Green Energy Futures

381. King is Dead, Long live the King

King Coal is Dead. Long live the King. King Coal is Dead. Long Live the King. Alberta burned it's last lump of coal to produce electricity on June 16, 2024 at 10:57 pm. We look at what it all means and where Alberta goes from here in our story.

373. Alberta’s new renewable energy rules – a red tape solution in search of a problem

New rules red tape in search of a problem Alberta has clarified what it meant about extensive no-go zones in its new rules for renewable energy. The province has laid down a raft of restrictions on an industry that was booming just a year ago. We talk to Vittoria Bellissimo of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association to get the lowdown.

364. Decentralised Energy Canada turns 20 – Interview with founder Anouk Kendall

Decentralized Energy Canada turns 20 Investment in solar, wind and other distributed forms of energy is booming, but it wasn't back when Decentralized Energy Canada set up shop. We talk to president and founder Anouk Kendall on their 20th Anniversary.

369. Town of Raymond told wouldn’t work was first to get to net-zero electricity

369. Town of Raymond told solar wouldn't work was first to get to net-zero electricity - Green Energy Futures Municipalities Taking Climate Action – Part IV By David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca The town of Raymond, Alberta was told that solar wouldn’t work on the buildings in their town in southern Alberta but that didn’t stop them from going solar. Raymond is a town of 4,200 people located an hour s...

Integrating millions of solar and wind farms, EVs, heat pumps and a myriad of other decentralized energy resources into the grid requires innovative new approaches. It will help us create the more reliable, affordable, resilient and emissions-free grid we need.

This is the impetus behind the Energy Innovation Challenge hosted by Decentralised Energy Canada (DEC) and the City of Medicine Hat.

The two partners just announced the winners of the first round in the challenge and they are Arcus Power and Edgecom Energy, both companies specialize in big data, software and the integration of these resources in the most cost-effective way.

Medicine Hat dipped its toes in the renewable energy revolution when they supported the construction of a small 6-megawatt wind farm right in their City. The City is now looking at acquiring a large solar farm, also right in the City.

The two winners will each deploy their solutions in the city to being the process of gearing up to integrate these resources.

“So what we’re proposing to do is a full-scale rollout of really granular energy monitoring across 10 facilities in Medicine Hat,” says Behdad Bahrami, CEO of Edgecom.

“So what we’re going to develop is a distributed energy simulation model for the City of Medicine Hat’s electric grid,” says Dan Erhardt, CEO of Arcus Power.

“We’re going to identify locations where they can position primarily battery assets in their system that will solve for resiliency, reliability, cost, and sustainability-based objectives in their system,” says Erhardt.

It's all about the City updating its grid to get ready for the energy transition that is already well underway. And its about making much more efficient use of existing grid infrastructure by using plenty of capacity that is currently not used during non-peak times, which is most of the time.

The result will save money on building new infrastructure and it will help the

City-owned utility makes much more cost-effective and efficient use of existing grid resources.

Learn more in our blog and video story:

Anouk Kendall SkyFire Energy Decentralised Energy Canada Jesse Row Municipal Climate Change Action Centre

Everything is electric! Winners of the Energy Innovation Challenge will pilot their solutions for integrating solar, wind, batteries and EVs in the Medicine Hat grid.

384. Rising – Big breakthrough is coming

Geothermal Rising - Big Breakthrough Coming The long awaited breakthrough for geothermal energy could be upon us. Demand for energy security, renewable baseload electricity and dramatic improvements in technology could mean the long-awaited Earth energy revolution is here.

374. lower than ICE, here, there and everywhere

EV's produce fewer lifecycle emissions You've seen the memes - but it turns out EVs do produce a lot fewer emissions than ICE vehicles even in countries with dirty grids.

371. lifts moratorium on renewables, but are new rules a poison pill?

Renewable energy unpaused in Alberta Alberta just lifted a six-month-old moratorium on new renewable energy projects, but are new rules a poison pill for the once booming industry?

363. Year of the Heat Pump

Year of the Heat Pump 2024 is the year of the heat pump! We found them in net-zero homes, water heaters and clothes dryers and it looks like they will become the dominant source of heating and cooling in the world.

380. Cracking the nut – breakthrough can provide and power anywhere

Geothermal breakthrough works anywhere EAVOR is an Alberta-based geothermal company that has pioneered a game-changing closed-loop geothermal technology that means you build it anywhere and produce base load heat and power.

383. Virtual Power Plants – make money, save the grid

Virtual Power Plants Virutal Power Plants or networks of smaller solar and energy storage systems can provide peaking power, save the grid and save us all money.

372. Ciel & Terre has made a thriving business installing floating around the world

Floating solar occupies unique niche Water treatment utilities, companies with quarry ponds and many others are installing floating solar to provide clean electricity all around the world.

379. Passive house multifamily in northern climate redefining just how infill can be

Green Infill This amazing Green Infill project has 16-units which replaced 2 single-family homes with tasteful townhome style passive house homes that is super energy efficient and is providing desperately needed new affordable housing

366. Helping municipalities take action to save energy and money, and reduce emissions

366. Helping municipalities take action to save energy and money, and reduce emissions - Green Energy Futures Not many people have heard of the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre, but since 2009 they have worked with more than 150 municipalities in Alberta to do energy efficiency projects, install solar and EV chargers and climate resilience action plans.

382. – Keep the farm in the farm and save the family farm

www.greenenergyfutures.ca

362. Bow Valley Green Energy Rocking It

Community Energy The Bow Valley Renewable Energy Cooperative started up during an economic downturn and the pandemic, but still completed four projects in just a few years.

376. EVs are driving the price of down

376. EVs are driving the price of electricity down - Green Energy Futures Contrary to what you might think the addition of millions of EVs to the U.S. has driven down the price of electricity.

365. Deploy energy storage save $600 million, get to net-zero

Deploy energy storage save $600 million, get to net-zero Energy storage and all of the technologies we need to get the grid to net-zero already exist to affordably transition the grid; government just needs to allow/facilitate their use through new tariffs and regulations says James Bererton.