Issue 5 October
2005
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PDF - 1.53MB)
A Publication of Sustainable
Solutions for all of BC’s Energy Needs
Simple
and Sustainable on Wise Island
By Naomi Devine
The BCSEA is filled with interesting and innovative members – people
to admire and learn from, like Ann and Gord. This couple
has combined their passion for sustainability with their
ingenuity and created a home that is off the grid on a tiny
gulf island, aptly named Wise.
 Ann and Gord generously offered BCSEA members a tour of
their home and a presentation on how they live off the grid.
So, on Sunday August 28th, 17 enthusiastic Victoria Chapter
members headed off on a 45 minute water taxi trip to Wise
Island. There they heard a presentation on solar photovoltaic
electricity generation, hot water heating (soon to be solar
thermal), humanure composting (it doesn’t stink, amazingly enough),
rain water collection, and grey water systems.
Ann’s education began in Biology and she has worked
for the past 10 years in business management and accounting.
Until recently, she lived full-time on tiny Wise Island,
creating her home and learning about off the grid systems
as well as carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and everything
in between! Gord’s background is in experimental psychology,
and the family autobody business. He is also involved in
software development and business consulting. Both Ann and
Gord have a love of nature and Gord admits, “it wasn’t
until I met Ann that my eyes were opened to the effects of
our consumption upon the planet and on our society … Our
goal is to live comfortably on half our current income and
enjoy free time to live a reasonable life.”
With these goals in mind, Ann and Gord are looking for
property closer to Victoria in order to recreate and improve
upon the systems they have on Wise Island, all within the
framework of a passively heated earthen home. They also want
to use it as a demonstration house to educate others. As
Ann and Gord said, “If we don’t start to create and use
sustainable energy by choice and voluntarily give up some
things, nature just might do it for us…and that won’t
be healthy and rewarding.”
Ann and Gord are benefiting from a simpler, more sustainable
life, off grid. They’re making more time for the things
that matter – family, health and happiness.
How
Will We Travel?
By Guy Dauncey
How will we travel, when we stop using oil? With the price
of gas going up almost every week, and New Orleans under
twenty feet of water, it’s a topic that should be on
everyone’s mind.
The truth is, we’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels:
ideally immediately.
Our planet’s rising heat is like the heat in the element
of an electric cooker: it takes a while to cool down once
you turn off the power. Instead of taking five minutes, however,
it may take a hundred years, as the CO2 we have poured into
the atmosphere is slowly absorbed by the oceans and trees.
Right now, we’ve still got the power turned up high.
Concerns about the world’s oil supply and peak oil
are an added twist. How will Vancouver operate when we have
to stop using oil?
And in case you think this is a hair-brained question,
ponder this: even the most oil-besotted analysts think the
world will hit peak oil by 2035. Others think it will happen
between 2005 and 2015. Once it does, the price will turn
sharply upward, and stay there until the last drop is gone.
From then on, until the end of time, we will not use oil
any more.
So how will we travel? With municipal elections coming
up this November, it is a very relevant question.
 I was coming into Vancouver down Cambie Street recently
on the coach from Victoria, and I had a flash of how it might
be. Instead of six lanes, two for parking and four for driving,
there were two lanes on either side for cycling, allowing
faster cyclists to overtake the slower ones, and there were
two lanes for buses and driving, with a green boulevard in
the middle.
Turn into a neighbourhood, and the roads have all been
narrowed and slowed, creating an environment for living and
hanging out where cars and bicycles have to weave slowly
among the trees, ponds and play areas.
The buses are comfortable, colourful, and free: we pay
for them as part of our city taxes, just as the students
at UBC do today, in their student fees.
It is rare that someone owns a vehicle. The bus stops are
never more than a few minutes walk away, and most people
pay a flat monthly fee for their membership in a car-share
coop; Vancouver’s Cooperative Auto Network has over
a million members. In every neighbourhood, areas have been
set aside where car-share vehicles are parked. You book ahead
when you want to use one, and pay in a monthly bill.
So what are these cars? There are two kinds: small lightweight
neighbourhood electric vehicles with a top speed of 50, like
the Dynasty cars that are made in Delta, and super-efficient
plug-in hybrids that operate as electric vehicles for the
first 200 km (using lithium ion batteries), and biodiesel
or ethanol made from crop and food wastes for longer distances.
The BC Sustainable Energy Association recently calculated
how much power we would need if every vehicle in BC was a
super-efficient electric vehicle. The answer was around 8,000
gigawatt hours a year. To put this in context, BC Hydro provides
us with 55,000 gigawatt hours a year.
The BCSEA also calculated how much green, sustainable power
BC could generate from solar, wind, and other forms renewable
energy, plus a real commitment to energy efficiency. The
answer was 84,000 gigawatt hours a year, over a 30-year period.
The work of realizing all that energy would generate 400,000
full and part-time jobs.
There are very few hydrogen vehicles in this vision. Not
because they don’t work, but because the running cost
for a small, smart, electric vehicle is just $7 a month;
$20 for a family sedan, or $64 for Volvo’s new super-charged
electric sports car.
The price of electricity may rise to cover the cost of
bringing wind, wave and solar energy into the grid, but probably
not more than to 8 cents a kilowatt hour, less than the average
American price of 8 cents US. This means that the running
cost of an electric vehicle will stay low, forever, since
the price of renewable energy never rises; it only falls.
In the end, economics will win. We will learn that the
economics of a post-Kyoto, healthy, sustainable world are
far, far better than the economics of a failing, polluted,
fossil-fueled world, and that the social and cultural qualities
are far higher, too. Roll on the future!
Guy Dauncey is President of the BC Sustainable
Energy Association (www.bcsea.org). He lives in Victoria.
Prince George eyed for Biodiesel
Project
By Marcus D Osborne
Summer in the Central Interior of BC is
traditionally a quiet time as residents get out and do
their own thing while the sun shines. But the chapter was
not entirely idle over the summer months.
May 1st saw the chapter close out its first
successful event – attendance
at the annual Prince George Homeshow. The BC SEA booth was
sponsored by the Prince George Homebuilders Association.
It generated plenty of interest and raised the chapter’s
community profile. Chapter member Kakwa Ecovillage shared
the booth and promoted its Biodiesel Workshop.
The Biodiesel Workshop was held in August.
It was a success by all accounts. The Workshop laboratory
produced 80 litres of biodeisel on site. And chapter member
Dr Lorna Medd was inspired to strike a taskforce to do
a viability study of local resources, product market and
the economic and environmental cases for developing a local
production site.
Meanwhile, the Central Interior Chapter,
in conjunction with Nitya Harris Co-ordinator of the BC
SEA Solar Water Heating Acceleration Project and UNBC Assistant
Professor David Connell of UNBC’s School of Environmental Planning (also a
chapter member), has been working to recruit the City of
Prince George as a pilot site.
The City has shown great interest in the
initiative. It recognises the opportunity to demonstrate
its leadership and environmental stewardship credentials
by helping to develop green and carbon neutral sources
of energy. A staff report will be presented to Council recommending the City direct monies from
the capital budget to support the project. The capital budgeting
process will start in January 2006. A decision about funding
is expected to be made in the spring of 2006.
As fall arrives, Central Interior Chapter members are returning
to normal business and regular meetings.
Mid
Island does field trips, fundraisers and picnics
By Walt Jones, B.Sc.
The Mid-Island BC SEA Chapter was very busy over the summer.
Members helped organize the Renewable Energy Community Awareness
Conference and Tradeshow held at Malaspina University-College
in Nanaimo, April 29 - May 1. Topics included geo-exchange,
biomass, micro hydro, energy conservation, wind, and solar
energy. The conference also included field trips, a Home
Energy Savings Forum and a keynote address entitled “Renewable
Energy: The Seven Essential Keys” from Guy Dauncey.
The first field trip visited a 1940’s house that had
been upgraded to R2000 standards, and now requires 85% less
energy, while still maintaining many of its heritage features.
Next stop was a home that uses solar thermal water heating
and solar PV. The owners are also constructing a small windmill.
Another group went to Gabriola Island to tour a home heated
and cooled by a marine source heat pump. The group then visited
the site of a small hydro power plant operation. A final field
trip viewed a micro hydro project under construction near Port
Alberni.
 The Chapter organized a film presentation fund-raisers
on renewable energy in association with Energy Solutions
for Vancouver Island (ESVI). The film series was called “Renewable Energy:
The Challenge and the Opportunity” and included “The
End of Suburbia” (78 min..), and “Turning Down
the Heat: The New Energy Revolution” (46 min..).
Mid Island Chapter members greeted the cancellation of
the Duke Point natural gas fired power plant project on June
17th with great enthusiasm. Local environmental groups plan
to encourage BC Hydro to implement its 2003 report titled “Exploring
Vancouver Island’s Energy Future”, written in association
with the well respected energy think tank, the Rocky Mountain
Institute. The report recommends moving to the use of energy
conservation and efficiency, and sustainable energy, rather
than a natural gas power plant.
Chapter members helped craft an open letter to Nanaimo
City Council and the media recommending the implementation
of a green building policy for the city’s construction projects.
The letter proposes the use of marine source heating and cooling
for the new Nanaimo Conference Centre and the use of a heat
recovery system for the Twin Ice Rinks, so that waste heat
from the ice-making units can be used to supply heat to the
adjacent Nanaimo Aquatic Centre.
Walt Jones is the Mid-Island Chapter Correspondent.
Sustainable
Energy Now!
Solving the Energy Puzzle
By Naomi Devine
It
was a rare opportunity: a chance to design a sustainable
energy exhibit for the Royal BC Museum. The offer came
at the December Victoria Chapter meeting from Grant Keddie,
Curator of Archaeology and a BCSEA member. Enthusiastic
chapter members jumped at the chance and with just 6 months
to pull it off, they scrambled to form a team of organizers.
 Leading the charge were Don Goodeve, Hiltz
Tanner, John Walmsley, Kevin Belanger, Bruce Mackenzie,
Jorden Leighton, Leon Gaber, Guy Dauncey, Freya Keddie,
Tom Hackney Naomi Devine, and Michelle Atkins. Countless
other volunteers came out to help. Gordon Greene was the
team’s contact at the museum.
As well as helping the team organize its work, Gordon and
MediaNet arranged for a complimentary screening of “The
End of Suburbia” at Cinecenta.
Fueled by a commitment to sustainable energy,
and wanting to wow, educate and entertain the public, the
team went to work. Organizers likened the path to sustainable
energy to a puzzle, with some pieces already fitted into
place and framing the image, while others are yet to come.
So, the theme was chosen: Sustainable Energy Now! Solving
the Energy Puzzle.
The vast exhibit had three parts. The educational
component featured topics like Climate Change, What is
Energy?, What’s
Happening Globally?, the Political aspect, BC SEA’s
policy paper and Peak Oil.
The technology component showcased energy
solutions available today. Local businesses and groups
were on hand to answer questions and talk about products
and services. Participants and sponsors included Energy
Alternatives, Carmanah Technologies, City Green, Solar
Crest, Sea Breeze, Island Biodiesel, the Jim Pattison Group
(Toyota - brought hybrid vehicles), and Pro Star mechanical
technologies. Oak and Orca bioregional school fundraised
$500 to build a sustainable energy model for the kids’ area that was the hit of the show.
A lecture series featured Kees Schaddallee from WISE Energy,
who spoke about biodiesel, Bruce Mackenzie who talked about
peak oil, and Guy Dauncey who wowed the crowds by illustrating
the big picture and inspiring listeners.
The event was a huge success! More than 2,500 people attended
the museum on June 4th and 5th. The first showing of “The
End of Suburbia” was sold out and the second was also
well attended. The organizers are gearing up for another
exhibit in the fall of 2005.
Naomi Devine is the chair of the Victoria chapter and a
member of the BC SEA Board of Directors.
“Sustainable Energy Now! Solving the Energy Puzzle
is back by popular demand! The next iteration will be held
Saturday and Sunday Nov 12-13, 11am-6pm at University Canada
West in Victoria. Don’t miss it! For more information
contact Peter Ronald.
Energy
buzz to hit schools and municipal election
By Dale Littlejohn
At its August meeting, the Vancouver Chapter focused on
planning for the coming year. Key projects for 2005 and 2006
are the Climate Change Game/Education program in Vancouver
schools. Chapter members have applied for funding from Vancity
to support the project. With municipal elections approaching,
chapter members are strategizing ways to make sustainable
energy and election issue in Vancouver. The Vancouver Chapter
is interested in a solar summit, and its now in the process
of forming a team to coordinate and fundraise for the project.
To help with its ambitious year ahead, the chapter has three
new members on its steering committee.
Citizens
Help BC Hydro Think About BC’s Future Power Options
By Geza Vamos and Andrew Haughian
The momentum behind sustainable electricity development
continues to build following BC Hydro’s cancellation of the Duke
Point Power Plant. During the process of preparing the 2005
Integrated Electricity Plan (IEP) – a bi-annual plan
outlining how electricity demand will be met over the next
20 years – the prospects for sustainable energy development
in BC have significantly improved.
As part of the planning process, BC Hydro has appointed
a Provincial IEP Committee consisting of electricity consumers,
Independent Power Producers (IPPs), First Nations, and other
interest groups. The committee has held several meetings
since January 2005 with the goal of selecting a preferred
portfolio of new electricity supply and demand management.
Several members of the BCSEA have acted as observers during
the meetings.
In the early stages of developing the 2005 IEP, BC Hydro
prepared a draft “Resource Options Report” which
evaluated various supply and demand alternatives for technical,
environmental, social and economic criteria. Generally speaking,
BC Hydro’s initial cost estimates showed coal to be
the lowest cost generation alternative. As a result, an electricity
generation portfolio based almost entirely on coal was provided
as the ‘low cost” alternative.
Other portfolios were labeled “Low Land Impact”, “Diverse
Tech”, “Low Air Emissions”, and “100%
Green”. “Low Air Emissions” is essentially
a Hydro and Wind portfolio, including the development of
the Site C dam, while “100% Green” replaces Site
C with biomass and additional wind and small hydro.
Initially the coal portfolio was favored by a number of
committee members due to the low cost calculations. However
committee members have continued to evaluate and scrutinize
the portfolios during subsequent meetings, and the public
has had an opportunity to provide input during workshops
that have been held around the province. During this feedback
process, the BC Hydro IEP team was challenged on many of
the assumptions used for the estimation of costs, and social
and environmental impacts.
In the past two months the IEP team has changed the Resource
Options Report and electricity portfolios to reflect these
challenges.
For example, all three Power Smart programs are now included
in the candidate portfolios (excluding coal portfolio), at
the insistence of several committee members, who were prompted
by the BCSEA observers.
Perhaps the greatest change is BC Hydro’s decision
to reverse its position on excluding greenhouse gas liabilities
from the cost estimates. Although the exact magnitude of
the liabilities is not known, three estimates have been provided
by BC Hydro in the range of $14-$28/MWh, for pulverized coal
technology. When these costs are included, the coal option
is no longer the lowest cost portfolio.
Based on BC Hydro’s “most probable” case,
which uses the middle greenhouse gas liability estimate,
the “Low Air Emissions” portfolio is now the
lowest cost. The “100% Green” and “Low
Land Impact” portfolios are the next lowest; however
the “Low Land Impact” portfolio is sensitive
to gas price risk and would in fact be the highest cost portfolio
with current natural gas prices. Thus, the “Low Air
Emissions”, and “100% Green” portfolios
are favored by the committee.
There is some uncertainty about the capital cost estimations
for Site C, which is a valid concern when embarking on any
mega-project. BC Hydro tested the sensitivity to a 20% increase
in the capital cost of Site C and found that the “Low
Air Emissions” portfolio would remain the lowest cost.
However, an IPPBC lawyer has indicated that the “100%
Green” portfolio may in fact be the lowest cost option
after the BC Utilities Commission scrutinizes the Site C
cost estimates in the spring of 2006.
A final decision on the preferred portfolio is expected
during the September meeting of the IEP Committee. Two influential
committee members still insist that the coal liabilities
will be small enough for the coal portfolio to be the lowest
cost. This may be the one disagreement that blocks consensus
during the upcoming September meeting.
Regardless of this potential concern, BC Hydro considers
the risk of public opposition and other possible delays when
evaluating options. Feedback provided to BC Hydro during
the provincial workshops demonstrated a public favour for
demand-side management followed by sustainable energy, and
opposition towards thermal generation, especially coal.
After the cancellation of Duke Point, BC Hydro has no choice
but to consider public opposition to coal as a significant
risk. This helps to further increase the chance that one
of two portfolios, each with a significant amount of new
sustainable energy, will be chosen.
SOLAR
BREAKTHROUGH?
By Guy Dauncey
Every few months, there’s a report of a breakthrough
in solar technology which promises the world, but rarely
comes to anything. Well, I have just had a tour of a Burnaby
company called Day4Energy which has developed a subtle change
to the regular solar cell, which allows it to receive concentrated
solar energy. If this pans out, it will allow solar PV to
sell for the same price as wind energy: 7-12 cents kwh in
BC. Maybe…?
www.day4solar.com
Solar Condos - PV
Millijoules
By Guy Dauncey
If it’s Good Enough for the Queen…
One kilowatt or two? In England, Her Majesty will be drinking
her royal tea heated by a 200 kw microhydro installation
in the River Thames, using underwater turbines to provide
a third of the power for Windsor Castle. Not to be outdone,
the 250 members of the Hupacasath First Nation are building
a microhydro plant on China Creek, five kilometres from Port
Alberni, that is 31 times more powerful (6.3 MW), which will
provide enough electricity to light up 6,000 homes when the
creek is running at its peak, thanks to a 20 year contract
with BC Hydro. The $13.7 million project is expected to open
in November. Meanwhile, on off-the-grid Lasqueti Island,
Peter Johnson and Sue Wheeler power their home during the
winter with a tiny 50 watt microhydro machine that runs
off a drainage ditch. It runs 24 hours a day, charging
their batteries, so that’s quite enough for several
light bulbs and a computer.
Will that be a Red Car, or Green?
Back in Britain, the government is planning to introduce
a system of colour-coded labels on new cars which will
tell you how much CO2 each car will produce, and what it’s annual
operating cost will be. How simple can that be? I hope the
label will be a permanent feature of the car, and not just
a showcase label.
Will that be Two Teaspoons of Fuel, or Three?
So what colour would this car’s label be? The Shell Eco-marathon
is an annual challenge in which student teams compete to build
the most fuel efficient vehicle capable of traveling 25 km
at 30 km/h. In the May 2005 Eco-marathon at the Nogaro Circuit
in Gers, France, a team from a high school in Zurich built
a hydrogen fuel cell car that achieved a record fuel efficiency
of….. get this …. 10,836 mpg. (9024 US miles
per gallon). They broke the record that set by a French team
in 2003, which achieved a mere 10,705 mpg in a gas-powered
car.
Ways to Save Energy: #702.
You know the tiny LED lights that everyone uses at Christmas
to decorate their houses? Well, when they are used in a retail
store’s window, eliminating all of the old fluorescent
lighting and reducing the number and wattage of the halogen
accent lights, they cut the energy use by 30 to 50%, with no
loss of appeal to the shoppers. The details? See www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/solidstate
Solar Charging Ahead
The world’s solar race is heating up. In 2004, total
installations of solar PV were 927 MW, a 62% increase over
2003. Production increased to 1146 MW, a 58% leap. Germany
(39%) and Japan (30%) are still the world leaders, followed
by the US (9%), the rest of Europe (8%) and the rest of the
world (14%). At this rate of growth, the annual installation
rate for solar PV will reach 3,200 MW a year by 2010. The Japanese
company Sharp is still the world leader, producing 400 MW a
year. It is followed by Kyocera, with 240 MW a year. When solar
PV production is tracked on a curve, starting at 0.1 MW in
1971, the growth rate is now almost vertical. The fly in the
solar ointment is a temporary shortage of silicon, which could
last until 2008, when Hemlock Semiconductors will have a new
polysilicon plant on stream. The solar PV market shares its
supply of polycrystalline silicon with the semiconductor market
for computers.
Moon River
While the Pearson College tidal energy system is being installed
at Race Rocks right now, the Canoe Pass Tidal Energy Corporation
and the BC Tidal Energy Corporation, based in Campbell
river, are laying plans to harness the tidal rush that
surges through Canoe Pass in Seymour Narrows, between Quadra
Island and Maude Islands. If all goes well, they hope to
have a 200 – 250 kw system in the water next year.
Would They Like Some Parmesan With Their Oil?
Richard Neufeld, BC’s Minister for Energy, made an
interesting contribution to the quest for more sustainable
energy in March 2005 when he told his offshore oil and gas
team to “eat, breathe and sleep oil and gas, day after
day”, at a BC Oil and Gas Summit in Victoria. But will
they eat better? Will they breathe well? Will they sleep
happier? Not until they give up on this foolish quest, and
join the BCSEA.
Europe – Green
by Necessity
By Troy Glasner
Having often heard how European countries are so “green”,
Troy Glasner’s curiosity finally got the better of
him and he took a trip to Europe to find out what everyone
is talking about.
There is no doubt that Europe is greener than North America.
The question is, ‘Why?’ A shortage of land and
a long and varied history make European countries much better
at planning efficient communities. ‘Mixed use,’ ‘high
density,’ and ‘human-scaled’ urban planning
might be new fangled catch words in North America, but, in
Europe they something. What’s more the success of these
planning principles is evident everywhere.
After more than 500 years of development experience, balancing
many land use obligations, Europeans have learned a thing
or two about planning. As an example of the pressures in
Europe, Canada is 240 times the size of Holland and Canada’s
population is roughly double that of the Netherlands. It is
out of necessity, that the Netherlands has used its space wisely.
Traffic lights for cyclists!
Efficient transportation and green building design are
two strategic areas at which European countries have excelled.
Holland has developed accessible cities and communities.
Cars don’t rule the roads. Bikes, trams, subways, and scooters
are the obvious transportation choices since Holland simply
does not have the opulence of space to sprawl out into suburbs.
Instead European countries have developed an urban planning
nirvana: a cityscape that allows for mixed use and mixed transportation
that effectively moves 16 million people without mass highways
and with about a third of the vehicles.
Denmark, Holland and France have built green without thinking
green. The size and density of housing forced these countries
to develop high efficiency systems by demand, like the wall
hung boiler systems that were built eons ago, rather than
massive low efficiency gas guzzling furnaces that are more
common in North America. New technologies and greener buildings
are
being dreamt up and implemented all the time. A new university
building in Leiden is using a louver system to shade the
building. Other buildings have exterior rock wool insulation.
Still others are double walled buildings with natural ventilation
and insulating air barriers. Many have higher performance
windows and more efficient design. These improvements in
efficiency are made out of necessity – lack of space and need to conserve
energy.
From Troy Glasner’s trip to Europe : Outside the
university in Leiden
- thousands of bikes - this is only 1/3 of the
bikes in this location.
But there is much to be done. While Europeans are working
in many of the same ways as North America to implement greener
buildings and technologies they too have challenges and are
faced with similar issues. Many of the buildings in the Netherlands
and Denmark are very old heritage buildings. These old inefficient
buildings were not being torn down and rebuilt to take advantage
of new environmentally friendly building technologies. This
in sharp contrast to North America where green building technologies
are being introducing at a break neck pace.
Germany’s Passive Home program has not taken off as expected.
Less than 5000 homes in all of Europe are passively designed.
Denmark is trying to make itself the next stronghold for Passive
Home design. As for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design), a rating system for green buildings, a European equivalent
is not to be found. However, the principles upheld by LEED
are implemented all over Europe, without a formal rating system.
Good site planning is at the forefront of European urban planning.
The traditional North American concept of “green” is
different from European “green.” In Europe transportation
is far more efficient, with electric trains and trams everywhere,
rather than gas and diesel buses and personal cars. The Dutch
make good use of the transportation infrastructure provided.
50% of Dutch commuters bicycle to work. Just 1.6% of US citizens
cycle to work.1 But Europe also have a long history and heritage
buildings are valued more for their cultural richness, than
for their potential for energy efficiency.
Overall, Europe’s green strength comes from planning;
good old fashion, historically-based urban planning. It is
the development of high-density communities with mixed use
planning, equipped with accessible transportation systems that
allow people to move easily without having automobiles that
makes Europe green.
While in Japan 15% of commuters bicycle to work, in
the Netherlands 50% of commuters bicycle and in China 77% commute
by bike; only 1.6% of U.S. commuters bicycle to work [Washington
State Energy Office Extension Services]
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