We get questions
March 30, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions, like this one.
Q: I caught the last few minutes of a documentary on TV about a Canadian mining town that uses water from an abandoned mine for geothermal heating. Can you tell me the name of the town?
A: The city in question is Springhill, Nova Scotia. Springhill had a long history of coal mining, beginning in 1830; however following disasters in 1891, 1956 and 1958 the mines were closed in 1962. In the late 1980s, interest in using the mine water as a heat source resulted in the development of the Springhill Geothermal Industrial Park. Natural Resources Canada, talks about this on its website.
The technology used in Springhill is actually a geothermal heat pump system, also known as earth energy or geo-exchange, which operates at lower temperatures than true geothermal systems.
True geothermal systems use super-heated water from deep within the earth to provide heat, such as in Iceland and parts of Western Canada and California. With these types of systems, the water is generally hot enough that heat pumps are not required. They are often found in tectonically active areas and are associated with geysers and hotsprings.
Another city in Canada contemplating the use of mine water as a geothermal heat source is Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. The city contracted the University of British Columbia to perform a feasibility study (448KB PDF).
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We get questions
March 23, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions, like this one.
Q: Is there any difference between geothermal energy and earth energy?
A: The term “geothermal” is derived from geo (earth) and thermal (of, for or producing heat) and means “heat from the earth.”
Historically, geothermal energy has been associated with high-temperature heat sources such as geysers, thermal springs and steam vents. The naturally occurring hot water and steam are used to heat buildings, such as in Iceland, or turn turbines to generate electricity, such as in California. This type of geothermal energy is also used in China, Japan, New Zealand, Italy and the Philippines.
Earth energy, also known as geoexchange and geothermal heat pump systems, uses much lower temperatures found at shallow depths in the earth, in bodies of water and in circulating groundwater. Heat pumps and compressors are used to transfer heat from the ground to warm a building or to transfer heat to the ground to cool a building.
High-temperature geothermal energy can only be used where there is naturally occurring hot water or steam, usually in areas near volcanoes and active earthquake zones. Earth energy, on the other hand, can be implemented just about anywhere.
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We get questions
March 16, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions. More on biomass.
Q: There is such a wide array of materials that are identified as sources of biomass – everything from agricultural crops and wastes, wood, livestock wastes, animal wastes, fast-growing trees and plants, and municipal and industrial wastes. With all of these different types of materials, I’m wondering if all biomass is converted to energy the same way. What’s the process – does it all get burned?
A: There are three primary ways to convert biomass to energy:
1) Thermal —The oldest and most common way is to burn biomass to create heat. This can be used directly for heating, cooking and industrial processes, or indirectly to generate electricity. At biomass power plants, biomass is burned in a boiler to produce high-pressure steam, which, in turn drives a turbine to generate electricity.
2) Thermochemical —By heating (but not burning) plant matter, it is possible to break down biomass into gases, liquids and solids, which can be further processed into gas and liquid fuels like methane and alcohol. Biomass reactors heat biomass in a low-oxygen environment to produce a fuel gas (mostly methane), which can then fuel steam generators, combustion turbines, combined cycle technologies or fuel cells.
3) Biochemical —Adding bacteria, yeasts and enzymes to biomass liquids causes biomass materials to ferment and change into alcohol. A similar process is used to turn agricultural products into ethanol (grain alcohol), which is then mixed with gasoline to make an ethanol-gasoline blend. And when bacteria are used to break down biomass, methane is produced and can be captured from landfills and sewage treatment plants to produce fuel for heat and power.
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We get questions
March 9, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions. Have a read.
Q: I’ve noticed that it sometimes seems that oil industry terms are used interchangeably. What is the difference between oilsands, heavy oil and bitumen?
A: Oilsands are naturally occurring mixtures of bitumen, water, sand and clay that are found mainly in three areas of Alberta – Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake. A typical sample of oilsands might contain about 12 per cent bitumen by weight, although bitumen content can vary widely among specific samples and sites. If the oilsands deposits are close to the surface, bitumen can be recovered from the oilsands by open-pit mining and hot-water processing methods. Deeper deposits require in-situ methods such as steam injection through vertical or horizontal wells. (In-situ means “in-place” in Latin; the oil industry uses this term to indicate the bitumen is separated from the sand underground, in the geological formation where it occurs.) Surface mining is used in the Athabasca oilsands, while in-situ methods are used in all three major oilsands areas.
Heavy crude oil includes some crude oil that will flow at room temperatures, however slowly, but most heavy oil also requires heat or dilution to flow to a well or through a pipeline. Therefore it is similar to bitumen, although lighter, generally less viscous and usually containing less sulphur. In Canada, the term heavy oil refers to petroleum with a density greater than 900 kilograms per cubic metre (or below 25.7°API on the American Petroleum Institute gravity scale).
Bitumen is a thick, sticky form of crude oil. At room temperature, bitumen has the consistency of molasses. It must be heated or diluted before it will flow easily into a well or through a pipeline. Bitumen is sometimes called extra-heavy crude oil. A typical dictionary definition of bitumen is “a tar-like mixture of petroleum hydrocarbons.” A more technical definition in the oil-producing industry is: “a naturally occurring, viscous mixture of hydrocarbons that contains sulphur compounds and will not flow in its naturally occurring viscous state.”
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We get questions
March 2, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions. Biomass was a popular topic last month.
Q: I am looking for information regarding the use of biomass to generate electricity in Canada. Specifically, I would like to know what percentage of electricity in Canada is generated from the burning of biomass, and where in Canada this takes place.
A: According to the Canadian Industrial Energy End-use Data and Analysis Centre at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, in 2006, about four per cent of Canada’s electricity was generated from burning biomass. Ten out of the 13 provinces and territories currently use biomass, mainly wood waste. Details are as follows.
| Province | Biomass Installed Capacity (MW) |
Total Installed Capacity (MW) |
Biomass % of Provincial Installed Capacity (MW) |
| Ontario | 2,020.6 | 36,339.3 | 5.6 |
| British Columbia | 1,600.9 | 15241.9 | 10.5 |
| New Brunswick | 436.7 | 4577.5 | 9.5 |
| Alberta | 276.0 | 11384.7 | 2.4 |
| Quebec | 266.6 | 38159.7 | 0.7 |
| Saskatchewan | 245.8 | 3474.7 | 7.1 |
| Nova Scotia | 166.7 | 2502.8 | 6.7 |
| Manitoba | 34.9 | 5636.3 | 0.6 |
| Prince Edward Island | 2.0 | 188.4 | 1.1 |
| Yukon | 0.3 | 77.8 | 0.4 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 0.0 | 7501.0 | 0.0 |
| Northwest Territories | 0.0 | 163.5 | 0.0 |
| Nunavut | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 5,050.5 | 125,297.6 | 4.0 |
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We get questions
February 24, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions, here’s another.
Q: Lately I’ve noticed interest in nuclear power is increasing with talk of new nuclear power plants in Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta. How many reactors are there in Canada? The United States? World wide? What percentage of electricity is generated through nuclear energy?
A: Canada has 22 nuclear reactors, of which 18 are currently operational, in five generating facilities: Bruce, Pickering and Darlington in Ontario; Gentilly 2 in Quebec and Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. Nuclear power provides about 12 per cent of the electricity generated in Canada.
There are 64 nuclear generating stations in the United States with 103 operating nuclear reactors generating about 19 percent of the electricity generated in the United States.
Worldwide, there are 493 nuclear reactor in 31 countries providing about 15 per cent of the electricity generated in the world.
Got a question?
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We get questions
February 9, 2009
The Centre for Energy’s portal is loaded with factual and statistical information about Canada’s energy system. But we still get questions, like this one.
Q: “I caught part of a CBC news report that says Ontario Power Generation is replacing coal in its thermal plants with biomass. Is this true? How does this cut back on emissions? Will this have any impact on food prices?”
A: Ontario Power Generation is indeed testing biomass, including wood pellets and agricultural by-products such as grain screenings and milling spoils, as a substitute for coal at two of its coal-fired thermal generating stations. OPG has co-fired milling by-products along with coal at its Nanticoke Generating Station on the north shore of Lake Erie, and has tested pelletized wood waste and grain screenings at its Atikokan Generating Station near Thunder Bay. Both projects have generated positive results (no pun intended).
Biomass, such the material OPG is using, is considered to be carbon neutral. That is, the amount of carbon released when consumed is equal to the amount of carbon taken up from the atmosphere by the plant or tree when it is growing. As well, whether the material is burned or left to decompose naturally, the amount of carbon released is the same.
This practice will not impact food prices because OPG does not use food crops in its biomass program.
The news item you are referring to is probably one regarding OPG recently issuing a call to potential suppliers of biomass fuel and transportation services. To this point, OPG has obtained its biomass from the spot market, but as it ramps up its program, it will require greater amounts of biomass fuel to better determine the commercial viability of the project.
Got a question?
Send it to infoservices@centreforenergy.com – we’ll answer it and might even publish it on Flow.
