Kathleen Wynne & Climate Change

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Fri May 20, 2016 11:11 am

So our exalted Liberal Premier (my theory stands: we have an elected dictatorship) has made a program to tackle climate change. I did a quick review of news reports: my conclusion; some ideas i say "well its about time" and others "wtf?"

New buildings (residential or commercial) should meet the "passiv house" standards for energy efficiency: even Mike Holmes has many housing projects that do this and some on Native reserves http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/stop ... -1.1083657
http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/ ... -code.aspx
Retrofitting existing buildings with insulation and passive solar: excellent idea.
Making everyone use electricity or geothermal? Wtf? The grid crashes as it is (ice storm anyone) the last thing we need is more electricity consumption. Besides, the grid is the most likely source of attack of a cyber war or terrorist action (the USA did this to Iran) and even former CIA directors are crapping their pants about this
http://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/20 ... b2172788e2

Cut out gas heating and push geothermal and electric? Wtf? Geothermal is great in theory but in practice can be a big hydro consumer. Just like the "heat pumps" sales guys pushed 20 years ago.

Solar can be good for heat http://www.cansolair.com but only as a secondary source. The sun doesn't shine at night.

More ethanol fuels? The alcohol from where? Cutting down tropical forest to plant palms for oil for fuel? http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... l-palm-oil

Or we could turn cattle manure (and human waste) to make gas and electricity. http://m.phys.org/news/2015-08-cow-poo- ... -farm.html

And they want to do it all in 4 years? In theory this program could be great: in practice it'll be a fiasco like ehealth or orange helicopters; or is Ms Wynne setting herself up for a job at hydro?

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Fri May 20, 2016 11:32 am

LOL Baron it's just smoke an mirrors hiding yet another new, novel way for the fascists government to extract even more after-tax dollars from your pocket.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Fri May 20, 2016 11:37 am

Ugh don't even get me started on eHealth! Just discovered that my medical records are incorrect. DA nurse just says "are you sure? this is what it says here" like I'm an idiot!
Rant over.

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Fri May 20, 2016 11:44 am

Sweden has shown us the way, and they are 26 years down the road: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... nemissions

https://sweden.se/nature/sweden-tackles-climate-change/

Since 1990 economic growth up 44% and emissions DOWN 7%.

Other low hanging fruit: every fuel (gas, natural gas) when burned can produce mechanical energy (moving your car down the road, or running an electrical generator) AND heat. So we drive a car and heat is wasted (out the radiator). We heat our house by burning gas and the mechanical energy is not harvested. VW did a test project installing engines in houses to produce heat & hydro (also called cogeneration)
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... nt-germany

"Like much larger CHP systems, Lichtblick’s engines burn natural gas to create electricity. The waste heat from the engines is captured and used to warm water. By capturing excess heat – rather than simply releasing it through smokestacks into the environment, as do nuclear, coal, or natural gas plants – the system achieves 90% efficiency (as opposed to about 30-40% efficiency for large-scale power plants)."

Post by **poultry_admin** » Fri May 20, 2016 12:24 pm

Sign me up for cogen! Would have loved to get one of those systems, but instead we get a new propane furnace installed today.

Another good one, Portugal ran 4 days straight on water, wind and solar power alone. The whole country!

That's impressive because of the overall capacity (includes 3 working days) and the stability control to handle the day/night fluctuation of power generated vs. used at that moment.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... ergy-alone

We have a long way to go yet. Ontario has 36% electricity coming from water, wind, biofuel, solar combined.
http://www.ieso.ca/Pages/Power-Data/Supply.aspx
Not to mention the dreaded grid stability issue...

Post by **Killerbunny** » Fri May 20, 2016 12:57 pm

In the 90's there was a demo R2000 house in Bramalea??? maybe. We looked at it and it was very good. Wasn't even going to cost that much more to build. It almost fell by the wayside and little more heard. We heard from builder we knew that they couldn't get guys to build it correctly with adequate sealing etc. So sad when it's being done in other places. Was a day when Canada was known for innovative architecture and building techniques.

Seastar · Post by **Seastar** » Fri May 20, 2016 1:15 pm

We built our own house to our own design 32 years ago. I call it an R 1960 house. The repay time For that last 40 was past my death date and the closer you got to 2000, the more each step cost. We installed an air exchanger and a heat pump and are cheaper to heat/cool than with gas.

ross · Post by **ross** » Fri May 20, 2016 1:26 pm

Remember Canada only produces 2% of the world emissions & as long as the volcanoes are belching out there gas world wide nothing will ever change . But that's not what this is about .
PS that's why I eat meat so there not belching bad gas destroying our air ha heee . Bring on the pot . Luck

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Fri May 20, 2016 1:45 pm

Yep, WE came up with a demo house in the late 1970's that was normal house that consumed 85% less energy than a house of that era to heat or cool: called the Saskatchewan House http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/energy-ef ... ouses.html . Good idea, well executed, then we forgot about it. The gov't doesn't collect tax revenue from the fuel you don't buy. Then in the late 80's the Germans discovered it and ran with the idea, renamed it the "passiv haus" and now there's 80,000 buildings built in Germany to that standard. There's a whole industry making materials and techniques for a "passiv haus." Germany has a population of over 50 million so they still have a long way they can go. Now we're going down the road at a ridiculous fast pace; which means good idea bad execution, whaddaya expect from this gov't?
In the meantime, we have homegrown Canucks trying to build houses to this standard and the builders spend most of their time fighting with local building inspectors because the buildings don't meet "code". Some are straw bale houses, some "rammed earth", and many other types. http://www.naturalbuildingcoalition.ca

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Fri May 20, 2016 11:02 pm

Baron..lotta good points...ill never get the final on my house..built to standards wayyyy beyond the required levels...but i got the permit to build with it very clearly stated on the application that there wouldn't be an air exchanger...came time for the final, the inspector says "we dont have the ventilation plan on file" and i said there isnt one...forced me into getting one but the registered designer that makes the plan says he wont sign off on one that doesn't have an HRV in it...catch 22...paperwork...stupidity...oversight and negligence of rules...and the assumption that i underwrite the fix taking no responsibilty on the inspection team whatsoever...i will never sell this place so i could care less if i ever get the final...but its driving them nuts at the township office...good on 'em