Big Brother is watching… your energy efficiency

There are plenty of ways to check your energy efficiency. In Ontario, for example, you can book a Home Energy Audit, saving up to $150 on the audit itself. The federal ecoENERGY program used to offer pre-retrofit evaluations that provided rebates on energy-efficient appliances, but the ecoENERGY Retrofit program was cancelled effective March 31, 2010. And, audits or no, you can always buy more efficient appliances and ensure that drafts and other gaps in your home’s insulation are taken care of.

Still if home audits are too costly, and you don’t like the idea of someone poking around your home, perhaps you’d be more interested in a plane taking infrared photos of your house. Live like you’re in 1984… in 2010!

All right, it’s not really as frightening as George Orwell’s dystopic vision of the future, but a Belgian company has successfully used thermal maps taken by a plane flying over Antwerp to measure the heat loss from houses’ roofs. It’s an unobtrusive way of measuring the amount of energy being lost by a house, and given our existing comfort with public satellite data like the kind found on Google Maps, it’s not hard to imagine that we might eventually be able to access this kind of image from the comfort of our computer. At the same time, it begs the question of just how public we want our energy consumption habits to be.

It might not be double plus good, but it’s certainly not bad either.

Via Popular Science

Keeping “Green” Green

We’d all rather make environmentally sensitive choices about our energy use, especially given the financial incentives for energy efficiency. And with large-scale changes like Nova Scotia’s plan to increase its provincial renewable energy targets from 25 to 40 per, there’s strong evidence that these changes can be made on a considerable scale.

But there’s always room to be cautious about the steps we take forward, especially when there’s evidence that the steps we’re so certain are helping the planet might be nothing but a green shell around old ideas.

In a recent article in the Globe and Mail, for example, University of Toronto professor Dan Harvey cried foul on recent developments in Toronto’s downtown core. Noting that the focus on glass facades creates a veritable heat trap — a perfect example of how passive solar heating can work (even if unintentionally) — Harvey suggests that no matter other fancy energy features might be included, bad design will fundamentally undercut any other initiatives.

Harvey’s comments don’t just suggest an isolated example in Toronto either. With the growing trend of “green” renovations, consumers need to be clear that making a building more energy efficient doesn’t just include its most obvious features. The fundamentals of our energy use, as always, are the main factors in determining whether we’re making smart energy choices. And there will always be temptations to accept greenwashing, because, after all: it feels good to think you’re a savvy energy consumer.

The future of energy is certainly going to include a new energy mix that includes renewable as well as non-renewable sources, coupled with a heavy dose of energy efficiency. And for that future to be different than our present, we need to ask hard questions about the well-meaning steps we take along the way.

Efficiency labelling for water fixtures

The Speech from the Throne, opening a new session of the Ontario legislature was delivered March 8, and among the new programs announced is the Water Opportunities Act.

The Act is envisioned as a vehicle to make Ontario “the North American leader in the development and sale of new technologies and services for water conservation and treatment.”

Generally speaking, when government comes out with a new program related to conservation and the environment, stakeholder groups are quick to lament that the program doesn’t go far enough or that it completely fails to address the problem. However, this time water conservation groups were generally positive. In a media release, Great Lakes United even suggested some strategies the Ontario Government may wish to pursue, one of which was to launch an efficiency labelling program for water fixtures.

However, a quick visit to the Web would indicate that such standards are already in place. Natural Resources Canada’s water conservation Web page suggests that low-flow showerheads are those that deliver less than 9.5 litres per minute compared to older models that use 14 litres per minute. Similarly, low-flow toilets use six litres per flush or less.

These may not be hard and fast definitions, similar to the Energy Star® program wherein products must meet certain energy use and efficiency criteria before they can display the Energy Star® symbol. However, if they aren’t hard and fast, then establishing such a program would be in the best interests of water conservation.

Federal government suspends ecoEnergy program

The Federal Government announced March 31 that it has suspended the ecoEnergy Retrofit – Homes program. The program was designed to encourage homeowners to undertake energy efficiency improvements on existing homes to increase energy savings and reduce greenhouse gases. It consisted of grants up to $5,000 and involved pre-retrofit assessments, retrofits and post-retrofit assessments.

The entire program was originally set to run until March 31, 2011. The government will now only process grant applications from homeowners who have scheduled or completed a pre-retrofit evaluation and who will be completing energy efficiency improvements and post-retrofit assessments prior to March 31, 2011. Such participants must apply for grants prior to that date. However, the pre-retrofit phase is now closed to new applicants.

The suspension of the program came as a surprise. In its March 2010 budget, the government announced an additional $80 million (2.2MB PDF) to support retrofits by Canadian homeowners due to “unprecedented demand”. In total, the Government provided $585 million to the program under the Economic Action Plan.

In a Frequently Asked Questions section on the Office for Energy Efficiency website, the government justified the cancellation by saying “the program is confident that all eligible homeowners who previously entered the program by scheduling or completing a pre-retrofit evaluation will still have the opportunity to apply for and receive a grant.”

The Federal Government will continue to support provincial and territorial energy efficiency for homes.

Making an example of Masdar

In energy strategy documents across the country, energy efficiency has been identified as one of the best ways of decreasing total energy use. Replacing light bulbs and buying better appliances are valuable steps, but one of the most profound changes being suggested are in the basic infrastructure that we use every day.

Across Canada, infrastructure improvements have included incentives for energy efficient building and smart meters to monitor and modify daily energy use. But while Canada is taking a series of small steps in its energy-related infrastructure, the United Arab Emirates is taking a single giant one: they’re building an entire city specifically designed to showcase energy efficient infrastructure and alternative energy sources.

Masdar City, created under the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company will eventually be home to 50,000 residents over six square kilometres. Located east of the capital city of Abu Dhabi, adjacent to the international airport, the city will be carbon neutral, produce zero waste and utilize all water, including waste.

It’s no coincidence that Masdar City is being built in an emirate whose crude oil exports make up nearly 60 per cent of its GDP. With non-renewable energy already integral to the region’s economy, proven strength in the growing renewables sector would provide a diversified, enduring position as an energy leader. Energy is already showcased in Abu Dhabi’s annual hosting of the World Future Energy Summit, and the city is also currently home to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In 2011, this IRENA secretariat will be transferred to Masdar City itself, where its advanced energy infrastructure will provide an exemplar of the world’s future energy use.

So, what will a city designed to use the most advanced energy-efficient infrastructure look like?

First and most importantly in an emirate driven by oil: Masdar City will run entirely on renewable sources including solar, geothermal and waste-to-energy. Under its “Technology Roadmap,” Masdar hopes to continue work in over 90 programs focused on these areas, both as showcase technologies and functional pieces of the city’s operations. But it isn’t just the power that fuels the city that will be different than the urban infrastructure we’re already familiar with.

Canadian transportation accounts for 36 of our total emissions. In Masdar City, transportation emissions will be reduced to zero through the city’s inherently walkable design — shaded, narrow walkways that reduce glare — and cutting edge transportation technology. Plans include providing a “Personal Rapid Transit” (PRT) system, with more than 3,000 emission-free vehicles at 85 stations operating 24 hours a day. Through the city and beyond, a six-station LRT system will connect Abu Dhabi, Masdar City and the airport.

Water, meanwhile, always an important consideration in a desert city, will also be taken care of in novel ways. A solar-powered desalination tank will provide drinking water for the city, and the resulting grey (waste) water from the city’s activities will be collected and used for irrigation.

All these technological changes will be supported by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, which is already in its second semester of operation. Partnering with MIT, the focus is on developing the alternative energy technologies that will enable future cities like Masdar. After all, if the infrastructure that allows us to use our energy needs to change, that change will ultimately have to be a global.

Change is… green: a year in renovations

Many of the buildings we live and work in are in need of serious changes in order to meet the challenges of a more environmentally and energy-conscious world. Commercial buildings alone, for example, are responsible for 13 per cent of Canada’s carbon emissions. And with new tools like a simulation program designed to improve a building’s efficiency and government incentives, it’s no wonder that many Canadian locations saw green renovations in 2009. Among the many high profile green renovations of 2009, Flow took a look at…

Google’s Canadian headquarters and a pair of Canadian hospitals that included technologies as progressive as a solar heating system and familiar as triple-glazed windows. And while it hasn’t been a renovation per se, the construction of Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business goes to show that green buildings are starting out fresh as well.

Internationally, Flow covered the undergo $350 million green renovations on the Sears Tower and the Utopian plan for the headquarters of The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The need for efficiency and a lower carbon footprint, after all, is a global issue. But not every green renovation is taking place in buildings.

Some of the most important green renovation projects are currently happening inside the minds of Canadian students and working professionals. As we outlined with the five top green careers for 2009, a growing “green collar” sector is emerging to fill the gap left as eco-professionals begin to retire.

Specific programs like Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and Canada’s Green Energy Action Fund are designed to promote green careers in energy and the technology to enable them. These programs are part of a general trend toward education that reflect a broader awareness of energy as it impacts the daily world.

And if 2009 is any indication, the message is already resonating with young people across North America who invent energy innovations. If a 15-year-old Texan can create an algae-powered energy system or a 17-year-old Calgarian can invented a solar powered tracking system, there’s hope that the changes we’re making in our buildings and our ways of thinking really can change the world.

Hospital upgrades

Two Ontario hospitals are undergoing renovations that will cost millions now, but save a ton of money – and emissions – over time. Partnered with Honeywell, Cambridge Memorial in Cambridge and St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton plan to decrease their overall energy costs with upgrades that will hopefully pay for themselves. A SolarWall air heating system is among the energy-efficient upgrades and retrofits planned.

Air passing through SolarWall’s perforations is heated and redirected by a fan into the building. Cambridge Memorial is using three of them to reduce their carbon footprint.  It will apparently be the largest of its kind, at five stories tall.

While hospitals are a relatively new domain, Honeywell is no stranger to eco-friendly retrofits. They’ve also been involved in a similar program of retrofits in a Pennsylvania school district, expected to save about a million dollars annually.

Recently, more hospitals have been built with an eye on energy efficiency. One prominent example is the new Alberta Children’s Hospital. Opened in 2006 in Calgary, it was built with triple-glazed windows and energy efficient, state-of-the-art mechanical systems.

Victoria’s new Royal Jubilee Hospital is set to be completed in 2010. Plans include a green roof and LEED-accepted building materials. Even the process of construction will be environmentally conscious, incorporating a sediment tank to prevent building materials from washing off the site. As a result, it has already been awarded LEED Gold status. No surprise, given British Columbia’s well-publicized mandate to make all new infrastructure projects worthy of LEED Gold.

Indeed, LEED Gold status “championship” gold worth its weight in…well, gold.

Star Power

Home owners in Ontario and Saskatchewan are thanking their lucky stars.

Just like your kitchen appliances, houses can be given the coveted Energy Star designation, too. By meeting a list of requirements, licensed Energy Star builders, like EnerQuality in Ontario, can put the famous blue star logo on their projects.

In this pilot project, to achieve Energy Star rating homes must be at least 30% more energy-efficient than provincial building code requirements. That translates to huge savings in home energy use and cost – by keeping an eye on efficiency during construction.

The McGill family in Ontario reports paying much less for their monthly bills in their new Energy Star home than their previous one – which was 1,000 square feet smaller. They even say their health is better, which they attribute to their higher-efficiency air filter.

Sounds fantastic, but is it actually done? By bits and pieces. Tankless water heaters, Energy Star-rated windows and doors, proper insulation – among other things. They also install low-flush toilets, and low-flow showerheads to keep water usage down.

Recently, EnerQuality Homes upped the ante by creating the Greenhouse initiative. You might consider it a “hybrid” between Energy Star and LEED status.  Greenhouse aims to conserve energy as well as materials. EnerQuality president Corey McBurney says most houses are “overbuilt.”

“Greenhouses” will take advantage of optimal-value engineering; they use recycled products, and reduce the amount of lumber used to make houses.

With such cost-effective, energy efficient programs available, it’s no wonder homeowners are looking so starry-eyed.

Carbon footprint of the internet is growing

When Google started, there weren’t enough computers around to bother worrying about their combined energy efficiency.

Over time, computer and Internet use has exploded in ways they never imagined. In addition to probably rubbing their hands with glee, Google also started devoting resources to thinking about how much energy they were wasting.

Every search and every page you load requires energy, releasing 20 milligrams of CO2 per second. While it may not be included in your energy bill, it comes from somewhere. Giant data centres – warehouses of servers storing every Internet file – require lots of energy.

The Internet has an enormous carbon footprint, and it’s only getting bigger. Certain environmental groups claim the IT industry has an even bigger carbon footprint than the aviation industry. It happened so quickly that many Internet firms had a hard time catching up.

Luckily, some were prepared. Google’s headquarters makes use of 9,200 solar panels, and their new Toronto office is Bullfrog-powered. It’s also constructed almost entirely from recycled materials, from old tires for their floors, to pop cans recycled into work stations.

Google’s data centres were already upgraded to be energy-efficient about six years ago; way ahead of the curve. The company is now looking at enhanced geothermal energy as an equally green – but possibly more reliable – energy source.

In Kelowna, the biggest green data center in Canada has recently been completed, and runs on hydroelectricity. RackForce Networks Inc says that it has only 2% of the carbon footprint a typical data centre does.

In time, renewable energy sources may prove the most important “Google search” ever.

Simple solutions to a pressing challenge

The folks who thought up Project Porchlight, a highly-successful home-grown campaign promoting compact fluorescent light bulbs for the sake of energy efficiency; have turned their attention to the automobile. Their driving force is Stuart Hickox of Ottawa, whose One Change organization, has teamed up with private- and public-sector partners to promote tire gauges and oil changes as significant vehicle efficiency improvements.

The additional benefit of properly-inflated tires, of course, is improved road safety. 

One Change volunteers and staff handed out 1,000 keychain-size digital tire gauges and $30 Canadian Tire oil and filter change coupons at the recent 2009 SuperEX. Other partners in the venture were Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The goal is to distribute 12,000 gauges and discount coupons in the Ottawa area. 

Hickox, founder and executive director of One Change said the expected annual savings on fuel and auto-service costs should average about $90. That’s based on a formula that uses data developed by NRCan and assumes that at least 40 per cent of cars have at least one underinflated tire. Hickox also said that more efficient cars should curb their annual carbon dioxide emissions by an average 740 kilograms. 

“We are trying to convert awareness to action,” he said, agreeing that while tire pressure may be “deep in the back of everyone’s mind,” it’s something too many motorists ignore. “Simple actions matter.” 

That was the philosophy he espoused with Project Porchlight, the first project Stuart, his wife and some friends began in the Hickox family’s basement in 2005. It quickly spread across the country and into the U.S., where millions of light bulbs have been distributed in Washington state and New Jersey. 

“We’re not your typical environmental group in that we have no political agenda,” Hickox said. “No single source provides all funding; we have partnerships with businesses, non-profit groups and governments. 

“It’s not the old joke about how many people it takes to change a light bulb,” Stuart said, “It’s a question of how many light bulbs it takes to change society!”

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