Imagine going through school and receiving no marks on your tests, essays or final exams. At the end of the year you received a single mark — not even broken out by subject. How much value would that mark have? Would you be able to improve?
In electricity planning, everything is geared to peak demand. About 15% of the total generation capacity in Ontario is required because of peak demand for 50 out of the 8,760 hours a year. In other words: Billions of dollars of capital cost are spent in developing the capacity to prepare for and supply demand which occurs only 0.57% of the time.
As of Sept. 1, 2009, 100-watt incandescent light bulbs can no longer be manufactured in or imported into Europe.
European households will save up to $80 a year on electricity bills, leading to EU-wide savings of up to $7.9-billion to $15.8-billion, according to European Union estimates.
Read more in my column at the National Post : http://bit.ly/4Nh9yY
My column of August 28th in The National Post is all about steps corporations can take to reduce their electricity costs through virtualizing their server systems.
Read the whole story here: http://bit.ly/6CvSvV
By: Jordana Levine
The first of its kind in North America, the Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) is heating its homes with solar energy and reducing five tonnes of greenhouse gases per year in every house. The community, located in Okotoks, Alberta, has 52 homes heated by seasonal thermal energy storage; the solar heat is stored underground in the summer and used in the homes during the winter.
The project, which was first created by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), began collecting solar energy in June of 2007 and, after five years, the community is expected to receive 90 percent of its heat from solar alone. The need for non-renewable fossil fuels will diminish and shift to a cleaner and more sustainable unlimited source of energy: the sun.
The DLSC project leader, Doug MeClenahan, says that there are almost no other projects like this one anywhere in the world. “You could probably count them on two hands.”
The community’s space and water heating comes from solar energy, which is collected by 800 panels arranged on garage roofs around the community. Each panel generates about 1.5 MW of thermal power on a summer’s day. There is a combination of seasonal and short-term thermal storage (STTS), with boreholes in the ground to store the seasonal energy.
When heat is transferred to the homes, there is an automatic valve in the basement of every house that shuts off the heat transfer when the temperature of the thermostat in the home is reached. If the STTS doesn’t have enough heat to distribute to all the homes, there is a back-up gas boiler Energy Centre that will turn on to help out.
Energy in a community the size of the DLSC costs 14 to 17 cents per kWh. “Fifty-two homes was a reasonable size, but it was still considered to small… to be cost effective today,” says McClenahan. He explains that the next step is an analysis of a larger-scale project using a computer simulation. The analysis should be completed within a year.
“If you go to larger scale, you have much less surface area for heat loss… so the efficiency can go up considerably,” McClenahan explains. “The bigger the project, the less cost it is per unit volume or per unit area.” Drake Landing isn’t that effective now because it’s losing heat on the surface area of the land.
Still, McClenahan says, I know [the technology]’s promising enough that we should pursue it until we are able to do the analysis.” However, beyond that, he says it’s incredibly difficult to tell exactly what the costs and savings could be in a larger community. “Until we do the analysis, I’d hate to guess.”
The community does more for the environment than just conserve energy, though. Homes are designed with low-impact landscaping and use locally manufactured materials. The materials used include upgraded insulation, certified sustainable lumber, drywall made from recycled materials, and well-insulated windows, among other environmentally friendly products.
Also, the homes are all required to follow The Town of Okotoks’ water stewardship measures: low flush toilets, ultra low flow showerheads and faucets, and insulated water lines. Larger homes require a recirculation pump and every home is supplied with a low water consumption dishwasher and clothes washer. A rain barrel supplies water for gardening.
By the end of the community’s second year, McClenahan says it’s already receiving 67 percent of its space heating from the sun. “We’re hoping that this will continue to increase” to over 90 percent.
“I would like to see, in the next 2 to 3 years, a [larger] follow-up project,” says McClenahan, hopefully with bigger cities in Canada like Toronto and Montreal. “We don’t want to end up with just one demonstration and that’s it.”
By: Jordana Levine
After much debate and analysis, Intel is preparing to open its first green-registered building.[1] The research and development building in Haifa, Israel will cost $600,000 of green investments, which will be paid off in just three years.[2]
The building will follow the Leadership in Energy and Environmental (LEED) rating system, which is a voluntary, consensus-based standard to develop sustainable and efficient buildings.[3] The Intel building is receiving the LEED certification for a variety of technologies that the building is being outfitted with; it will have an environmentally friendly construction process with green materials, natural lighting via an internal patio that distributes light from an atrium, efficient electricity and air conditioning and an irrigation system that uses recycled water only.[4] It is set to open in early in 2010.[5]
Intel hopes that the building in Haifa will lead to more LEED certified office buildings and, ultimately, to Intel’s first LEED certified Fab. A Fab is a semiconductor fabrication plant, meaning it is a factory that fabricates designs for other companies to use as well.[6]
Although Intel has reduced its overall needs for freshwater in the long run, the corporation’s water consumption actually rose by four percent between 2007 and 2008. Intel says this increase is probably because of production growth and the complexity of its new manufacturing processes, which require more water.[7] Although some countries can withstand this strain on their freshwater supply, it could be detrimental to Israel’s fragile water supply, which has to be monitored carefully as it is.
Overall, Intel cut its greenhouse gas emission by 27 percent in 2008, and the company’s Corporate Responsibility Report aims to decrease its carbon footprint by 20 percent from 2007 until 2012. Intel is a strong supporter of green power, having bought over 1 billion kWh of green power each year to fulfill 47 percent of the company’s electricity needs; Intel also built the first solar installations.[8]
In 2009, Intel will invest more than $5 million on over 30 projects to save a minimum of 30 million kWh of electricity each year. The corporation has already targeted energy efficiency and conservation since 2001, saving Intel more than $50 million and 500 million kWh.[9]
1 Kloosterman, Karin. “Intel Makes a Green Debut in Haifa, Israel.” TreeHugger. 8 Dec 2006. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/intel_makes_a_g.php
2 Solomon, Stephen. “Intel Saves Air and Money.” Scientific American – Earth 3.0: 18.5, 2008.
3 Kloosterman, Karin. “Intel Makes a Green Debut.”
4 “Intel’s First Green Building.” http://www.intel.com/cd/corporate/europe/emea/eng/339775.htm
5 “Intel Cuts Emissions by 27% in 2008.” Environmental Leader. 21 May 2009. http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/05/21/intel-cuts-emissions-by-27-in-2008/
6 “Intel’s First Green Building.”
7 “Intel Cuts Emissions.”
8 “Intel Cuts Emissions.”
9 Ibid.
By: Jordana Levine
Google is creating yet another application personalized to its users. The Google PowerMeter will soon allow customers to see detailed description of their homes’ energy consumption.
Although many homes have ‘smart meters,’ which allow people to access information about their electricity, they don’t yet have an easy way to look at the details of their energy usage. The PowerMeter works by sending the information from the smart meter to the internet, where it is read and analyzed. The PowerMeter will show customers the elements of their energy usage through a Google gadget… for free!
Google found that for every six households that save 10 percent on electricity, it is the equivalent of reducing carbon emissions by one regular car. Studies show if you get to look at your personal energy information, it is likely that you’ll end up saving 5-15% on monthly power bills – and people who actually take the time to replace old energy-draining appliances can save much more. So using the PowerMeter could help lower emissions immensely.
The product isn’t widely available yet, but it’s being tested on a handful of Google’s employees and utility partners. Toronto Hydro is participating in the test run, along with eight other partners from the US and India. The PowerMeter is expected to go public later in 2009.
To find out more, go to the Google PowerMeter website.
By: Jordana Levine
Energy efficiency, renewable energy and co-generation alternatives provide cheaper, more secure, and less wasteful forms of electricity generation than nuclear, concludes a new report, Powerful Options: A review of Ontario’s options for replacing aging nuclear plants. Increased funding for electric utilities’ energy efficiency programs, establishing fees for natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) and making long-term electricity supply agreements with Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador would all provide the power Ontario needs in the future as aging nuclear plants are phased out. The research report by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) was released in May 2009.
By 2021, 47 percent of Ontario’s nuclear power will be gone because the generators will be past their service life. That means 60.4 billion kWh of nuclear power will need to be replaced. The Government of Ontario plans to sign a contract to build two nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station east of Oshawa. The report points out that conservation and efficiency would cost only 2.7 cents per kWh and, if the power authority was to aggressively promote efficiency — demand for electricity will fall by 28.6 billion kWh between 2008 and 2021.
The OCAA doesn’t support replacing old nuclear reactors with new ones, and recommends that, instead, the provincial government require the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) to get serious about energy efficiency (EE), renewable energy (RE) and co-generation.
The construction of new nuclear generators costs more than any of the five other options that the OCAA gives for how to maintain Ontario’s power supply when the old generators die. It costs at least 15.1 cents US per kWh (or 18 cents Canadian as of May 2009). It also has a history of higher-than-projected costs, quickly aging equipment and unexpected errors. Overall, nuclear power is suggested to be the least reliable option.
The replacement options that the OCAA gives are:
• Conservation and efficiency to reduce need for electricity
• Wind power
• Natural gas-fired CHP (combined heat and power)
• Renewable electricity imports from Quebec
• Hydro-electricity imports from Labrador
In terms of wind power, Ontario’s onshore potential alone is 11 times as much as Ontario’s electricity consumption each year, meaning it could easily cover all of the lost nuclear power. Also, even though the power is intermittent, Ontario and Quebec could join forces and share excess generation at times when winds are mild in some areas. At the 2010 rates, Quebec could replace 40 percent of the lost power from nuclear at only 9 cents per kWh. Labrador could also contribute 28 percent of Ontario’s lost power in 2021 for the same price.
Natural gas-fired CHP, although it can emit more greenhouse gases than nuclear power plants, has an efficiency of 80 to 90 percent versus a nuclear reactor’s efficiency of 33 percent because it uses the same molecules of gas to produce heat and electricity at the same time. Natural gas-fired CHP could supply 100% of the lost power from nuclear for a mere six cents per kWh.
Ontario will have phased out almost all coal by January 2010, accomplishing the largest greenhouse gas reduction initiative in North America. The phase-out is the equivalent of taking nearly seven million cars off the road. The next step is figuring out how to replace nuclear power to make the air even cleaner.
By: Jordana Levine.
If renewable energy production in the US was increased 20% by 2020, 185,000 new jobs would be created in renewable energy development. Consumers would also save $10.5 billion on electricity and gas bills and farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners would have $25.6 billion added to their total income.
The Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory in Berkeley discovered that renewable energy not only creates more jobs per megawatt of power installed, but also more jobs per unit of energy produced and per dollar invested compared to the fossil fuel energy sector.
In the European Union, net employment growth in the EU is projected to increase to 950,000 with current policies, and up to 1,666,000 jobs by 2010 under the Advanced Renewable Strategy (ARS) that has been implemented. Renewable energy would also make up 22.1% of the EU’s total energy by 2010
The Environmental Energy Study Institute has a fact sheet discussing jobs from renewable energy and energy efficiency both within the US and around the world. It lists the improvements in energy resources, including the increase in wind, geothermal, solar and tidal energy and well as biofuels and clean-coal plants. The fact sheet shows the immense number of jobs that these industries add to the economy.
The full fact sheet can be downloaded at the EESI website
By: Jordana Levine
Up to 10 percent of household electricity is wasted in homes around the world. Even when electrical appliances and equipment are not being used, they still draw away power, causing electricity bills to swell and contributing to one percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.[1]
Standby power, also called vampire power, phantom power, or leaking electricity, is the power that is used by anything electronic when it is not switched on. Although it may seem that an appliance is idle, it usually uses electricity to be prepared for a remote control, show the time on a digital clock or standby light, or, much of the time, do nothing at all. When something is plugged into the wall, it sucks away power, acting as an “electricity vampire.”
Although many products have some sort of indicator to show that they are an electricity vampire, such as a display, remote control, or rechargeable batteries, some are secret suckers. The only way to tell with those ones is to use a meter to measure the energy they use.
A DVD player can use over 10.5 watts of energy when it is turned off, a garage door opener uses an average of 4.48 watts when it is idle and ready, and a rear-projection television uses nearly 7 watts on average when it is turned off, but it can use up to 48.5 watts, depending on the model.[2]
Each watt used costs an average of $1 US per year for any one of the 28 countries that is a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Although this may not seem like a lot, when you take into account the numerous appliances, usually 40 or more, scattered around a household, the cost can be astronomical.[3]
Vampire power can be decreased with common sense, or by using advanced technology. One way is to simply unplug appliances or use a power strip to switch them
off when you aren’t using them. Unplugging battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged can also be helpful.[4]
Companies have also created a variety of products to stop the vampire load. The Smart Strip is one example; it’s a power strip that has different outlets to plug your electronics into – some shut down when the appliance is switched off and some stay on all the time, so you can keep the things on that need to be on all the time and let others turn off when they’re not being used.
Watt Stopper is a company with a full line of products including some similar to the Smart Strip, and some that use motion detectors, light detectors, controlled outlets, and other tools. There are products for home and business.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California believes that, although most savings will be very low individually, it is possible to decrease standby power by 75 percent overall.[5] With new technologies spewing out all over the place, the reduction process should be a lot easier.
1 Energy Analysis Department. “Standby Power: Frequently Asked Questions.” 2009. http://standby.lbl.gov/faq.html
2 International Energy Agency. “Reducing Standby Power Waste to Less than 1 Watt: A Relevant Global Strategy that Delivers.” 2002. www.iea.org/textbase/papers/2002/globe02.pdf
3 Ibid.
4 U.S. Department of Energy. “Energy Savers Tips: Home Office and Home Electronics.” 22 Jan 2009. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/home_office.html
5 Energy Analysis Dept. “Standby Power.”
