If you live in Ontario then I highly encourage you to check out Green Energy Act and sign the petition. The Ontario government is supposed to bring forward a new Energy Act later this month. The hope is that the act will contain provisions for a much needed transition of the electricity gird to support more renewable energy production at the local community level. The act and subsequent follow through could help catapult Ontario to the forefront of green energy in North America. We have a lot of catching up todo to countries in Europe but this could be a great first step.
Jamas
Spaceflight Now
If you are lucky enough to catch a rocket launch, then Spaceflight Now can be a huge help . On a recent trip to Florida I managed to see the launch of a Delta-4 heavy rocket. The launch was a surprise and was pushed back several times because of technical glitches and weather. Due to the nature of the payload – NRO spy satellite – the official sites had little details. Spaceflight Now had all the details and on the night of the actual launch had a play-by-play of the several restarted count downs.
peaksaver Review
If you live in Ottawa or Toronto (other areas are covered as well) then I suggest you check out the peaksaver program. The idea is to help the utilities control the load on the electricity system during peak periods. By signing up for the program you allow your utility to bump your thermostat setting a few degrees when necessary (think 30+ days in the summer).
For giving up a little control they pass along some nice incentives. You get a one time rebate for signing up. They also come to your home to install a new programmable thermostat which has a pretty cool feature, allowing control from a website. This feature is great if you set the thermostat to hold while you are away on vacation, just login a few hours before you get home and you return to a nice comfortable house. Not bad for something that costs you nothing but a degree or two!
Jamas.net now running WordPress 2.7
Wow what a slick new admin interface. Sadly as a visitor you can’t see it – so get your own WordPress blog to enjoy it. Thanks to the whole WordPress development team for another solid release.
The Gospel of Green
If you have a 40 minutes to spare I really suggest you take the time to watch The Gospel of Green – Video | CBC News: the fifth estate. It hightlights the green revolution in Germany and points out how far Canada is falling behind other countries. Here’s a synopsis of the show:
As the world confronts the reality of global warming and the inevitable end of oil, the questions of what to do and how to sustain energy without oil or fossil fuels becomes more urgent. Bob McKeown and a fifth estate team travel to Germany to meet Hermannn Scheer, called “Europe’s Al Gore,” a parliamentarian who is leading the way to increase Germany’s reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar power. To date, 15% of Germany’s energy comes from renewable sources. Scheer estimates that if Germany continues on this course, by 2030 that will be 100%. So, if one of the world major industrialized nations can achieve this, why can’t a country like Canada? The answer may lie in the fifth estate‘s investigation of the influence, in this country, of conventional energy industry on politicians.