Robert Paterson's Weblog

PEI - Energy Resiliency - Independence

It's coming - all by itself - local energy resilience on PEI

• Stratford is doing it
• Summerside is doing it

So Eastern School Board - with the largest heating bill and diesel fuel bill on PEI - what is your plan?

So PEI Health system - what is your plan?

UPEI what is your plan?

All these large users of power also present an opportunity - they can afford to have their own system and use that as a hub for others.

Big Power Goes Local is a good article on this shift in Newsweek this April

The High Cost of Your Oil Bill - What you can do on PEI

Worried about how you will heat your home or business on PEI?

Here are some of the best people to advise you on PEI

Here is what I have learned about some of the gear - wood boilers, stoves and solar

The UK aspires to energy independence - Why not PEI?

Both parties back a new plan in the UK to go for energy independence - the first step would be a huge increase in wind power. (BBC)

All UK homes could be powered by offshore wind farms by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change, under plans unveiled by John Hutton.

Up to 7,000 turbines could be installed to boost wind produced energy 60-fold by 2020.

The business secretary admitted it would change Britain's coastline, and mean higher electricity bills.

Senior Tory Alan Duncan backed the plans, adding: "We're an island nation. There's a lot of wind around."

He also said he wanted the UK to be self-sufficient in energy: "I do not want in 20 years' time to find that whether the lights go on in the morning is down to some foreign government."

PEI could be energy independent. It's not just about wind but having a goal.

What will our future be like if we just sit back? What will it be like if we go for it.

Come on folks - please get above the trivial and deal with the important.

The Electric Car is Coming - Again

It's happening - this is the Volt - Excellent link to lots of info here - I want one

About $9.00 a week to run. 40 miles on the battery - well inside about 70% of commutes. Can run for very long trips on a small gas engine that recharges the batteries.

Would take GM back into prominence.

Setting an example - Sara Fraser

Here is our own Sara Fraser at her lovely new wood burning range.

Find out what she has been doing at her home to save money by installing Solar Water Heating at Trusted Space Energy

Find out who can help you save money on PEI

Find out how the Government can lend you the money to do the work

Wind & Hydrogen - Growing Independence

Imagine if PEI had a hydrogen powered Island wide public transportation system that gave us back the convenience of our old railway but without the emissions?

Imagine if we could store and use the benefit of our immense wind resource when the wind did not blow?

Imagine that you live in a remote northern community dependent on shipping in diesel in the summer to provide you with the most expensive power in the world. Now imagine that you could become independent from oil even for your vehicles.

Have a look at how we are working to meet these dreams

Small Pieces loosely joined - Renewable Energy part II

PEI electricity prices are to rise 7%. What if we could set up a system where they would never rise again?

Would this be possible? Yes it is. Don't believe me? Then read on.

My point on a new view of renewable energy is that its system design has to be different from simply a new source. The point is to have many people participate.  

I posted about this only a few days ago thinking that this was only a hope. But I learned from Gabe that it is already here. Have a look

This is a simple idea - let us use your roof and we will install at no cost to you a complete solar system - you have to agree to buy the power from us at a fixed price for a long time.

Now we have a new kind of power station made up like the web itself. In a sunny climate there is the potential for a vast dispersed solar system that offers its members a 20 plus year fixed price.

What if we on PEI did the same with wind? What if we offered households a small turbine for a fixed price for electricity for say 20 years. What would that do for us?

Here is a new small turbine that could be set up much more simply and cheaply than ever before. Could we not work hard at making this work?

What about testing this in your community?

Imagine your community with a major turbine at the school and a host of family turbines with a 20 year fixed price contract. More than half your electricity would have a fixed price. Even at todays costs such a turbine could save you about $50 a month. That's $600 a year. That's $12,000 for 20 years provided  that prices remain the same. What if they go up?

If the Province owned and funded this - it would cost about $180,000,000. This could be funded specifically as a project with the revenues attached to the issue. It could be a prefered share for the Energy Corp. The initial yield for PEI would be in the region of 5% assuming current electricty costs. If over 20 years the price went up, the yield would rise. PEI would have a hedge against this price rise and we might have some of the cheapest power in the west. The Energy Corp would become more profitable.

Now these numbers are simply the back of an envelope but they are enough to consider working up accurately.

 

Jetstream Stoves - The Ultimate?

I just got this comment that was too helpful to leave as a comment

 From Kenneth MacFarlane

Rob I just found your reply, thank-you for the interest. I haven't found your post in reference to the Jetstream/Tempest but I have a bit of new info. The owner of the design is currently Kerr Heating. They currently produce traditional smoky inefficent boilers and furnaces since they are cheap but they are considering resurecting the Jetstream.

I believe their head location is Nova Scotia but learned the news of possible resumed production via their parts depot in Fredericton N.B.

In the years that have passed several furnaces with similar efficient have developed but are all of european or US origin with various drawbacks (and some advantages) to this design.

This design had the positives of being able to burn green or partially green wood cleanly while only a few other models do this. The other advantage is the fire tubes inside are simple to clean vs the complicated designs in other furnaces.

With the recent interest in hydronic heating via reliable infloor water tubing, our aging population building more single story slab on grade mobility impaired friendly residences, skyrocketing foreign energy source prices, and softening demand for wood fiber, clean wood heating/wood boilers is again of interest. On a large scale to produce electricity and on a small scale to heat home.

I still hope to locate one of these furnaces and spur resumed production so they could be better used. Remember one of these advanced type furnaces uses about 1/2 as much wood as a conventional air tight stove.

PEI - Our country - our energy

I interviewed Jamie Ballem our minister for Energy, the Environment and Forestry today for a story in Trusted Space that will launch in a week's time.

We will be talking in the interview about how a small place like PEI is on track to become one of the most energy self-sufficient societies in the west.

In the interim - we are also setting a new trend for Social Funding. The habit for governments is to borrow money for the general pot in the global markets. On PEI we are now borrowing targeted money - not from the global money markets but from ourselves in a patriotic gesture - like war Bonds - to fund our second province owned wind farm. The Guardian describes the launch like this. More details about the issue are found here.

There are many exciting issues here - the key being that it is not enough for a society to make the shift to renewables but to ensure that the full benefit goes not to a developer from outside the community but to the community itself. The other key idea for me is that a healthy community funds itself.

We are on our way to a very exciting future where PEI will source 30% of its energy from renewables owned by the community itself. We will meet our first target of 15% of electricity being renewable this year - 3 years ahead of schedule. Here are some pictures of the new farm under construction. here is a cute TV ad

Wood and Solar Energy - Resources on PEI

So if you live on PEI and you want to get off oil - Who are you going to call?

For an overview and strategy

• Kevin Jeffrey at Avalon House - 902 659 2790
• Stephen Howard at Renewables Lifestyles  - 902 436 7111

For Chimney work and Stove installation

• Redclay Construction - John Rousseau - 902 962 3363

For Solar Panel and Water Systems installation

• Aqua Tech - Rick Long and James Howlett - Chtown 902 367 7511 or Montague 902 838 3625

For Wood Furnace Installation

• Ross Petrie - 902 659 2313