energy

In Brief: Ontario’s Energy Renaissance

20 February, 2011

THE Green Energy Act Alliance, an association of organizations and individuals, recently released Faces of Transformation, which describes how Ontario’s Green Energy & Green Economy Act is rejuvenating Ontario’s economy and helping to close polluting coal plants.

The report suggests that Ontario’s feed-in tariff (FIT) system, which favours the use of green energy, is North America’s most successful renewable energy program. And with 143 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in 2010, Paul Gipe reports that Ontario took second place in solar photovoltaic rankings, second only to California.

“Ontario is a clean energy success story,” says Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence, a key Alliance member...

Published in: Just Food 37.2

In Review: The Biofuel Delusion

21 October, 2010 | Kyrke Gaudreau

The Biofuel Delusion: The Fallacy of Large Scale Agro-Biofuels Production, Mario Giampietro and Kozo Mayumi, London, UK: Earthscan, 2009, 336 pages.

Reviewed by Kyrke Gaudreau.

Many people believe that growing our fuel will improve energy security and independence, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote rural development. The Biofuel Delusion contends that such perceived advantages are quite simply not the case.

Published in: Biodiversity 36.6

In Review: Still to Come

18 June, 2009 | Peter Robinson

Carbon Shift: How the Twin Crises of Oil Depletion and Climate Change Will Define the Future, Thomas Homer-Dixon, ed., Toronto: Random House Canada, 2009, 224 pages. Reviewed by Peter Robinson.

Thomas Berger's Unfinished Revolution

27 May, 2009 | Stephen Bocking

What a lovely boom it was to be. Earth Day 1970 was a recent memory, and then president Richard Nixon was expanding American involvement in Vietnam. But for many, the action was in Northern Canada. It was full speed ahead for frontier oil and gas. Oil wells would be pumping, compressor stations shrieking, and to carry the wealth south, soon the biggest megaproject of all: the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.

Borrowed from Barns and Churches

27 May, 2009 | Sheryl Boyle

If we were to cut off electricity to the lighting and ventilation mechanisms in a contemporary industrial or office building, work would be nearly impossible. This was not always the case. Some early industrial buildings included effective low-tech strategies that took advantage of natural light and ventilation. ...

Viva La Revolución Energética (34.6)

26 May, 2009 | Laurie Guevara-Stone

What nation is the most sustainable in the world? If you guessed Sweden, Denmark or maybe Norway, you would be wrong. Instead, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has declared Cuba to be the only country on the planet that is approaching sustainable development. Key to this designation is the island’s Revolución Energética, an energy conservation effort launched only two years ago. ...

BC's Rush for Hydro Power

26 May, 2009

The number of water licences illustrated on the map on the opposite page may make you wonder what is going on in British Columbia. To date, BC Hydro has signed over $28-billion worth of agreements to purchase power from private companies, and, as of October 1, 2008, had granted 113 private power water licences and had applications for 559 more. But this may only be the beginning of the rush. A consulting report has identified over 8000 candidate run-of-the-river hydro sites on BC’s rivers. ...

Published in: Size Matters 35.1

Energy In:Energy Out

26 May, 2009

Through the Washington State University Energy Program, customers of the Western Area Power Administration can ask energy-related technical questions. This particular Q&A reveals how much energy it takes to produce a litre of biofuel versus how much energy you get out of it. ...

Better Bioenergy

26 May, 2009 | Stephanie Bailey-Stamler, Roger Samson, and Mark Purdon

Bioenergy policy is often limited to a discussion of liquid biofuels such as corn ethanol and, more recently, second-generation “cellulosic” ethanol. It’s time to begin thinking more holistically about developing technologies that capture solar energy efficiently and turn it into useable forms of bioenergy. ...

Biofuel Basics

26 May, 2009 | Kyrke Gaudreau

In recent years, Canada has pumped billions of dollars into its biofuel industry. Most notable have been incentives paid to farmers to grow corn for ethanol production. While Canada now has a nascent biofuel industry with more and more plants opening across the country, little thought has been given to the ecological consequences of a shift from petroleum to bioenergy fuels. Instead, the discussion has centred on food-versus-fuel and climate change. While these issues are important, by focusing on them too closely, one risks missing the proverbial forest.

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