Green Energy Futures

Walmart might not be the most popular company among the green set, but they have taken some amazing steps in the past few years to use renewable energy, become more energy efficient and create less waste. We visit their Fresh Food Distribution Centre in Balzac, Alberta, a marvel of energy efficiency right in our backyard. That's this week in Green Energy Futures CKUA Radio podcast. See video, blog...

When Nova Scotia instituted its feed-in tariff it had a community twist. After all this is the home of The Antigonish Movement, a turn of the century micro-finance and community development initiative that was way ahead of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and Grameen bank. This week on Green Energy Futures we take you to Nova Scotia to look at community wind power. See video, blog and photos: htt...

A new study confirms it. Alberta has the best solar potential in all of Canada. This news was announced at the Solar West Conference put on by the Canadian Solar Industry Asssociation and there was a buzz in the air at this well-attended event. We talk to solar industry veterans to get their take on Alberta's solar resource and how best to develop it. We also talk to Alberta's minister of environm...

A home energy audit is one of the most powerful tools you have to reduce your own energy consumption. It helps you become smart about saving money and reducing your carbon emissions. Join us for a home tour with an auditor on Green Energy Futures CKUA podcast. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/18-power-home-energy-audit

Light Up Alberta, is a program by small retailers that are paying $0.15 cents a kilowatt-hour for your excess solar electricity. Learn about LIght Up Alberta on this week's Green Energy Futures CKUA Radio podcast. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/17-light-alberta

The Enersaver creates electricity from the downswing of a oilfield pumpjack. With electricity being the single largest expense for a mature oilfield, saving 15 per cent on your electricity costs seems like a pretty good idea! Check out pumpjack powerplants on this week's Green Energy Futures CKUA Radio podcast. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/16-pumpjack-powerp...

This week on CKUA's Green Energy Futures we visit the Canadian Solar plant in Mississauga, Ontario, the province with the most solar in Canada. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/15/house-rising-sun-solar-manufacturing-canada

Phil Dayson is a man who loves his new Chevy Volt. "I've gone 6,698 km since the beginning of December and I've now used a tank and a half of gas and maybe $30 worth of electricity," says Dayson. We talk to Dayson about his Volt on Green Energy Futures, this week's CKUA podcast. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/14/rise-electric-car

Want to support solar energy? Buy a solar bond. "SolarShare is a cooperative that basically intends to build commercial-grade solar projects throughout Ontario and 30% of those we fund by selling public bonds," says Mike Brigham. "We’re now paying 5% per year on a 5-year bond." See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/13/solar-bonds-ethical-local-investing-solar-energy

If you have been paying attention to the wind energy debate in Ontario you might think that wind turbines have never been built in Canada before. Heidi Eijgel has lived with wind turbines in southern Alberta for more than a decade. On this week's Green Energy Futures we tell her experience living with wind and telling that story in Ontario. See blog, video and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures...

It's the cold winter winds that drive the wind turbines in British Columbia's Peace region and it's the song Winter Winds by Mumford and Sons that kicks off this week's podcast. This week on Green Energy Futures we tell the story of two entirely different wind projects in B.C., one led by the Peace Renewable Energy Cooperative, a community organization in Dawson Creek, and the other a corporate pr...

We start off this week's CKUA podcast with everyone's favourite 1967 Expo-era Ontario promotional tune. This earworm of a ditty was commissioned by the government of Ontario for the 1967 Expo in Montreal. While those Jetsonian fantasies didn’t come true Ontario is taking dramatic steps towards a renewable energy future. Imagine a place that is turning off all of its coal plants in just two years a...

Visible to hundreds of thousands of commuters and park goers every day the wind turbine at exhibition place on Toronto’s waterfront was a harbringer of the green energy revolution coming to Ontario. Developed by the TREC Renewable Energy Cooperative this was North America’s first urban wind turbine. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/09/how-torontos-waterfront-win...

Dawson Creek, British Columbia has gone all-in on renewable energy. A local grassroots group helped set up the province's first large scale wind development on a ridge just outside of town and the city has even started charging itself $100 a tonne for carbon. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/08/awesome-dawson-creek-northern-oil-and-gas-town-bets-big-renewable-en...

As the Sesame Street song goes, Cooperation Makes It Happen, and it was a cooperative - the Peace Energy Energy Cooperative - that made the 104 megawatt Bear Mountain Wind Park a reality. That cooperative has also been instrumental both as a source of talent and ideas for the city of Dawson Creek as they've embarked on a radically sustainable journey. Visit Bear Mountain Wind Park in this episode...

The landscape of lighting is changing again! We may have just gotten used to CFLs but LEDs are now on the scene. Listen to our expert Wayne Rogers of Luminessence Lighting break down the difference between these two important energy efficient lighting technologies on our CKUA podcast this week. See Green Energy Futures video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/07/green-light...

It's not every day you can walk down to your favourite retailer and purchase a $10 million dollar light bulb, but that's what you can do with the Phillips Ambient LED. The very first winner of the $10 million L-Prize, an initiative by the US Department of Energy to accelerate the shift from inefficient, out-dated lighting to high-quality, energy efficient products. See video, blog and photos: http...

Geothermal 101 – Leigh Bond is the president of Threshold Energy and has installed dozens of geothermal systems across western Canada. He says that in 70 per cent of the geothermal jobs he does, the customer forgoes without a natural gas hookup. See Green Energy Futures video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/06/geothermal-101

Geothermal heating isn't as complex as you would think. You drill some holes, sink some pipe and circulate water through the ground below the frost line which is a constant six degrees Celsius. That water goes through a ground source heat pump which is really just a larger, fancier version of the heat pump in your fridge. It strips three degrees off of that water, compresses it, raises the tempera...

Greengate Energy isn't a typical wind developer. Instead of locating their wind farms in the windy Pincher Creek area their first project was located in central Alberta near Halkirk. The reason? Access to transmission lines. Near Pincher Creek access to transmission lines is backed up, near Halkirk? Not a problem. Learn just how innovative Greengate Power is on this week's CKUA podcast. See Green...

Greengate Energy is Dan Balaban's third company that he's founded. Working exclusively in Alberta, he's behind some of Alberta's biggest wind projects including the 150 megawatt Halkirk wind project near Red Deer and the 300 megawatt Blackspring Ridge project 50 km north of Lethbridge, Alberta. Going from zero experience in wind energy to these heights didn't come instantly for Balaban, it's been...

Les Wold, managing partner with Effect Homes, lays out how a home can be designed to produce as much energy as it consumes. One of the key design elements is taking advantage of the free energy provided by the sun. By having a lot of south-facing glass and a thermally massive floor (in this case concrete) you can get 30 to 50 per cent of your home's heat for free. See Green Energy Futures vidoe, b...

Les Wold is part of the second wave of net-zero home builders who are bringing costs down on homes that produce as much energy as it consumes. Wold has learned some simple lessons from building one net-zero home and two net-zero ready homes right next to each other in the neighborhood of Belgravia in Edmonton. Join Green Energy Futures for a tour on this week's CKUA podcast. See video, blog and ph...

Enmax, the utility owned by the city of Calgary, is going where few utilities have gone before. Their Generate Choice program is aiming to put 8,300 solar systems on Alberta roofs. Learn how they plan to do it and the red tape they've already cut through in order to make it happen. Also, learn how much you get credited for when you export any excess electricity to the grid. See Green Energy Future...

Karl Kovacs has been obsessed with solar since he was young. Learn how Enmax's Generate Choice program helped him go solar. That's this week on Green Energy Futures CKUA podcast. See video, blog and photos: http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/03/simple-easy-low-cost-shelf-solar-how-enmax-making-it-reality