outlines the government’s rationale for the change, and once the deadline has passed, any complaints made afterward will unfortunately just be hot air. And under FIT, wind power uses a different payment schedule.

Via The Globe and Mail

A Bridge Not Too Far

Last month, the Canadian Centre for Energy, this humble blog’s (mostly) proud parent, wrote a newsletter about natural gas. In many ways, Canada’s energy future is going to resemble its present, with existing types of energy production, but unconventional sources are going to have major effects on that production.

As the country’s conventional reserves of oil and natural gas decline, we’re increasingly looking toward alternative sources like the Athabasca oil sands and unconventional natural gas. But if unconventional natural gas seems like more of the same, there’s certainly the chance that it’s actually a sign of changing energy use.

According to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, natural gas electricity generation could be a “bridge” to future low-carbon energy production, replacing the carbon-intensive coal generation that dominates the US’s supply. Given natural gas’s lower carbon footprint (natural gas-fired plants emit about half as much CO2 as comparable coal facilities), and its increasing availability, the fuel makes sense for the heavy energy demands of the short term. While renewables are appealing, in Canada, for example, wind still makes up only 0.3 per cent of the country’s electricity generation. Getting that number up will require time and energy in the interim.

Unlike the US, our country’s electricity supply is already dominated by renewables, with hydro making up 61.7 per cent of electricity generation in 2007. Still, the federal government recently announced a plan to phase out the country’s remaining coal generation, retiring two-thirds of the country’s 51 coal plants by 2025. Provincially, both Manitoba and Ontario have already committed to going coal-free. Ontario has set a deadline of 2014, and Manitoba currently has only one remaining coal facility. Alberta, meanwhile, has nine coal-fired facilities. Electricity generation currently makes up about 22 per cent of the country’s CO2 emissions.

Changes to energy are certainly coming, but if our country’s hunger for energy is any indication (13.8 quadrillion Btu in 2007), we’ll need something to sate demand in the short term. In the interim, natural gas could be that fuel.

Via Scientific American

Putting Deepwater Horizon In Context

When dealing with a spill the size of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it can be hard to wrap your head around the sheer size of the numbers. They’re used so casually, but just what do they actually mean? At a current maximum of 60,000 barrels per day (“current” only because estimates have been rising since the spill began), it is now officially the largest spill in US history. That’s a far cry from the original estimate of 1,000 barrels per day publicly stated by Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry. (For a timeline of the evolving spill estimates, check out CNN’s summary).

In an attempt to explain the sheer scale of the disaster, more than a few news outlets and a few enterprising online hobbyists have created maps, videos and interactive tools. Here are just a few of the online demonstrations trying to put some visual context on the Deepwater Horizon disaster and its environmental fallout.

CNN A time-lapse video that shows the expanding, and moving, footprint of the spill.

If It Was My Home Using Google Maps, this site allows you to impose the Deepwater spill onto any location. Imposing the spill on the land we’re familiar with goes a long way to making it seem more real.

Where The Sun Shines

The Drake Landing Solar Community in Okotoks, Alberta met an important milestone last month, keeping its residents toasty almost exclusively with the aid of the sun. After three years, the project has successfully reached its goal of providing 80 per cent of the homes’ heating from an array of 800 solar panels on garage roofs around the community.

With new homes being increasingly built to take advantage of solar heating, either through active sources like solar panels or passive sources like strategically placed windows, successes like Okotoks’s go to show that it’s possible to take charge of our energy use beginning where we live.

Started on June 21, 2007 — the day of the summer solstice — The Drake Landing Solar Community certainly experienced hiccups along the way. In the project’s first two years, it missed its annual targets by 10 to 15 per cent. But now, according to the community’s website, it’s currently on track to reach 90 per cent of its users’ heating needs by the project’s fifth year.

Southern Alberta is in a particularly well located to take advantage of solar energy, with between 1,200 and 1,300 potential kilowatt hours available . In fact, a band of high potential runs throughout southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, providing a natural fit for residential and large scale solar projects.

And it’s not just Alberta that’s showing the country how much potential lies in solar energy. Ontario Solar Thermal Heating Incentive Program (OSTHI) provides funding to encourage the installation of solar heating, just as Saskatchewan’s Solar Heating Initiative for Today (SHIFT) encourages a variety of consumers, from residential to municipal, to do the same.

With successes like Okotoks paving the way, solar heating definitely has a bright future.

Via Calgary Herald

Earth Day Energy Quiz 2010 Answers

Here’s the answers to our Earth Day Energy Quiz. Ten simple questions – what was your score?

The most fuel-efficient car sold in Canada today is
a) a hybrid The most fuel efficient car sold in Canada is a hybrid, the Toyota Prius, which uses 3.7 litres per 100 kilometres in the city and 4.0 on the highway. The three-cylinder Smart car uses 5.9 litres per 100 kilometres in the city and 4.8 on the highway. The Volkswagen Golf TDI uses 6.7 lites per 100 kilometres in the city and 4.8 on the highway. Plug-in electric cars won’t be introduced in Canada until November, 2010.

Which provides more electricity in Canada?
c) biomass thermal power In 2008, biomass provided about 8.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, or about 1.4 per cent of the total; wind provided 2.9 billion kilowatt-hours or 0.5 per cent and solar and tidal combined provided 0.054 billion kilowatt-hours or 0.0088 per cent of the total generation in Canada.

What uses the most energy in a typical Canadian house?
a) space heating Space heating accounts for about 62.8 per cent of the total energy used in a typical Canadian household; water heating accounts for 17.8 per cent; appliance for 13.3 per cent and lighting for 1.4 per cent.

In terms of daylight hours per year, where is the best place in Canada to install solar panels
b) Alert, Nunavut Alert, Canada’s northern-most inhabited location, receives about 4,581 daylight hours per year. Leamington, one of the southern-most cities receives about 4,457 daylight hours. Of course Alert has 24-hour daylight in the summer and 24-hour darkness in the winter, while Leamington gets daylight all year round. Calgary and Churchill receive 4,479 and 4,515 daylight hours respectively.

Tidal power is unique to which province?
d) Nova Scotia Only Nova Scotia generates electricity through tidal power.

Which province or territory generates the largest portion of electricity from wind power?
d) Prince Edward Island   About 87 per cent of Prince Edward Island’s own electricity generation is from wind power. In the other provinces, wind generation accounts for less than four percent.

In Canada, RSI Values relate to?
a) effectiveness of home insulation RSI values are the metric equivalent to R values, a measure of the thermal resistance of insulation. The SI refers to Système International, or what the metric system is called outside of North America.

In which province is it least advantageous to generate your own electricity?
d) New Brunswick New Brunswick has a net metering program where any electricity not used by the generating entity can be fed back to the provincial electricity grid and is credited on the generating entity’s next bill. For example, someone having solar photovoltaic panels and/or wind turbines to generate electricity for their own use may generate more electricity than they need on a windy cloudless day, or may have to draw electricity from the grid on a cloudy day with no wind. Net metering calculates the amount used and the amount sold. Electricity sold back to the grid shows up as a credit on the individual’s electricity bill.

Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia (and Manitoba) will actually buy surplus electricity at various rates depending on the energy source, which can be more advantageous that net metering. Other provinces – Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia – also have net metering programs. Such programs are under review in Newfoundland and Labrador and Yukon.

How much more efficient than a conventional incandescent light bulb is a compact fluorescent light bulb?
b) 75 per cent Compact fluorescent light bulbs are, on average, 75 per cent more efficient than incandescent bulb.

Which of these vehicles doesn’t come in a hybrid version?
c) motorcycle Although both Honda and Yamaha have hybrid motorcycles in development, none are actually in production. Some hybrid motor scooters are currently available, but they really aren’t motorcycles.

Earth Day Energy Quiz

How much do you know about energy in Canada? Take the test and check back for the answers on Monday.

The most fuel-efficient car sold in Canada today is
a) a hybrid
b) a clean diesel
c) a three-cylinder conventional gasoline-powered internal combustion powered Smart car
d) a plug-in electric

Which provides more electricity in Canada?
a) wind power
b) solar power
c) biomass thermal power
d) tidal power

What uses the most energy in a typical Canadian house?
a) space heating
b) water heating
c) appliances
d) lighting

In terms of daylight hours per year, where is the best place in Canada to install solar panels?
a) Calgary, Alberta
b) Alert, Nunavut
c) Leamington, Ontario
d) Churchill Manitoba

Tidal power is unique to which province?
a) British Columbia
b) Manitoba
c) New Brunswick
d) Nova Scotia

Which province or territory generates the largest portion of electricity from wind power?
a) Yukon
b) Alberta
c) Saskatchewan
d) Prince Edward Island

In Canada, RSI Values relate to:
a) effectiveness of home insulation
b) radioactivity of nuclear waste
c) air resistance across the rotors of a wind turbine
d) refractive qualities of solar panels

In which province is it least advantageous to generate your own electricity?
a) Alberta
b) Ontario
c) British Columbia
d) New Brunswick

How much more efficient than a conventional incandescent light bulb is a compact fluorescent light bulb?
a) 65%
b) 75%
c) 85%
d) 90%

Which of these vehicles doesn’t come in a hybrid version?
a) car
b) pickup truck
c) motorcycle
d) transit bus

Transitioning to transit

More Canadians are taking transit. How many more? According to the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), about 14 per cent more. Over the five years from 2004 to 2008, the number of regular service rides increased to 1.83 billion per year from 1.6 billion. That’s about five million Canadians per day riding transit. The increase from 2007 to 2008 alone was 63.8 million rides. That’s about 175,000 Canadians per day.

Now, the cynics will say this increase has been fuelled by the cost of downtown parking in Canada’s major cities, or even a lack of downtown parking in Canada’s major cities.

But we like to think it’s about concern for the environment. One bus full of people is the equivalent of taking 45 cars off the road. Consider this – if your round-trip commute is 32 kilometres, and you decide to take the bus every day and leave your car at home, you’d reduce of CO₂ emissions by 2.8 tonnes per year. This means the 45 cars replaced by a bus would represent a reduction of about 126 tonnes. And that’s only 45 cars.

But wait, there’s more

Today’s transit technology is a lot cleaner than the smoke-belching buses of yesteryear. According to the CUTA, clean diesel technology, a combination of more efficient fuel injection, particulate filters and catalytic converters used in conjunction with ultra low-sulphur diesel fuel, has reduced exhaust particulate matter 90 per cent since 1993. Ultra low sulphur diesel fuel has less than 15 parts per million sulphur.

Another innovation is biodiesel, fuel produced from oilseeds, vegetables or animal fat. It’s not really a new concept. Rudolf Diesel had vegetable oil in mind as a fuel when he invented the diesel engine in the 1890s. But for most of the engine’s history, it’s been run on petroleum-based fuels. Biodiesel can be blended with conventional diesel without major modifications. Common blends are B5 (five per cent biodiesel and 95 per cent conventional diesel) an B20 (20 per cent biodiesel and 80 per cent conventional diesel). Saskatoon Transit reported a 7.2 per cent reduction in GHGs using B5 with a canola-based biodiesel additive.

Perhaps the biggest boost to clean transit is the hybrid bus. Like hybrid cars, hybrid buses have two power sources: an internal combustion engine (usually diesel) and an electric motor that runs off batteries recharged by the diesel engine and regenerative braking. The electric motor gets the bus moving, and once underway, the diesel engine kicks in. At top speed, only the diesel provides power. The advantages of hybrid buses include about 30 per cent less fuel consumption and correspondingly fewer emissions.

Bus fleets in most major Canadian cities are a mix of clean diesel, biodiesel and hybrid buses and any remaining conventional gasoline or diesel buses are being replaced with their cleaner cousins.

So for a two-pronged assault on emissions, leave the car at home and take the bus.

Something old, something new and something green

What is the future going to look like?

It’s not a new question, but it’s one we’re still constantly trying to answer. And when it comes to energy, it’s a question that seems to have a few contradictory answers.

On one hand, we already know that Canada’s future is going to be different than its present: with the advent of alternative energy technologies and an increasing emphasis on energy efficiency, Canadians are demanding a bigger say in the energy they use. A national Canadian Centre for Energy Information survey conducted this year found that a full 59 per cent of respondents felt disconnected from decision-making on energy policies. But on the other hand, there are strong economic incentives to continue using the same profitable sources we’ve always used, especially when demand for those sources is growing globally. So, what’s a Canadian to do?

Flow doesn’t have a crystal ball (just a pic), but we’re always doing our best to keep an eye out to the future. So, here are a few thoughts on Canada’s energy future: the new, the old and the green.

Something Old

At the moment, Canada’s primary energy production is dominated by crude oil and natural gas. Together, these two sources make up almost 75 per cent of our total energy exports, exports that totalled $126 billion in 2008. Given the current patterns of global energy consumption, those exports isn’t likely to become any less important to the country.

Global demand for both oil and natural gas is continuing to rise, driven by demand in Asia and the Middle East, particularly China. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), demand in the transportation sector alone is expected to climb 41 per cent by 2030. And with most of that demand occurring in the developing world, Canada’s strength as an exporter is likely to continue, especially with oil reserves actually continuing to grow.

In fact, despite the fact that oil is a non-renewable resource, developments in areas like Alberta’s oil sands — the second largest oil reserve in the world — have hiked the planet’s total proved reserves to 1,258 billion barrels. If demand continues to increase, there will continue to be reserves to meet this demand into the near future.

One of the places where industry will be discussing that near future will be the CERI 2010 Oil Conference, a three-day event running between April 18 and 20. With session titles like “Conventional Oil: Last Rights or New Breath?” it’s clear that the industry recognizes that changes are coming, but with demand continuing, there’s strong reason to believe that the future won’t necessarily be unrecognizable.

Still, while oil and natural gas have long been mainstays of the Canadian energy mix, an increasing emphasis on the environmental impact of their use has fuelled the development of alternative energy sources.  The field of alternative energy includes sources as varied as biomass and waste products, but two of the leading areas in the field of alternative energy continue to be solar and wind.

Something New

Solar and wind energy are two of the most common examples of energy technologies that are changing the Canadian energy mix, and are likely to continue to change it into our future. Solar power is already becoming increasingly common in Canadian homes and once-distant wind turbine might end up finding their way into our cities.

For now, solar energy is primarily used in two ways in Canadian homes, either passively and actively. Examples of active use include photovoltaic (PV) cells that generate electricity or through solar heating panels that transmit the sun’s heat through a heat-transfer liquid. Passive uses of solar energy include architectural changes that allow homes to absorb ambient heat and redirect it in much the same way that a heating duct redirects a furnace’s.

At a federal level, solar development is supported through Natural Resource Canada’s CanmetENERGY, whose solar projects include research into low energy solar homes and developing codes, certification, and installation standards for PV systems and components. The agency has even developed a useful map of PV potential across the country demonstrating Canada’s solar potential.

Given that potential, it’s not surprising that organizations like The Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) are trying to get professionals networking. In May, CanSIA will host its first-ever regional conference. Running for two days, May 25 and 26, the conference’s topics include “The economics of solar – can it make sense?”, “Sharing the Western Landscape…where do renewables and solar fit in?” and a “Solar Showcase” featuring private and public industry figures.

Wind, meanwhile, continues to be largely a commercial, rather than a residential sector. Though there are wind turbines small enough to be used residentially, they aren’t nearly as common as their larger, commercial brothers.

For now, wind represents only 0.3 per cent of the country’s total electricity mix, but given global trends it’s not difficult to imagine that number growing. In fact, in the last 10 years, wind power use globally has increased annually by 30 per cent. The applications for Canada, where rural communities sometimes require their own power, are considerable. Operations adding diesel or hydro to intermittent wind, for example, could provide the same amount of energy with fewer emissions and other negative environmental impacts. Expect issues like these to be discussed at The Canadian Wind Energy Association’s upcoming Wind Energy Forum, running from April 13 to 14 in Toronto.

Something Green

Whether they’re fossil fuels or renewable energy sources, one of our strongest motivations for changing the way we use energy continues to be our concern over greenhouse gas emissions. Even if our mix continues to include fuels that produce these emissions, the way we use our energy is becoming just as important as the types of energy sources we use. Canada’s energy future, then, is likely to include changes in that use, both by consumers and businesses.

For those industries already producing fossil fuels, the emphasis will now be on “cleaner” versions. From carbon capture and storage technology that will trap much of the carbon dioxide ultimately released into the atmosphere, to fundamental changes in the way that oil and natural gas are extracted. At least one of the many public acknowledgements of this move toward cleaner fossil fuels can be seen in the U.S.- Canada Clean Energy Dialogue, a resolution between the two countries aimed at reducing the intensity of the energy industry’s emissions.

Consumers, meanwhile, in addition to being able to purchase home-based energy systems that can sell power back to the grid, as Ontarians can do under the province’s Feed-In Tariff program, are using less energy. And provincial governments are doing what they can to ensure that this conservation becomes a large part of the country’s energy future.

Provincial governments have already nodded to the importance of reducing their citizens’ energy use, creating agencies like Quebec’s Agence de l’efficacité énergétique and Prince Edward Island’s Office of Energy Efficiency to centrally manage provincial energy efficiency initiatives. Together with more rigorous building codes and incentive programs that encourage everything from low flow toilets to more efficient appliances, the hope is that future energy use will not only be defined by resources like oil and natural gas, wind and solar, but by the consumers who ultimately use them.

Powering Canadian communities

More than 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban centres, a number that’s been steadily increasing since records began in 1851. That leaves most of our attention focused on cities, especially when it comes to energy. Where the people live, the energy will follow.

But in a public environment where we’re increasingly concerned about the costs of our power, both financial and environmental, we can’t forget about our rural communities either. Fortunately, local governments and the communities themselves are already paying attention.

At 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre, in a total area of almost 10 million square kilometres, Canada is one of the least densely populated places on Earth. That leaves us trying to stretch 160,000 kilometres of high voltage lines between our power plants and our major urban centres, an enormous grid that still isn’t large enough to reach our most remote communities. Whether these communities are isolated by distance, a harsh climate, unyielding geography or (usually) some combination of the three, the result is that they have to generate their own power. And, as it happens, generating your own power tends to be a fairly dirty business.

Diesel generators have been the go-to solution for small communities’ power needs for years — they provide a dependable source of power and can be built on a relatively small scale, or they can purchased and imported. But while these generators allow remote communities to stay powered without staying connected to the grid, they’re also using fuel whose carbon emissions are under increasing scrutiny.

In Northwest Territories, for example, the territory’s 43,000 citizens (spread across almost 1.2 million square kilometres) get most of their power from 25 diesel generating facilities dotted in communities. But under Northwest Territories’ energy strategy, Community Energy Plans would be implemented across the territory by 2011, encouraging a more sustainable approach to each community’s power generation.

One of the most practical methods of improving remote communities’ energy use has been cogeneration. By harnessing the heat that is generally lost in facilities only designed to generate electricity, cogeneration plants are able to provide both heat and electricity, requiring between 10 and 30 per cent less fuel.

Given that communities in northern climates also rely on carbon-intensive heating oil for their heating, it’s not hard to see why cogeneration plants would reduce both the financial and environmental costs of energy. And it isn’t only northern communities changing the way they use energy.

BC’s Bioenergy Network, for example, has already begun awarding contracts for wood waste cogeneration plants under their BC Bioenergy Strategy. And the Ontario Government, like many other provincial governments, is encouraging agricultural operations to consider wind and other alternative sources of generation.

And communities are still actively seeking out new opportunities to generate their own power in more cost-effective and environmentally responsible ways.

From April 21 to 22, the Town of Cochrane, Ontario (population: less than 6,000) will be hosting its Energize Your Community Conference, a showcase for communities hoping to encourage green community energy initiatives. Featuring talks from organizations like Nipissing University’s Biomass Innovation Centre and the Ontario Power Authority, the conference bills itself as a chance for like-minded communities to network and learn. Its scale is appropriately modest, but if you’re a community interested in joining the conversation on changing energy use in Canada’s, go ahead and drop them a line holly.touchette@town.cochrane.on.ca. After all, in a country where only 20 per cent live outside of cities, communities need to stick together.

Earth Hour

It may look like a party, but it’s a very successful way to raise awareness about climate change issues on a global scale. On Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 pm, everyone will once again be able to show their support for Mother Earth by turning off the lights for one hour. Watch the event unfold on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, TwitterCanada, on the website to name a few.

In 2009, 4,159 cities and towns across 88 countries, including 73 national capitals and 9 of the world’s 10 most populated cities participated in the event. One billion people can’t be wrong.

turn off, tune in and step up is the new turn on, tune in and drop out.

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