Episodes

May 2, 2013 — Net-zero homes has been one of the most popular ideas we've explored on Green Energy Futures and it's easy to see why. In one fell swoop you're free from your electricity bill and you have a solidly built home that's helping, not hurting the environment.

Well, this week we explore the evolution from 45-person team, multi-million projects to cheaper and simpler net-zero homes all in the space of six years. We talk to two net-zero pioneers in Peter Amerongen and Simon Knight talk about going from the Star Trek Enterprise of mechanical rooms to bare bones. More…

Tags: Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency

April 25, 2013 — Sometimes we feature interesting new technologies, novel business ideas and all types of innovation. This is not one of those weeks. We head to Camrose, Albert to Lawrence Grassi middle school, there they built a school which is 70 per cent efficient than a comparable building and was built exactly on budget. 

This new building saves $120,000 per year on utility bills and they did it with the meat and potatoes. The processes and systems they used are ones that any homeowner or building manager can use - insulation, air sealing, thermal mass, good windows. We'll explain how they did it and what you can learn from this shining example of what every building should aspire to.  More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency

Tags: Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency

April 11, 2013 — The T'Souke First Nation on Vancouver Island developed and implemented a plan that saw them slash 75 per cent of their energy use and install a bunch of solar photovoltaic to fill in the rest. It turns out it's a lot easier to go net-zero when you drastically cut your energy use.

And while they're not net-zero net the results this small First Nation of 250 people about 45 minutes southwest of Victoria have achieved have been very impressive. Learn how they did and how they got the community behind it in this week's episode of Green Energy Futures.  More…

Tags: Renewable Energy

April 3, 2013 — Picture a manufactured home and you might picture a fancy trailer - something that can be shipped on the back of a truck. Landmark Homes in Edmonton isn't making manufactured homes, they're manufacturing homes in a state-of-the-art robot-filled factory. Called Landmark Building Solutions they build the components - the walls, roof, windows and stairs there and then ship them to the eventual home of the site. 

Not only is this process more energy efficienct - about 10-12 tonnes of CO2 more energy efficient - but the homes they're building are understated energy efficiency lions. Their average home has an Energuide rating of 82. The average new home in Canada is between 73 and 79. Not only that but Landmark is planning to have all of their homes net-zero ready by 2015. Learn about this ambitous company in this week's episode of Green Energy Futures.  More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency

March 27, 2013 — The Cowichan Bio-Diesel Cooperative is the plucky little coop that could. In 2004 they started selling 20-litre jugs of bio-disel at the local farmer's market. Nine years later they're planning to produce 150,000 to 200,000 litres with a mix of corporate and retail clients.  More…

Tags: Biofuels

March 18, 2013 — Reimagine is a movement started by Edmonton architectural firm Manasc Isaac to inspire the people who own aging office buildings not to knock them down but to re-insulate and replace the skin of the building while also replacing the mechanical and electrical systems. 

Not only do the re-skinned buildings save a ton of money on operating expenses, the example we feature now uses 70 per cent less natural gas, by re-using an existing building you save all of the energy and money that would have gone into knocking it down and starting from scratch. 

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Tags: Energy Efficiency

March 8, 2013 — Programmable thermostats aren't the sexiest bit of hardware in the home. They're cheap looking, confusing and studies show that 50 per cent of programmable thermostats aren't functioning as their owners wish. Fifty per cent! 

There's a reason why that failure rate is so high, most programmable thermostats are beset with confusing instructions and non-intuitive press-and-hold interfaces. To put it plainly, they were poorly designed. Enter Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod. He walked away from Apple in 2010 and instead of just sitting back on a pile of money he decided to bring his industrial design skills to a device that desperately needed it. He started a company that makes the Nest, a sleek new entry in the programmable thermostat world. Our host David Dodge installed one in his home and we got an expert from Climate Change Central to tell us about how to get the most out of your programmable thermostat (even if you don't have the Nest).  More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency

March 1, 2013 — Apple cores, pumpkins, Christmas trees and the crusts your mom cut off your sandwich 27 years ago. They all ended up at a landfill and as that material breaks down it releases methane. And as we all know from our biogas episode, methane is a valuable resource that can be burned for heat and electricity. It’s called landfill gas recovery and Edmonton's case the methane powers a 4.8-megawatt power plant, which generates enough electricity to power 4600 homes. As landfill space becomes ever scarcer and carbon pricing becomes a reality learn about the economic and environmental opportunities that landfills can create. More…

Tags: Renewable Energy

Feb. 26, 2013 — District heating isn't a terribly popular idea in North America. Canada is still a tiny player in district energy and most of the district heating systems in Canada are either university campuses or hospitals. 

The new hot water style district heating system at UBC can integrate renewable energy systems like biomass, geoexchange, solar thermal and waste heat into this natural gas system all because the barrier for entry is lower. The bouncer at the old steam heating system was pretty strict – you had to be 190 C to get in. Now you only have to get the temperature up to 80 C. It turns out you can save lots of money, and carbon emissions, by replacing those creaky old turn of the century steam pipes. 

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Tags: Renewable Energy

Feb. 19, 2013 — Cow poop isn't typically thought of as a valuable resource. Oh sure, you can spread it on farmer's fields as a fertilizer but too much and it can foul your water supply not too mention it's not the most popular smell. But with a process called anaerobic digestion that cow poop can be turned into electricity, heat, a near odourless fertilizer and and animal bedding. Learn how it's done and why one Ontario dairy farmer went down the biogas route this week at Green Energy Futures.  More…

Tags: Renewable Energy

Feb. 8, 2013 — Run-of-river hydro electric projects have been popping up all over British Columbia in the past five years. In fact they're up 45 projects with many more on the way. We explore the Fitzsimmons Creek run-of-river project. It's a 7.5 megawatt powerplant that puts out enough juice to meet the annual demand of the Whistler Blackcomb resort. Learn how this technology works, its advantages over traditional hydro development and its downsides this week at Green Energy Futures.  More…

Tags: Hydro

Feb. 1, 2013 — The difference between the CIRS building and a typical campus building is the difference between a store bough supermarket tomatoes that you get in February to the ones ripened on the vine in your garden that you eat in September. Alive is not a word you use to describe buildings very often but this four-story 60,000 square foot building on the UBC campus in Vancouver is practically a living, breathing creature. It treats its own waste, it interacts symbiotically with its neighbors and it even gathers and cleans all of its own drinking water.

Learn about the CIRS building this week at Green Energy Futures. 

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Tags: Solar Energy, Renewable Energy, Geothermal, Energy Efficiency

Jan. 29, 2013 — We head down into the sewer, not to hang out with Michelangelo and the rest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but to explore a unique district heating scheme that's over 2.7 million square feet in Vancouver. It's called sewage heat recovery and it's the only system of its kind in North America.  More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency

Jan. 22, 2013 — There is a snappy acronym out there for the most visible bike commuter out there, they're called MAMILs, middle-aged-men-in-lycra. And Vancouver got to its place as one of the most friendly cities in Canada not by focusing on MAMILs but by focusing on people who weren't nearly as proficient as riding in traffic. By making it more comfortable for the non-MAMILs out there (which is practically everyone)  them they've seen bike trips grow by 180 per cent over the past 15 years. In fact, 12 out out of every 100 trips is done on a bike in Vancouver

This week we examine how Vancouver became the biking mecca it did and the lessons other cities and communities can take away from this important example of energy efficient, low-cost design. More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency

Jan. 15, 2013 — With more than 700 companies, the cleantech sector has emerged as a major driver of innovation and employment growth in Canada, investing almost $2 billion in research and development and seeing an 11% increase in employment between 2008 and 2010. Yet Canada currently captures just 1 per cent of the $1 trillion global clean technology industry. It is estimated that, as this industry grows to a projected $3 trillion by 2020, Canadian clean technology companies have the potential to increase their market share from today’s $9 billion to $60 billion. What can be done to ensure that Canada grows in concert with this rapidly expanding industry? Find out this week as we explore what Canada's clean energy entrepreneurs need to rock the cleantech world. 

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Tags: Renewable Energy

Jan. 3, 2013 — Prairie bamboo, salix, willow. It's a common plant and near ubiquitous in North America. It turns out that a novel scheme to treat the waste of small towns and counties with fast growing, easily planted willow stands means a nearby, reliable source of biomass for any number of end uses. Learn how the county of Camrose southeast of Edmonton is treating their waste, increasing biodiversity, ensuring a healthier water supply and heating their main county office building with this interesting idea.  More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency, Biofuels

Dec. 10, 2012 — Join us as we dive into our archives and give you our favourite clips, photos and stories from 2012. We dig up stuff that didn't make it in and give a fun, behind the scenes look at Green Energy Futures.  More…

Tags: Renewable Energy

Dec. 3, 2012 — Think of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia as an early stage renewable version of Alberta's oilsands. It's home to some of the highest and most powerful tides in the world. The Minas Passage, where the shoreline and coastline conspire to pinch together creates some of the fastest flood tides in the world. 

It's still early in the game however as the best technologies are being tried out to figure out the best solution for what is one of the most inhospitable environments for turbines in the world. Learn about the technology, go on the water and meet a developer who's getting into the tidal power game in this episode. More…

Tags: Tidal & Wave, Renewable Energy

Nov. 27, 2012 — Church Point on the south-eastern coast of Nova Scotia might not be the most popular tourist destination in the world but for sustainability nerds like us it's home to a neat little attraction. The main campus of the Francophone unversity St. Anne University. It might possibly be the greenest little campus in all of Canada.

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Tags: Wind Power, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Nov. 20, 2012 — It might be a surprise to see Walmart featured here at Green Energy Futures but when they apply their over-achieving corporate culture to the topic of sustainability, amazing things can happen.  More…

Tags: Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency

Nov. 14, 2012 — When Nova Scotia instituted its own version of the now legendary feed-in tariff well, you knew it was going to get its own community minded spin. This was a place that had cooperatives before it joined Confederation. The Antigonish Movement was a turn of the century micro-finance and community development initiative that was way ahead of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and Grameen bank. Nova Scotia's community feed-in tariff is an intriguing policy and we went to the Maritime province to get the skinny just on how this new policy is working.  More…

Tags: Wind Power, Renewable Energy

Nov. 7, 2012 — When you start talking about natural resources and Alberta you're typically talking about oil and gas but as it turns Alberta is home to another world class natural resource - solar energy. 

We went to the Canadian Solar Industry Association's Solar West Symposium to get the skinny on Alberta's burgeoning solar scene. We also talked to Diana McQueen, Alberta's minister for the environment and sustainable resource development who was the keynote speaker at the event. 

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Tags: Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Oct. 31, 2012 — One of the most powerful tools you have to reduce your own energy consumption is to do a full and honest accounting of just how much energy you use and to go over the solutions with a professional. A professional home energy audit helps you whether you want to reduce your carbon emissions or just spend less money. This week we talk to one of the most experienced efficiency experts out there and lay out the best tips and tricks on how to save the planet, your wallet or both. 

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Tags: Energy Efficiency

Oct. 24, 2012 — Learn about a voluntary, market-based mechanism by an innovative little electricity retailer in Alberta that's supporting solar micro-generators. This week we tell the story of the Light Up Alberta program. If you are interested in solar and live in Alberta you should check this episode out.  More…

Tags: Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Oct. 16, 2012 — The humble pumpjack is a ho-hum bit of oilfield infrastructure. It's a reciprocating pump that moves oil out of the ground. It's not something you give a lot of thought to but one Alberta company has figured out how to make green power from the downswing. Learn about the Enersaver. More…

Tags: Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency

Oct. 5, 2012 — Manufacturing solar photovoltaic modules can be a tricky game. Get a glimpse of the ups and downs of this growing industry as we talk to a solar industry veteran.  More…

Tags: Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Sept. 25, 2012 — Phil Dayson has paid his dues when it comes to electric vehicles. He's worked with, owned and sold an electric-vehicle company. He's driven a electric rebuild of a Geo Metro for eight years. So when he got his hands on a brand new bright red Chevy Volt, well you imagine. This weel we talk to Dayson and get a sense of what it's like to own and operate an electiric vehicle.  More…

Tags: Electric Vehicles

Sept. 25, 2012 — Mike Brigham is the president of SolarShare, a not-for-profit cooperative with a mission to grow community-based solar electricity generation in Ontario by offering Ontarians tangible financial, social and environmental returns. Their greatest achievment? The solar bond, a $1000 bond that pays five per cent a year for five year. The money raised by these bonds functions as a downpayment for solar projects throughout the province. It's an opportunity for regular people to see the financial upside of Ontario's feed-in tariff. Learn more aboubt this innovative program. 

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Tags: Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Sept. 20, 2012 — Heidi Eijgel is a horse farmer who raises stout, muscular riding and and driving horses. She lives at the end of a gravel road surrounded by dozens of wind turbines - and that's the way she likes it. 

Learn about her story as well as her speaking tour of Ontario in this week's episode on Green Energy Futures.  More…

Tags: Wind Power, Renewable Energy

Sept. 6, 2012 — This week we tell the tale of two wind farms. One led by a local cooperative, the other a more straight ahead corporate development. There are important lessons to learn from both. The Peace Energy Cooperative led the way in setting up a wind farm that not only overlooks the city of Dawson Creek, it defines it. Meanwhile down the road Edmonton based Capital Power is taking advantage of the strong winter winds in a more remote area to deliver solid returns to investors. We visit them while they constructed this project and the scale is breathtaking. More…

Tags: Wind Power

Aug. 30, 2012 — How did Ontario kick start the development of hundreds of renewable energy projects? You can pin it down to a simple wunder-policy – the Green Energy Act. This bit of law acts like a German style feed-in tariff. Essentially everybody with an electricity bill pays a bit more every month so that renewable energy systems can get established.

Put another way, electric utilities are obligated to buy renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, hydro etc.) at above-market rates set by the government.

  More…

Tags: Wind Power, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy, Hydro, Energy Efficiency, Biofuels

Aug. 28, 2012 — Ontario's green energy revolution didn't spring fully formed from the ocean on a clamshell like Botticelli's Venus. These things take hard work, organization, a rallying point and successful projects. That's where North America's first urban wind turbine comes in. Dubbed the Capital Ex Turbine it went up in 2012 and brought together the people and resources necessary to spawn a green energy revolution in Canada's most populous province.

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Tags: Wind Power, Renewable Energy

June 20, 2012 — Dawson Creek is in the heart of oil and gas country in the Northern Rockies and is famously located at Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. Yet, everywhere you look are signs of green energy. From solar powered speed signs to solar thermal hot water systems on the majority of its public buildings you quickly get a sense that this city is already looking beyond fossil fuels. More…

Tags: Wind Power, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

June 13, 2012 — Changing your lighting is the easiest and best way to use less energy. The return on investment for buying energy efficient lighting is off the charts compared to things like solar panels on your roof. They also have the distinct advantage of being a lot cheaper.

Learn about LEDs, CFLs, a ten million light bulb and the most energy efficient light of all time. More…

Tags: Energy Efficiency

June 4, 2012 — Ground source heat pumps heat over 100,000 buildings in Canada. Discover how you can heat your home with just three degrees from the ground and some electricity. More…

Tags: Geothermal

May 24, 2012 — Dan Balaban is the president of Greengate Power and a wind energy entrepreneur. He has gone from no experience in renewable energy to cutting deals for the largest wind farms in Canada in five years.

He’s brash, bold and confident and he’s pulling off big projects in a province that doesn’t have any subsidies and has an electrical grid dominated by coal. More…

Tags: Wind Power

May 11, 2012 — he idea that a home could produce as much energy as it consumes has been a reality for at least five years. Called net-zero homes, cutting edge homebuilders have pushed the envelope and created monuments to efficiency, air-tightness and insulation.

Now comes the slightly less sexy but just as important next step–take the best ideas from the net-zero concept homes and work them into everyday Canadian homes. More…

Tags: Solar Energy, Geothermal

May 11, 2012 — Learn how Enmax and their Generate Choice program is making solar energy accessible to a wide swath of Albertans. They handle the permitting, the interconnection, installation and maintenance. Meet the households that took the solar energy plunge. More…

Tags: Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

May 4, 2012 — The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) launched its alternative energy program this year and six times as many students applied as they could accept! Their shiny new labs have working geothermal, solar and fuel cell systems. We speak to teachers and students of this new program. More…

Tags: Wind Power, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy, Hydro, Geothermal, Biofuels

April 30, 2012 — Chris Turner, the author of The Geography of Hope and The Leap, has made a career out of focusing on and writing about positive solutions to the climate, energy and environmental challenges we face. The next industrial revolution will have us replacting our old system with renewable energy in the next 50 years. We spoke with Chris Turner to see what that future will look and feel like. More…

Tags: Wind Power, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Aug. 11, 2011 — Medicine Hat's "Hat Smart" program looks to increase the cities use of renewables by 25 per cent by 2020. Green Energy Futures spoke with Alderman Ted Clugston of the City of Medicine Hat for his take on the future of energy in his city. More…

Tags: Wind Power, Solar Energy, Geothermal, Energy Labelling, Energy Efficiency