Toronto Hydro releases CR report

If you don’t know where you’re starting from, it’s hard to track your progress. This applies to pretty much everything – including, of course, reducing carbon emissions.

For the second year in a row, Toronto Hydro is making an effort to do just that by releasing a report on its operational greenhouse gas emissions. The Corporate Responsibility Report aims to establish a baseline, and set emission targets.

Using this report, they will be able to keep tabs on their progress in reducing their carbon footprint – until they reach their goal of carbon-neutrality. The report has been made with the city of Toronto’s Climate Change Action Plan in mind.

Toronto Hydro is also making it a priority to be mindful of the province’s Clean Energy Act. While their product (hydro-electricity, obviously) is considered a clean energy source, they are aware their operation is not 100 per cent clean. To be fair, few are.

The previous two years’ results show they have a good start. According to the report Toronto Hydro’s greenhouse gas emissions are already down by 2.7 per cent. The company’s total electricity consumed is down as well.

In addition to actually reducing these factors, Toronto Hydro is taking some more proactive steps. The company reported planting 10,000 native trees around the city, and supports local economic development. They invested some $500,000 in community initiatives.

Their vehicle fleet is already running on biodiesels, but they are also experimenting with natural gas-powered vehicles, electric vehicles, ethanol enhanced fuel, and anti-idling devices.

With initiatives like this, Ontario can fairly be said to be taking the lead in green energy and making strong headway in carbon-neutral operations.

German town becomes world’s first

“What Can Brown Do For You?”

This memorable UPS slogan is being taken to heart by the German town of Lünen’s 90,000 residents, who will become the first in the world to use cow and horse manure for cheap green energy. Starting in December 2009, poo will be powering more than a third of the town’s heat and electricity.

How does it work? I’m so glad you asked. Animal waste and crops such as corn, wheat and grass from local farms are ahem, dumped into heated tanks, where natural fermentation breaks it down into methane and carbon dioxide.

This biogas is then burned to generate electricity and heat in a combined heat and power plant (CHP). The heat is then distributed across the town through a new biogas pipeline, which is being built underground using a horizontal drilling robot. A horizontal drilling robot? Yes really! We mention this only because a) it sounds really cool and b) roads are not disturbed, making for a viable model for other cities. 

The new sustainable solution isn’t causing a stink amongst residents, either; on the contrary, residents heating their homes with biogas won’t even notice a difference…or a smell. All they’ll notice is a savings of 30% or more on their energy bill. This is prompting other cities worldwide to stand up and take notice.

Lünen could become a model for the future of cheap sustainable electricity.

That’s really natural gas.

Green energy gets a whole lotta green

The grass is definitely greener on the other side. Unfortunately, it’s also a lot more expensive, at least when it comes to funding green energy.

Stanford University is spending $100 million to build a new energy institute. Surprisingly, $90 million of it alone came from two families. The institute’s main goal—just like the government’s—is to make renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels: the Holy Grail of Sustainable Energy.

Currently, the United States imports 70 percent of the oil it consumes and the energy is coming from insecure, unreliable sources. So governments and private citizens alike are collaborating to find a more self-reliant solution.

Not wanting to be left behind, in Canada the Green Energy Action Fund coalition was created, with an aim to help align the country’s energy and job-creation policies with those of the United States.

Representing more than 850,000 Canadians, the coalition is led by a group called PowerUP Canada in an effort to get the federal and provincial governments to create a $41 billion “green” stimulus package.

This is an impressive sum, considering that the green stimulus package in the U.S. is only $10 billion more, and they have 10 times the population. Even more inspiring: four former prime ministers are also on board.

So what’s the plan?

Among other things, the coalition intends to create CDN $18.6 billion in low-interest loans to help renewable energy developers and create jobs. The money will also encourage energy retrofits of buildings, support green infrastructure projects and boost investment in clean technology manufacturing.

Money makes the world go round. And greenbacks are helping turn both countries…well, greener.

Dollar per watt solar energy

Always wanted to go-green, but could never afford to? Well, you’re not alone.

In the past, high costs have been one of the solar industry’s main challenges. The high cost of production has hindered its expansion and reliability. But in February 2009, a new milestone was reached in the solar industry: cheap renewable energy.

A solar panel maker in Arizona announced that it had reduced its production costs to less than $1 a watt, down from $3 a watt. What does that mean?

It means the savings will be passed onto the consumer and that the industry is one step closer towards providing reliable sustainable energy solutions. The more reasonable costs and more reliable energy will encourage more value for money.

The US is taking a cue from Europe…

Europe has long-been regulated by government tariff rates. A tariff is the price per unit of electricity that a utility or supplier has to pay for renewable electricity from private generators. These government subsidies are helping to make the industry competitive. Higher tariffs help operators cover the higher cost of production without passing it onto the consumer.

The investment will pay off in the long run. The reasoning is that if the government continues its support for the industry now, then solar power will be able to match peak-hour pricing from coal and natural gas by 2012 – meaning that the industry will no longer need subsidies.

So saving greenbacks will help companies and consumers alike go green

Places where the sun does indeed shine

Quick! Where is the weirdest place you’d expect to find a solar panel? If you said cemetery, give yourself five points. Outhouse garners ten points. If you said an Amish outhouse, ding! You’ve won the bonus prize.

A suburb of Barcelona has placed 462 solar panels over its multi-storey mausoleums. The solar panels cover less than 5% of the total surface area of the cemetery, but will create enough energy each year to supply the needs of 60 homes.

There are plans to install more, meaning the cemetery has the potential to triple the amount of electricity generated. One of only a few open, sunny places in the crowded city of 124,000, the cemetery but will keep about 62 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year.

The West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island has a solar powered outhouse. Of course it does (and it’s lovely – sporting the best view from a loo in all of Canada). More surprisingly, the Amish are also the leading per-capita adopters of solar in Pennsylvania. Solar panels align with Amish values of self-sufficiency and moderation.

In Rizhao City, which means City of Sunshine in Chinese, 99 per cent of households in the central districts use solar water heaters, and most traffic signals, street and park lights are powered by photovoltaic (PV) solar cells.

It is encouraging that solar is becoming more and more accessible. Though initial reaction to solar cemeteries and outhouses was disdain, the public are generally embracing sunlight as the fuel of the future.

And if the Amish are doing it…