Tyler – Alternative Energies

Tyler
canada
canadian
July 1, 2020
0 Comments

Richmond Hill to covert all street, park and parking lot lights to LED

The light has gone off in Richmond Hill. This GTA town north of Toronto is converting most of its 17,000 street, park and parking lot lights to LED as part of a contract it has just signed with Ameresco, which will supply and install the new lights. But this is more than just about high-efficiency lighting. The town will be getting a “smart lighting control system” that allows staff to remotely monitor and turn off/on the lights. Is it worth it? Hell, ya. LEDs consume up to 60 per cent less power than “high pressure sodium” lamps currently used in most infrastructure. The town is expected to spend around $8 million to convert 15,000 lights and in return will enjoy $1.5 million in energy and maintenance …

Tyler
clean
clean power plan
January 22, 2016
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Canada’s clean electricity exports to triple under U.S. Clean Power Plan

Originally published in the Toronto Star tablet edition, Star Touch. By Tyler Hamilton As Canada’s petroleum sector struggles with the reality that sub-$30 (U.S.) oil could be here for some time, the country’s power sector is prepping for a dramatic increase in U.S. demand for clean electricity. Call it a shift from pipelines to power lines. Action on climate change is the reason — more specifically, U.S. President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which aims to slash carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by a third by 2030. The plan is expected to triple the flow of Canadian electricity into Midwestern and northeastern border states, part of a broader U.S. effort to comply with the international climate obligations that 196 countries agreed to …

Tyler
2015
climate
January 21, 2016
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Something to Remember: Key Climate Milestones in 2015

Began with the warmest winter on record globally. Hottest year on record globally. Toronto had the hottest Christmas Eve on record for a Canadian city, with the thermometer reaching 15.4 degrees C. 2015 was last year we’ll see atmospheric CO2 concentrations below 400 parts per million, above which the global climate starts getting wacky. The average global temperature increase averaged 1 degree C above pre-industrial times for the first time. Tropical cyclone Patricia went off the hurricane category scale with winds of over 320 km per hour. The Arabian peninsula was hit by two consecutive cyclones, unprecedented in the region. After four years of drought California was the driest it has been in 500 years. Jurisdictions such as B.C. and Alberta had their worst-ever wildfire seasons. Record flooding hit…

Tyler
airline
biojet fuel
January 15, 2016
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Air Canada backs project to build biofuels supply chain for airports

An earlier version was originally published in the Toronto Star. Canada’s aviation sector made history in 2012 after a number of test flights showed that renewable jet fuel could be blended with regular fuel without affecting airplane performance. It started in April, when Porter Airlines used a blend of 50 per cent “biojet” fuel on a Bombardier turboprop, which successfully flew from the Toronto island airport to Ottawa. Two months later, Air Canada flight AC991 carried passengers from Toronto to Mexico City using a similar 50/50 mix. It was the first of two commercial test flights Air Canada conducted that year. “We took 43 per cent of the carbon out of that flight,” said Teresa Ehman, the airline’s director of environmental affairs. “It was phenomenal. But it raised the next…

Tyler
biofuels
brazil
January 4, 2016
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After Paris, it’s time for Canada to finally join IRENA

IRENA is the International Renewable Energy Agency, a UN-affiliated organization established in 2009 to promote awareness and growth of renewable energy technologies on the global stage. It’s a kind of counter-balance to existing agencies that have long represented the fossil fuel and nuclear industries. The idea for IRENA goes as far back as 1981, but it took a quarter century to get the political traction it needed. Today, 145 countries have officially joined IRENA and another 30 are in the process of becoming members. That would bring the total to 175. By comparison, the 42-year-old International Energy Agency has only 29 members, while the 59-year-old International Atomic Energy Agency has 167 members. Canada is a founding member of the IEA and IAEA, yet Canada is the only G8 countries …

Tyler
agency
climate
December 28, 2015
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Low crude prices aren’t the only reason big oil should worry

This story was originally published in the Toronto Star. By Tyler Hamilton When solar entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett bumped into Suncor Energy boss Steve Williams at the World Economic Forum in 2014, odds were high that tempers would flare. The two men were among about 40 dinner guests – a mix of CEOs, pension fund managers, economists and government leaders. They had gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to talk about “short-termism” in the financial and corporate worlds and how it undermines efforts to tackle climate change. At one point during the dinner, Leggett recalls in his book The Winning of the Carbon War, Williams mentioned the difficulty he had in pushing through a 50-year investment plan for the oil sands. Leggett, who is also non-executive chairman of London-based…

Tyler
2013-it-wasn
canada
December 27, 2015
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Solar is booming in Ontario, but you’d never know it from the data

Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator released its annual “Electricity Data” report on Tuesday, and it breaks down the supply mix in 2015, 2014 and 2013. On the surface there hasn’t been a big shift over the past three years. We see that nuclear and hydro output has been fairly consistent. Natural gas generation was up slightly in 2015 compared to 2014, but was still lower than 2013 levels. Coal has been completely phased out, but at only 2 per cent of the mix in 2013 it wasn’t a dramatic change. Wind as a share of the electricity mix has doubled to 6 per cent since 2013. Electricity from biofuels more than doubled, but still represents less than 1 per cent of the mix. Then there’s solar. Looking at 2013 data, you might be confused …