Ontario Green Energy Act

Some cool renewable power ontario images:

A modern day windmill in Ontario

We had been driving by and noticed the new energy savings program they’ve put in place, great job Canada, now if we all jumped on the turbine band wagon, what a great planet this could be. I actually did not believe this photo would get so significantly attention, but it is the sign of the times. Power is a crisis and speaking of power today’s gas price here in Vancouver is .22/litre (lowest grade) as of Apr/08, how considerably is it over there?

The most modern generations of windmills are more properly called wind turbines, or wind generators, and are primarily used to generate electricity. Contemporary windmills are created to convert the energy of the wind into electricity. The largest wind turbines can generate up to 6MW of power (for comparison a contemporary fossil fuel power plant generates among 500 and 1,300MW).

With increasing environmental concern, and approaching limits to fossil fuel consumption, wind power has regained interest as a renewable energy source. It is increasingly becoming far more helpful and sufficient in offering power for many locations of the planet.

One region in which it is becoming rather common is about the midwest of the United States where, due to excellent amounts of wind, turbines have grow to be quite valuable.

Clothesline: environmentally friendly clothes dryer

Image by Peter Blanchard
Everywhere in Ontario it is now legal to hang out your laundry! Awesome! Personally, I discover climate change, energy expenses and the several other effects of wasting resources considerably more shocking than the sight of somebody’s undies! Related news and links: Ontario Clothesline Bans Banned (since April 2008).

It’s a lengthy read, but it’s worth it…

Ontarios Electricity Subsidy Undercuts Conservation

Ontario’s Electricity Subsidy Undercuts Conservation

Toronto, June 14, 2011 – Ontario’s Environmental
Commissioner says the Ontario Clean Power
Benefit (OCEB) is a perverse incentive that could
endanger the energy conservation savings the government is hoping to achieve.

In his Annual Energy Conservation Progress Report
- 2010 (Volume One): Managing a Complex Power
System, released right now, Gord Miller says “The 10
per cent rebate on electricity bills is an
artificial subsidy on the price of electricity so
it encourages buyers to use far more.” A study by
energy analysts estimated that the OCEB could
wipe out a third of the planned conservation savings over the subsequent 4 years.

Miller praises the government for introducing
time-of-use pricing that encourages households
and companies to shift their consumption away
from periods of high demand, but noted that cost
subsidies undercut this development. Costs will
necessarily rise since of a backlog of
transmission investments and new generation
projects. “Unfortunately, the government hasn’t
addressed the problem of rising prices in a way
that prioritizes conservation,”says Miller.
“Instead it has continued the failed policy
approach of the past where the government’s only
answer to greater electricity rates is to
artificially lower electricity prices.”

If the government feels the require to aid
customers with the greater energy costs it could
make the benefit a fixed amount, rather of tying
it to consumption levels. “That way,” says
Miller, “the Clean Power Benefit would be less
of a disincentive to electricity conservation.”

Miller is also concerned about delays in rolling
out Ontario’s critical Conservation and Demand
Management (CDM) programs. Among now and 2014,
electric utilities, supported by the Ontario
Power Authority, are supposed to minimize overall
electricity use, as nicely as peak demand.
“Province-wide conservation programs had been all
supposed to begin in January 2011, says the
Commissioner, but the delays mean we will miss opportunities this year.

The Environmental Commissioner is also
questioning a recent choice by the Ontario
Energy Board to freeze conservation budgets for
Union Gas and Enbridge Gas Distribution,
especially at a time when the government has
cancelled its own conservation programs for gas
shoppers. “The Board has too narrow a view about
the advantages that will come with increased
conservation. It is ignoring the avoided
infrastructure costs and decreased greenhouse gas
emissions that will come with reductions in consumption of natural gas.”

To watch the Commissioner’s pre-recorded comments, please pay a visit to:
www.youtube.com/user/EcoComms

For more information, get in touch with:
Maria Leung
Communications and Outreach Coordinator
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
416-325-3371 / 416-819-1673
1-800-701-6454
Maria.leung@eco.on.ca

For French language release and bilingual support, please get in touch with:
Jean-Marc Filion, 705-492-6997

The report is accessible for download at www.eco.on.ca

Renewable Energy is energy derived from resources that are regenerative or for all practical purposes can not be depleted. Sources such the sun and the wind, can in no way be exhausted and consequently referred to as renewable. They trigger fewer emissions and are offered locally. Their use can, to a huge extent, decrease chemical, radioactive and thermal pollution. They are a viable source of clean and limitless power. These are the non-conventional sources of energy. Most of the renewable sources of power are fairly non-polluting and considered clean except for biomass, a renewable source, is a main polluter indoors.

Sources of renewable energy or non-conventional energy are the sun, wind, agricultural residue, firewood and animal dung. Power generated from the sun is recognized as solar power. Power derived from water is referred to as hydroelectricity. Biomass is firewood, animal dung, biodegradable waste from cities and crop residue.

It becomes a source of energy when it is burnt. Geothermal power is power derived from hot, dry rocks, magma, hot water springs and natural geysers. Ocean thermal is energy derived from waves and tidal waves.

Solar Electricity

When it comes to renewable energy, the most effective and helpful is the sun. The sun is obtainable from sunrise to sunset and produces an unimaginable quantity of energy every single and everyday. What solar collectors do is to harness the power from the sun in the form of radiation to be usable forms of energy such as heat and electricity, Solar cells in particular converts the sun’s energy into electricity. With technology getting so advanced, solar cells are taken to a new level. There are recreational vehicles, cell phones and cars.

Solar Heat

Solar heating systems rely on a source of bright light, a surface or liquid that can absorb light and a storage device for the resulting heat generated.

A greenhouse is a excellent example of this impact. Solar heat is by far the cheapest and most practical form of renewable power in the world. Some practical utilizes are water heaters, ovens, cookers and residence heating.

Wind Energy

From times long, long ago, sailing ships depended on the energy of the wind to get across oceans. Likewise wind energy was also used to work windmills for pumping water. Right now, wind power is becoming employed as a clean source of electricity around the planet. Wind farms, as they are often known as can provide sufficient electricity for thousands of homes at a time. The power of wind is utilised to turn turbines, which in turn is connected to an electrical generator and the gearbox inside the generator converts the energy of the spinning turbine into electricity.

Water Power

Hundreds of years ago, waterwheels had been utilised to present power for grain mills and lumber cutting. Hydroelectricity, as it is called these days, produces over 60% of the electricity in Canada and 60% in the United States.