Guelph Hydro Clears a Path to Sustainability!

Not only did Guelph Ontario, top MSN Money’s Next Most Livable Cities list this year, it’s also paving the way for sustainable cities to properly secure their energy futures as well. In a time when so many organizations are blowing alot of hot air about their sustainability practices, Guelph Hydro is actually taking a clear, visible and (most importantly) measurable public stance on how it expects to achieve such goals. By releasing its 2010 Sustainability Report, Guelph Hydro Inc. not only becomes one of the first electrical utilities in Ontario to publish a such a report, but also becomes one of only a few utilities in the entire world to actually measure its performance according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This thrusts Guelph Hydro into a valued leadership position as Ontario’s municipalities map out their own paths towards sustainable futures.

So what’s in this for you?

Since this particular report outlines Guelph Hydro’s efforts to balance its environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic success to benefit ALL stakeholders, there are all sorts of opportunities here to discover unique challenges, beneficial lessons, and innovative solutions for other businesses and municipalities. This report can also foster greater public understanding and stimulate future considerations of the enormous impact that can be made at the community and municipal level in terms of assuring sustainable energy practices.

So feel free to post your concerns and questions below, and share your resulting thoughts, because the people behind this report are eager to see where all this can go!

READ MORE:  For story-ideas and full SocialMedia Resources

AECL: Don’t Sell It Short!

 In his last State Of The Union address, Barack Obama repeatedly emphasized the critical need for America to do what it does best and inspire the world with bold ideas and innovations. Not only to invigorate existing industries and the domestic economy, but also to lead the rest of the world into new phases of growth and prosperity. Meanwhile here in Canada, we’ve long claimed to no longer be just a source of primary resources, but rather a knowledge and technology based economy that can claim leadership in such progressive fields as communications, aerospace, and biotech. Yet these claims of leadership need to be supported in order to remain true. Take for example the leadership demonstrated by Canada in supplying medical isotopes to the world, and providing the planet’s safest nuclear powerplants with the world famous CANDU reactors. This isn’t just some historical reference though or a legacy technology, but rather one that is poised to lead an entire industry into the future as well…If it can first survive the short-sighted dangers of politics.

BioMass: Waste Not – Want Not

Ontario is well ontrack to be one of the first industrialized jurisdictions in the world to eliminate coal-fired electrical generation. The original plan was for Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to transition to a lower carbon future by phasing out the use of coal at its four remaining coal-fuelled stations by the end of 2014, but things are proceeding ahead of schedule already! This possibility is due to wide a variety of contributing factors, with one of the most compelling ones being a clear option to convert these plants to burning BioWaste – if indeed the cost of natural gas proves to be too volatile or costly by comparison.

Of course, there’s a whole range of other considerations to factor into this decision, and alot of due-diligence still to be performed. But the considerable economic and ecological benefits to converting bio mass and waste into usable fuel has everyone at OPG considering the very real possibilities of a BioWaste fueled future.

Niagara Tunnel Project: Power at All Costs

The ‘politics of power’ is an age-old conundrum where controlling people and capital often becomes more important than actually managing that power to produce the original and intended results. Take ‘public works projects’ as a fine example of how more energy can go into bickering, back-room deals, and bloated bureaucracy than into just getting the job done. The ambitious Niagara Tunnel Project here in Ontario isn’t just a remarkable feat of engineering, it’s also a fine example of how politicians and bureaucrats are  able to kick a ball around for as long as they want, because they know that the public purse will get stuck with the bill for any overtime costs.

All of which begs the question; how can the public truly demand more accountability from it’s public servants and politicians, or has this type of wrangling simply become an accepted feature in our over-financed plans to try and build a sustainable future?

If we consider just how much energy gets wasted in process and procedures, and how much capital gets siphoned off into padded margins and under-scrutinized overruns, we can start to see scenarios where short-term benefits can actually hurt long-term outcomes. The answer to our public accountability question could be a defining force in whether that future actually gets built or not.

Saving the World…One Spoof at a Time!

This was a good one…The merry pranksters behind the CoalCares.org  site not only had the moxy to add a ™ symbol to their site name, they even had the bravado to use the (genuinely) registered trademark of Peabody Energy as well. Not only were they content to spoof the coal industry’s attempts at better Community Relations, they even linked directly back to Peabody Energy for maximum effect and traceability!

In its shameless contempt for the world’s largest private-sector coal company, this spoof site represents itself as a branding initiative intended to reach out to American youngsters with asthma and to help them “keep their heads high in the face of those who would treat them with less than full dignity”. For kids who have no choice but to use an inhaler, Coal Cares™ lets them inhale with pride!

The Empire Strikes Back?

In a rare demonstration of a nearly non-Leftists bias, the Toronto Star printed an article that shows that it’s still capable of presenting slightly balanced views of contentious issues. In this case, it offered some visibility for a realistic presentation from the Organization of CANDU Industries (OCI) which offered clear insights into the effects of replacing two proposed nuclear reactors with the equivalent in renewable sources. In particular, the OCI demonstrates the physical scale of both the solar and wind turbine installations that would be required to match the energy production available from a nuclear site measuring 1.6 square-kilometers. In the end, the Star’s article simply took this issue as another opportunity to discredit nuclear energy, by (indirectly) claiming that the facts aren’t complete.

So in an attempt to right the scales abit, we’ll off our own slant on the subject as well…

Conservation: A Promissory Note?

So…After having to endure so much more global ennui this past month, EnviroNauts are going to try and take a more local approach to plotting-out sustainable Futures for ourselves…

Earth Hour 2011

March 26th saw Earth Hour come and go here in Toronto, and astoundingly for a city so bent on demonstrating its political correctness,  the initial visibility enjoyed by this annual event is showing signs of flickering right out.

What started as an easy way to for armchair environmentalists and idealists of all types to make a token, yet satisfyingly visible gesture about kicking their energy habits (even just for an hour) has now seemingly fallen right off the radar for most people…at least for this year anyhow. See pics below;

The End is Nigh…

Recent pronouncements by such self-imagined luminaries as George Lucas have certainly stolen abit of Mayan thunder from the ancient Gods with their psuedo-prophetic pronouncements that the Winter Solstice of 2012 would be the last one that we’d ever get to enjoy…Before the world (as we know it) begins it’s inexorable slide back non-human nothingness. Yet despite the scoffs and jeers of many jaded media consumers, who easily brush off such well-promoted mania as just so much movie-making pre-publicity, it’s alot harder to ignore the reality of things when notable scholars and men of social convictions such as Noam Chomsky start to mark out the signs of an early exit from this great big theater that we all know and love as our Modern Human Condition.

Unfortunately Chomsky doesn’t have anywhere near the same reach that Lucas does – at least not where it comes to promoting himself via the publicity machines that propel so much of the entertainment world to greater heights and lows. So everyone is left to collectively  seek out such wisdom independently, and share the results from a more grassroots level for observing and reacting to any sudden sea-changes.

So…Who’s to Blame for Higher Energy Costs

Someday people will look back and wonder what could have possibly been the causes for such unprecedented increases in electrical costs on the average Ontarian – all without there being any truly impressive expansions in infrastructure or generating capacity to show for it all. The groundswell of grumblings from ratepayers has already become loud and clear as people are starting to demand reasons for our seemingly hyper-inflationary energy market. At the very least, are expecting some clarified views of any long-term benefits that might come from this short term pain. Otherwise, this information vacuum could really start to seriously damage our social structure and erode our trust in elected officials to not simply hoodwink an entire energy market with shallow short-term promises, and gouging new long-term rates.

Astoundingly, the Government continues falling well short of the mark in their communications efforts, seemingly without any thought for the political consequences.

Unfortunately this superficial approach leaves the electorate to slowly succumb to all sorts of nagging doubts. The most obvious one being that these mounting energy costs could have somehow been better managed by indentured public servants who remain immune to the negative and corrective effects of a truly free-market system. Or that bloated bureaucratic and political posturing has likely also created added costs that have simply been passed down onto the backs of ratepayers.

You can share your own thoughts, and add some new answers in in a quick survey below…Or just consider what others have been thinking and saying to date.

Renewable Energy: A Political Power Play?

Like most other industrialized societies Ontarian’s have been getting indoctrinated with the lofty ideals of renewable energy for quite a few years now, and thus are quite well prepared for both the daunting costs and perceived benefits of developing greener sources of energy.  So even as our hydro bills begin their ascent skyward, as a result of the current provincial energy plan, most Ontarians are still waiting to see the visible evidence of any full-scale deployments of solar and wind energy projects that we’ve been assured are the most beneficial forms of renewable energy. As a result, even the most apathetic energy consumer is starting to suspect that there might be a disconnect between the ‘Renewable’ rhetoric, and the reality of our current plans for energy production, distribution and consumption.

Four years ago, the ruling Liberal government gained the favor of both Environmentalists and Industrialists by promising wind and solar solutions that would not only pave the way to a cleaner Future, but also drive the local manufacturing economy to new heights. Unstated in these goals is a very real possibility that what might also be powered by these announcements were the political favor and fortunes of those who might stand to benefit most…