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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (9389)	8/8/2009 7:42:36 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24232

Energy underlies all the hot issues KORKY KOROLUK People argue about climate change, about peak oil, biofuels, carbon footprints, about, well, almost everything. But at the core seems to be energy — its generation, transmission and use. The grandest house in the grandest suburb in the country isn’t worth much without energy to heat it or cool it. The grandest car ever made is only a curiosity without the energy needed to operate it. So many of the things we hear or read about have energy as a subtext. It’s energy that’s behind a lot of the fuss about the warming Arctic — easier access to the oil and gas we believe to be buried there, and who might own it. Construction Corner Korky Koroluk We need to conserve what energy we’ve got. That’s what’s behind the various incentive plans for efficient furnaces, solar heating and the like. And that leads me to the first note. We all know Ottawa is a government town. In fact, the federal government occupies—completely or in part — more than 100 buildings, many of them old and not very energy-efficient Public Works provides thermal energy services to these buildings, more than 50 of which are in the downtown core. To do that, it operates seven plants that produce steam, high-temperature water or chilled water. But it doesn’t generate electricity. Some of the buildings are more than 50 years old, and use technology that was current in the 1950s. So the department has published a request for information from private industry on the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to meet the energy needs of government buildings in the National Capital Region. The information is to be submitted by the end of October, and will be used to draft subsequent requests for proposals. There’s going to be a lot of energy-related work coming out of this. Electrical transmission is a large and growing problem, of course, and its future is almost surely going to involve smart energy grids of one sort or another. The United States has, in the last six months, been taking steps to begin development of smart grids. To this end, the government has announced the availability of US$3.9 billion to invest in smart grid technologies and electric transmission infrastructure. Canada will surely have to follow the American lead on this since a continental grid makes far more sense than two or three national grids. More big energy contracts in the offing here. Development of alternative energy projects will need to be accelerated if we are serious about reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and the looming prospect of ever-more expensive oil. But development of wind energy, one of the easiest and most visible choices, is plagued by NIMBYism. The Ontario government has pledged to push wind energy hard, which has, predictably, raised the hackles of just about everyone who doesn’t want to see a windmill outside their living-room window, or listen to a turbine’s hum when they’re trying to sleep. Now, many of the districts in Ontario that face the prospect of wind development have banded together into the Wind Concerns Ontario Coalition. The organization has launched a website that leaves the layman with mixed feelings. Some of the things said in articles on the site seem to make sense. Others don’t. The site also contains links to other sites maintained by coalition members. Contractors thinking of venturing into wind power might want to check out what’s being said on these sites so they have some advance warning of the kinds of arguments and attitudes they’ll face if they take the plunge. Korky Koroluk is an Ottawa-based freelance writer. Send comments to editor@dailycommercialnews.com dcnonl.com