energy

First Year of Solar Energy Production

Today marks the one year anniversary of our rooftop solar project’s connection to our local utility. In that year we produce 6.55 MWh of electricity which is enough to power 217 homes for 1 day or charge a mobile phone for 203.2 years or the equivalent carbon offset of planting 119 trees. For more details about the project check out our Solar Page.

As you can see in the chart below the summer and spring months performed very well. Due to the angle of our roof when the snow arrived in December energy production dropped to near zero, until it started melting in March. The most surprising thing to me was how much the heat in the summer impacted the panel’s energy production. Overall the system has performed 4% above the model.

ecoEnergy Retrofit Homes Program Cancelled

Yesterday, it was quietly announced that the program ecoEnergy Retrofit  Homes program has been canceled.  This is really too bad as the program was very popular, to the point were the government was forced to add more money each year to cover all the grants.  I have completed one project under the program, a geothermal system, and currently we are in the process of a home renovation that will qualify for some grant money.  It seems a shame that the Government of Canada would cancel the program as it seemed to be achieving two goals, the obvious environmental impact of lowering a homes environmental impact and also encouraging people to put money back into their homes.

IESO Wind Tracker

The IESO, Independent Electricity System Operator, is mandated with managing the demand and supply of Ontario’s open electricity market. Their site has an impressive amount of historical and real time data. For example, if you want to see what the current makeup of electricity feeding into the grid is right now, they can show you with a nice little pie chart on their homepage. Another is the IESO Wind Power Map which shows the current wind energy being supplied onto the grid.

Ontario Green Energy Act

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.