Nosing into Nanticoke

So, Tyler Hamilton and I got a rare peak inside of Nanticoke a couple weeks ago.
Tyler cover's clean technology for The Star, which means he's far smarter than me. At least on this topic.
(I'm a better volleyball player, right Tyler? Not that I'm competitive.....)

It was the first trip by journalists into the place in a year. They're rare, for reasons the staff couldn't articulate. At first I thought it might stem from security concerns --  ie. showing too much of the essential nuts and bolts of our energy system to terrorists, or angry hippies, or the folks at Greenpeace, who last year piled into a dinghy and tried to interrupt a shipment of coal enroute to the plant. But then, it could be that Nanticoke has been on the top-three-places-to-despise list of many people for the past couple years, since Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers made the bestseller list. (If you haven't read it, head out to the library right now. Really excellent.) And really, who likes to be unpopular?

The truth is, unless you've signed up for Bullfrog Power and are paying an extra $1 a day for clean electricity to be pumped into South Ontario's grid, Nanticoke is part of your daily life.

If you want to take a peak, check out this little video I shot while there. (Sorry for the odd bumby picture. We were walking too fast at times to set up a tripod.)

-- Catherine Porter

Comments

[D Redmond]

Regarding Nanticoke, I have to agree with Carol Chudy of Clean Affordable Energy Alliance that retrofitting Nanticoke until Green Energy can be transitioned into maintstream energy use is a better solution for now. I investigated Bullfrog Power and found our electrical bills would increase by $80-90 dollars each billing. We are trimming the wattage fat in our household more and more but like a lot of families are juggling tight fiscal responsibilities. We don't have air conditioning or plan to get it, most of our lights are low wattage flourescents,and we use appliances mostly in non-peak hours. We also use a clothesline and an indoor drying rack. We hope to purchase and integrate Solarvoltaic cells into our home within the next 2-3 years.

Unfortunately I still meet people who don't equate energy consumption with leaving lights on or running heating & air conditioning at human comfort levels all day, even when they're not at home. There are definite savings in more conservative energy use and priceless benefits. I wonder whether people are living in denial about the environment because of fear, selfishness or a human genetic gliche to ingraining the survival advantages of long-term generational planning. I wish I knew.

[Kev Smith]

So have people figured out the damage due to CFL and mercury?

I even got caught up in the propaganda and bought some until one broke and i realized the danger involved. And what happens to all those which are tossed in the trash or recycle bin and are broken.

[Paul Millott]

Dear Sir,

I would just like to correct the terminology used.

The effect which converts photons of light into electricity is known as the PHOTOVOLTAIC effect.

Solarvoltaic is a Brand name and registered trade mark of the company Solar Voltaic. This is a 15 year old company. www.solarvoltaic.com

I appreciate you advertising our name but you really should correct the terminology and use Photovoltaic instead of Solar Voltaic.

Paul Millott
Solar Voltaic.