Anybody who thinks wind and other intermittent renewable energy sources are the answer to Ontario’s power supply problems needs to monitor the electricity system operator’s website. Here we are, in a major heat wave, and the provincial wind fleet is operating at a ONE PERCENT CAPACITY FACTOR. That’s right: wind, the mainstream greens’ preferred power source, is […]

At four p.m. on Tuesday, with temperatures pushing toward 30 degrees, Ontario electricity generators were collectively cranking out 20, 514 megawatts. To that, the province’s wind farms were contributing a laughable 0.3 percent. That works out to around 5 percent of their capability at that time (see the IESO’s output tables). Nice to know they’re there when […]

Readers should note that I have reversed my position on whether nuclear energy projects should be eligible under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM was established by the United Nations under the Kyoto Treaty, and allows greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction projects in developing countries to earn emission reduction credits that industrialized countries can buy […]

The Obama administration last week quietly acquired a potential climate policy super-tool. The EPA announced its “endangerment finding” that a certain mix of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from new motor vehicles “threatens public health and welfare.” This gives the executive branch the ability to regulate GHGs directly, without waiting for congress to develop legislation. Suddenly, the […]

The Canadian hydrogen-highway industry is at a crossroads. Compared with the rest in the world Canada is a fading champion in the hydrogen arena. Though the famous Ballard Power started here in Canada, the public funding that kept the venture alive and in the headlines has all but dried up. But there’s still hope for a […]

Rumours of the decline in electricity demand have been greatly exaggerated. Today, August 10, 2009, Ontario electricity demand will hit its highest level of the year. That’s because it’s a weekday, and temperatures are expected to hit 28 degrees in the Greater Toronto Area, where most Ontarians live. Every air conditioner in the GTA will […]

Yesterday’s ferocious winds translated into unusually high capacity factors for grid-connected wind generators in Ontario. Wind’s peak hour was between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., when it produced 781 megawatts—a capacity factor of 88 percent. Theoretically, the fuel cost of producing those 781 MW was zero: wind is free. But in practice, wind is unreliable. […]

What’s the best way to clear the air in Toronto? Take some of the thousands of cars off the highways that lead into and out of the city. Motor vehicles, as I demonstrated last year, are by far the biggest source of Toronto smog and greenhouse gases

It could be down to the wire in the ongoing battle between Ontario and the federal government over emission reduction credits. Specifically, wires—yet to be built—capable of wheeling 2,200 megawatts of nuclear and wind power from the Bruce peninsula to the southern Ontario market

In their zeal to out-Kyoto the Harper Conservative government, the premiers of Ontario and Quebec on Monday trotted out an emission cap-and-trade scheme they claim will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Not surprisingly for a political announcement on environment policy, it is long on politically correct platitudes and short on the critical specifics. Not to […]