World Energy Outlook 2016 sees broad transformations in the global energy landscape

[chuckChuck]

Net zero homes don't need geothermal. Passive solar is enough if the design is done well as the thermal mass will release heat during the night. In our house the furnace doesn't come on during the day once the sun is shining. Cooking, lighting and other activities generate heat. We don't have enough thermal mass in our design. If your south facing glass to floor area ratio is too great, you will be opening your windows on winter days to cool down. We get a 1-3 degree gain above the thermostat with the sun alone in winter. The downside is without careful design, overheating in the spring summer and fall can be a problem. Thermal mass can help mitigate this problem as well, as mass will hold temperatures more steady like oceans or water bodies stabilize temperatures.

Net zero adds in the electrical generation with solar PV and can use solar thermal as well to add heat. All the technology is here it just needs to be applied.

The reason I can't answer the additional costs question is I am not in the business and Sask Power has the information. Why not ask them why they are installing wind and solar? There must be a good reason why they are considering wind and solar.

How many jobs are left in coal mining? Not many. The mines are open pit and the equipment is huge.

Manitoba has cheap hydro and lots of manufacturing because of it. Why can't we do the same?

Why not advocate smaller farms and keep more farmers farming. That would be good job creation.

Lots of value added industries would start here but the oil industry boom drove up the costs of labour.

[oneoff]

Bringing it all together with a perso's own wordsnI am not an expert in this area and this is a question for the planning team at Sask Power. But when ever you add additional renewable capacity then you can reduce the amount of fuel needed which reduces operating costs. So that will provide some savings.

Coal plants run at about 85% duty factor as they require maintenance and rebuilding as well. Wind and solar are both more productive during peak demand times during the day.

Base load from renewable hydro would be the best option which is available from Manitoba at lower costs than coal.

Gas is a good option as it can be revved up quickly when needed. Gas is not in short supply and reserves are likely to be greater than expected. Coal is finite as well.

If you have ever driven through oil producing regions there is alot of natural gas being flared. Obviously using it to generate electricity would be a better use.

There will be some duplication in costs with having multiple generation systems. I am not sure what the additional costs will be. But with solar and wind being used more and more, this will allow smaller producers to produce their own electricity and reduce distribution costs. Wind is now as cost effective as new gas. Remember the LCOE I posted.

The first and easiest option is reduce usage through efficiency gains. That is happening. But building codes are terrible when it comes to energy efficiency. Think of all the glass condos going up across the country. Hard to heat and hard to cool.

Net zero housing is technically possible in Canada and there are some examples across the country. Which means that houses can produce as much energy as they can use. With high efficiency standards they can use very little to start with. Take a look at this story http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/david-dodge/net-zero-homes_b_3313190.html

We have a passive solar house for a family of four, 2500 square feet of living space, 1600 ft heated shop in floor heat, gas barbecue and cook top, gas water heat, 3 weeks of drying grain with a single dryair heat exchanger on 1 fan using a 150,000 btu boiler. Total annual cost $1200. I am not bragging, but I just wanted to show what energy efficiency can save.



Someone else questioned


Chuck2, maybe you will answer my question. Properly located windmills have a 35% efficiency rating, meaning that over the period of a year they will produce on average 35% of their rated capacity. I believe solar is about 1/2 of wind. So there we can build 100% of our required capacity in wind, 100% of our capacity in solar and still on average only supply about 53% of our need. So we then have to build about 80% of our need with natural gas generation that is available when the other 2 aren't producing. Chuck2 without reprinting someone else's answer, just answer it yourself, does this seem logical or efficient to you? Imagine we now need 3 power lines instead of one. 3 forms of generation instead of 1. It also doesn't make sense to me that our primary finite source of heating fuel in this cold climate, natural gas, be used to generate electricity. Reply With Quote


And a certain admission that the yearly farm power bill was for some 50,000Kwh of usage


I'll believe 50,000Kwh at 11.23c/kwh is $5600 plus another 5% real soon and regular twice a year 5% increases for a long times; but a $1200 gas bill; probably omitting the approximately equal delivery charge seems a very reasonable cost; if not low.


Only problem is that natural gas is referred to as non renewable....and is bad; scheduled for taxes and ultimate cutbacks because of its property of burning cleanly to end products of water vapor and CO2. Just how are you going to rely on that dependable product and do nothing about your own CO2 pollution.

Sure is disheartening to see examples of those who don't practice what they preach for others to follow.

[seabass]

Advocate smaller farms? Really! Who would u actually get to do the work? All those college students crying over the fact Don Trump got elected. We are so screwed when u have people thinking up shit that they think we humans can control. Wasting money to fix problems we can't fix. My grandparents were more worried about eating and staying warm. Which is exactly what alot of people are still doing and you worry about putting up solar panels and windmills. Chuck u must be one of those wealthy trust fund babies that has to have a reason or a cause. Too much time to cut and paste internet shit. Will give u this tho. Joe Dales loves u.