News   Mar 28, 2024
 1.4K     3 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 686     2 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 941     0 

Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

I guess it is also conceivable that home energy storage products like Tesla Powerwall could be used to take advantage of the super-off peak rates. They are still too expensive to pay back in that use case, but I suspect Tesla makes fat margins on this product currently because they are not incentivized to lower the price given that they are constrained by cell supply. Powerwall is ~$11k for 13.5 kwh of storage. Eventually Tesla will be making this product line with <$100/kwh LFP cells which would be only $1350 of that sticker price. So if the price of the product installed were cut in half we might get to a place where the economics of storing power off-peak for use on-peak will be economic. Of course, utility scale storage will also change the game and maybe make the need for utilities to offer such rate schemes less necessary.
 
I would just start the dryer after 11 PM and let it run. Leave the dried laundry in the dryer and take it out in the morning.

Then we could switch to natural gas dryers as an alternative. No time-of-use with natural gas. Is there a calculator for that comparison?
Would work if you stayed up until 11. We have a gas dryer (fist house we've had one) so the discussion is largely theoretical for us besides the small amount of electricity they use. I'm not aware that washers or dryers have timer functions, but ours are fairly basic - maybe higher-end ones do.

Short of some kind of storage that allows energy consumption to be shifted, or life style being shifted, I honestly don't see a huge benefit. Large loads are typically either not used (cooking) or simply maintaining (heat, water heating) during the wee hours. EVs, yes, but their penetration is still relatively low.
The only other thing I think could conceivably benefit from super-off peak rates is if you had a heating set-up that used electricity and could bank heat overnight. Maybe something like a high capacity air source heat pump water heater. It could run continuously during the offpeak time to store heat and draw on that for home heating during the day. Obvious downside is that it is colder at night which worsens heat pump efficiency, but that is more than offset by only paying 2.5 cents per kwh. Of course, I'm not aware of any commercially available off the shelf system that would do this. You might be able to engineer something however.
I'm not aware of such a thing for domestic use. Some commercial systems use various types of media to store both heat and cold for later use, but the only thing I can think of that would even be halfways suitable for a residence would be something like an oversized hot water storage. I'm not smart enough to be able to figure out how much thermal mass of any storage media a typical house would need to get through a winter's day or, it's reversal, removing heat in the summer. There is a design concept that involves structural thermal mass but it is baked into the design.
 
I'm not aware that washers or dryers have timer functions, but ours are fairly basic - maybe higher-end ones do.

My 10 year old Maytag has a delayed start function for both the washer and dryer. I don't find it too practical and never use the feature.

My guess is that most machines got rid of it due to it being a stupid feature.
 
My 10 year old Maytag has a delayed start function for both the washer and dryer. I don't find it too practical and never use the feature.

My guess is that most machines got rid of it due to it being a stupid feature.

Can save even more money using solar and wind energy to dry clothes, especially in the summer.

GettyImages-1256107113-b892a5f0c71742979d1335acd4e3c5d1.jpg
From link.
 

Meanwhile...

Wind Power Surpasses Coal, Nuclear as Power Generation Source in US


For an entire day, wind power became the second-largest source of electricity in the country (USA) for the first time in recorded history.

From link.

For the first time in recorded history, wind power was the second-largest source of electricity in the country for an entire day.

That’s according to data from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Hourly Electric Grid Monitor, which on March 29 spotted wind energy surpassing both coal-fired and nuclear electricity generation to become a top source of energy across the U.S., second only to natural gas.
Wind turbines in the Lower 48 states produced 2,017 gigawatt hours of electricity that day, comprising 19 percent of the overall energy generated, beating out nuclear by a hair and coal by 2 percent. Natural gas accounted for 31 percent of electricity generated.

The EIA attributes the broken wind production records to consistent growth in wind power as a whole throughout the US. The number of land-based wind turbines in the country has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2021, wind accounted for 42 percent of new energy installed in the country, amounting to more capacity added to the grid than any other energy source. In 2000, electricity generation from wind amounted to around 6 billion kilowatt hours; in 2021, it amounted to 380 billion.


But the timing of the wind penetration event was no coincidence either, the EIA noted in a press release. Wind speeds tend to be higher during spring, and, amid milder temperatures, energy demand tends to decrease overall, so nuclear and coal-fired generators tend to reduce their production during warmer months. That makes way for wind to surpass both energy sources.

March 29 was the first time that wind generation beat out all other energy sources but gas for an entire day—in spring of 2021, it happened for an hour. The EIA notes cautiously that it’s unlikely that wind will beat out other energy sources for as long as a month in 2022 or 2023, but the achievement is still a sign of an industry on the rise.
 
I'll be donating my sticker refund to the library. Naturally, this cut (and others) doesn'tView attachment 394076 get the fanfare that the sticker refund did.

It's from TWO years ago. 2019.

From link.

Ford government cuts Ontario Library Service budgets in half


The two services that operate interlibrary loans, deliver books across the province and provide support and training for library staff have taken a huge budget hit from the Ontario government.

The Southern Ontario Library Service and the Ontario Library Service-North will see their budgets halved for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

“We’ve pretty well been operating with no increases for quite a long time,” said Barbara Franchetto, chief executive officer of the southern service, where government funding is dropping from $3.1 million to $1.5 million.

“Over time, we’ve always tried to become more and more lean, and more and more effective, and we have not replaced staff at the rate we would like. Over time, we’ve made the best with what we have,” she said.

“This is definitely a turn for the worse for us.”

The funding decision was part of an overall decrease for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, which took an almost $60 million hit, down to $1.49 billion.
Franchetto said while the specifics have not yet been worked out — or if staff could be laid off — she warned the impact “will be significant. When you are looking at 50 per cent, you can’t cut a little bit here and cut a little bit there.

“I really have to step back and say ‘what do we stop doing.’”

In the legislature Thursday, Culture Minister Michael Tibollo defended the move, saying that “libraries across Ontario continue to receive funding for operations” from the provincial government, but that “after 15 years of reckless and out-of-touch Liberal government, the people of Ontario voted for a change, and that change is here.”

He also said of the province’s April 11 budget, “we are keeping our promises to the people of Ontario and putting the province back on a path to balance so that we can protect what matters most to Ontarians.”

Tibollo also said the Ford government “recognizes the importance of libraries to Ontario’s communities across the province. We continue to maintain strong partnerships with our municipal and Indigenous libraries.”

But New Democrat Culture Critic Jill Andrew said “this cut will devastate Ontarians’ ability to access library services. These services provide essential support to the smaller libraries, ensuring that rural communities have equal access to all of Ontario’s library collections.”

Less funding, she said, will take away “access to books and other vital resources that libraries provide to Ontarians every single day.”

Andrew, who represents the riding of Toronto-St. Paul’s, noted the controversy Premier Doug Ford found himself in as a city councillor when he “voted to slash the Toronto library budget by nearly $4 million. He infamously said that he would close libraries in his own community, ‘absolutely … In a heartbeat.’”

The two provincial library services help library systems across Ontario share books and materials between jurisdictions if they aren’t available locally, run a cataloguing system and help support and train staff.

“These are very small investments, and we get a big bang for our buck,” said Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser, adding the cutbacks “are wrong. The government’s priorities are out of whack.”

Tibollo spokesman Brett Weltman said the province is “maintaining base funding for our libraries across the province” and said the southern and north services are “arm’s length agencies that have no involvement in the day-to-day operations of Ontario’s public libraries.”

“Libraries are important to local and remote communities, and they provide valuable opportunities to learn and share in Ontario’s diverse culture,” Weltman also said.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said it’s “shocking that the government is reducing supports and resources for libraries ... It’s where kids who are underprivileged go to use the internet and that kind of equipment.”

Shelagh Paterson, who is executive director of the Ontario Library Association, said they are “working with the ministry to fully understand the status of provincial support for public libraries.”

Paterson, however, said the two library services “provide highly valued services, like interlibrary loans, that give all people in Ontario, especially those in rural and northern communities, the ability to access resources through their local public library.

“OLA will be working with members, local public libraries and the province to continue to discuss how libraries can provide the services and resources that residents rely upon.”

Meanwhile, the government continued to come under fire from the opposition for its plan to boost class sizes from Grades 4 through 12, phasing out 3,500 teaching jobs or more.

Ford said the “scare tactics” of warnings of big classes are unfounded.

“They’re saying there are going to be 50 people in the classrooms,” Ford said. “They’re saying there are going to be 45. That’s not going to happen.”

See also from 2011... Doug Ford blasts Margaret Atwood over libraries, says ‘I don’t even know her’
 
The Ford government quietly overhauled its overhaul of Recycling in Ontario.

The changes, made by regulation, and bypassing the Environmental Registry are difficult to assess.

Some, who got a preview of and input into the changes seem happy enough....(producers of waste)....others......less so.

https://www.thestar.com/business/20...parts-of-its-blue-box-recycling-overhaul.html (article is behind the paywall at time of posting)
 
The Ford government quietly overhauled its overhaul of Recycling in Ontario.

The changes, made by regulation, and bypassing the Environmental Registry are difficult to assess.

Some, who got a preview of and input into the changes seem happy enough....(producers of waste)....others......less so.

https://www.thestar.com/business/20...parts-of-its-blue-box-recycling-overhaul.html (article is behind the paywall at time of posting)
If this government overhauls something quietly I always get suspicious….
 
Remember...

Doug Ford 'proud' of tearing up hundreds of green energy contracts


From link.

Premier Doug Ford said Thursday he is "proud" of his decision to tear up hundreds of renewable energy deals, a move that his government acknowledges could cost taxpayers more than $230 million.

Ford dismissed criticism that his Progressive Conservatives are wasting public money, telling a news conference that the cancellation of 750 contracts signed by the previous Liberal government will save cash.

"I'm so proud of that," Ford said of his decision. "I'm proud that we actually saved the taxpayers $790 million when we cancelled those terrible, terrible, terrible wind turbines that really for the last 15 years have destroyed our energy file."

Later Thursday, Ford went further in defending the cancelled contracts, saying "if we had the chance to get rid of all the wind mills we would."

The NDP first reported the cost of the cancellations Tuesday, saying the $231 million figure was listed as "other transactions," buried in government documents detailing spending in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
The Progressive Conservatives have said the final cost of the cancellations, which include the decommissioning of a wind farm already under construction in Prince Edward County, Ont., has yet to be established.

The government has said it tore up the deals because the province didn't need the power and it was driving up electricity rates, and the decision will save millions over the life of the contracts. Industry officials have disputed those savings, saying the cancellations will just mean job losses for small business.

Meanwhile...

'The sound of money': Wind energy is booming in deep-red Republican states

From link.

Driving west from Oklahoma City to the outskirts of Weatherford, wind turbines don't just dot the landscape; they dominate it.

From oil and gas booms and busts to heavy rains followed by drought, Oklahoma is no stranger to extremes. One constant is the wind, which is so bracingly strong that what locals call a breeze will send hats flying and whip open car doors suddenly.

"We've always had the wind in Oklahoma," said Melva Dickey, a 91-year-old landowner and retired farmer.

Dickey leases her land to Ohio-based utility American Electric Power. With four turbines on her property, she — along with more than 300 other landowners — are harnessing the state's most plentiful natural resource.
220421222540-03-wind-energy-oklahoma-climate-cnnphotos-super-169.jpg

Far from the coasts, wind energy is thriving here in America's heartland, on the vast plains of Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska. Long an area devoted to oil and gas, Western Oklahoma is now home to one of the largest wind farms in the world.

The Traverse wind farm is made up of 356 turbines — each rising about 300 feet above the ground and spread out across 220,000 acres. The turbines tower over shimmering fields of wheat and give shade to cattle munching on hay. As they spin, they generate close to 1 gigawatt of energy; together with two other AEP-owned wind farms nearby, the trio will make enough electricity to power 440,000 homes each year.

Wind turbines are an icon for the energy transition and the subject of heated debate in Washington. They've been mocked by prominent members of the GOP, including former President Donald Trump, who recently called wind the "worst form of energy."

But Weatherford Mayor Mike Brown told CNN that for the landowners in Western Oklahoma, the sound of a huge metal blade cutting through the atmosphere is "the sound of money." For people who have long lived with wind whipping across their flat land, using it to make electricity is common sense.
"People look at it like, 'Okay, I don't see the negative of it,'" Brown said. "The landowners are benefiting; we've benefitted from the workers. It's 'how does it affect us?' Some things we can't control, this is something we can."

The farmers who lease their land for wind energy hope it brings new financial stability to the area. Those who spoke with CNN said AEP will deliver 6-month payments to landowners based on how much electricity their turbines generate, as well as a base payment. Even people leasing land without a turbine on it will get a yearly check.

"As long as they're spinning, they're making us money," said Scott Hampton, who farms a small herd of cattle and works at the local school. "In my view, it's not a fight; it's what can we do that's good for the environment."
Wind energy is on the brink of a massive expansion in the next few years, data from the US Energy Information Administration shows. Of the wind projects becoming operational this year, Traverse is by far the biggest.

Wind energy is the fourth-largest electricity source behind natural gas, coal and nuclear. Wind generated near 380 terawatt-hours of energy in 2021, according to the EIA, which projects another 7.6 gigawatts of utility-scale wind will be brought online this year (a terawatt is a thousand times bigger than a gigawatt).

Much of the country's current wind capacity is on land, and President Joe Biden's administration is focusing on building off the coasts, with a goal of getting 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy online by the end of the decade. Still, many of the biggest offshore projects won't come online until 2024 at the earliest.

While the offshore wind industry has been particularly slow to get off the ground — driven in part by objections from some wealthy and well-connected Democrats and Republicans alike that wind turbines ruin the view — wind energy is booming in deep-red Republican states in the central US.
Texas, in addition to being an oil and gas giant, is also a wind behemoth. In 2020, Texas generated more electricity from wind than Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma — the next three highest states — combined, according to the EIA. Still, because Texas is massive and both generates and uses the most total electricity out of any state in the nation, wind only accounted for 20% of its generated electricity.

Wind generated a higher proportion of electricity in Iowa (57%), Kansas (44%), and Oklahoma (36%). And in the Southwest Power Pool — which is the grid for Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and other states — renewable power is steadily growing.

Non-hydropower renewables generated nearly 94 billion kilowatt-hours on that grid in 2021 and are poised to grow to nearly 115 billion kilowatt-hours by 2023, according to the EIA. In comparison, non-hydro renewables generated just 7 billion kilowatt-hours for New York's grid in 2021.
here are a few reasons wind is thriving in the middle of the country, said Ben King, a senior analyst at the nonpartisan think tank Rhodium Group. It's an ideal location for consistent wind, it's easier to build big projects in states that have streamlined their permitting process, and there are more utilities serving the area looking to invest in renewables.

"It has made it easier for wind developers to come in and put wind farms there," King said.

For big utility companies like AEP, renewables make more sense to invest in from a cost and risk standpoint. Unlike fuels like coal and natural gas, the wind is free and the cost of wind energy is dropping steeply.

"All those investments are more risky than a renewables investment," AEP CEO Nick Akins told CNN. "We're moving towards a clean energy economy; nothing's going to stop that."
 

Back
Top