Electrified transportation

Solar Soirée in Ottawa: a nuclear-powered anti-nuclear exhortation to use more fossil fuel

April 30, 2013
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Solar Soirée in Ottawa: a nuclear-powered anti-nuclear exhortation to use more fossil fuel

A soirée is an evening event, meaning that most soirées held in non-polar latitudes take place at a time when solar photovoltaic devices are not experiencing very many photon interactions and hence are generating very little if any electricity. So if you are throwing a soirée and need electricity, it’s wise to make sure the…

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Why are Ontario electricity carbon emissions so low? Introducing the CIPK: the most important number in clean electricity

April 2, 2013
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Why are Ontario electricity carbon emissions so low? Introducing the CIPK: the most important number in clean electricity

What is the most important number in clean electricity? It is the carbon intensity per kilowatt-hour (CIPK): the total amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, in metric tons, emitted by the emitting generators feeding the grid, divided by the total amount of electricity generated, in kilowatt-hours. As you can see in Table 1 on the…

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Darlington nuclear refurbishment: the hard crossing of the big water

March 25, 2013
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Darlington nuclear refurbishment: the hard crossing of the big water

France’s mass transportation system, based on electric-powered urban and national rail—the Paris metro and the Train Grande Vitesse (TGV) being the most spectacular examples—is the model the whole world should emulate. If you’ve never had the pleasure to ride the TGV, it is an amazing experience. The line running from Lyon to Avignon is next…

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Uranium in Toronto: the cleanest fuel runs the cleanest city

November 13, 2012
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Uranium in Toronto: the cleanest fuel runs the cleanest city

Toronto runs mostly on uranium and plutonium. Those two nuclear fuels provide the energy that runs Canadian nuclear reactors, which are what make most of the electricity that produces the city’s spectacular nighttime skyline, and makes its elevators, subways, and hospitals work. Uranium and plutonium are extremely clean and efficient generator fuels. They are made…

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Cities and power: revisiting Adam Smith’s division of labour

November 8, 2012
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Cities and power: revisiting Adam Smith’s division of labour

The video below is from the GOES-13 weather satellite. It shows Hurricane Sandy’s progress in the days before the storm collided with the U.S. east coast. It’s like a slow-motion nightmare. At around 1:50 in the video, you can see the northwest edge of the storm start to sweep across Lake Ontario. That was Sunday,…

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Item 1: if Ontario did not have its nuclear generating fleet, last hour’s CO2 emissions would have been AT LEAST:

6,093 metric tons, and the CIPK would have been 395.1 grams

Item 2: Since prorogation of the Ontario legislature on October 15, 2012, provincial gas-fired generating plants have dumped this much CO2 into our air:

6,348,767 metric tons. This is a running total. Every hour, the total increases by the amount of Gas CO2 given in Table 1.

VOTE in today’s poll

Is wood-fired power generation carbon-neutral?

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