Episodes

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. 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

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.

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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

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 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