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toronto star

Smart meters are here…. Get over it

October 8, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 598 views
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My Clean Break column, which now appears Friday in the Toronto Star, questions whether we have the capacity as a society to invest in long-term infrastructure transitions that don’t bear fruit right away. The knee-jerk reaction by some in Ontario (and other jurisdictions) to smart meters and time-of-using pricing is unfortunate... [read more]

Industrial efficiency plan for Ontario, finally

March 3, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 205 views
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My story in today’s Toronto Star is about a new industrial efficiency program that will soon be unveiled by the Ontario Power Authority. Under the plan, the province will agree to pay up to 70 per cent of the cost of an industrial energy retrofit, making it possible for the industrial energy user to achieve up to 30 per cent energy... [read more]

Car sharing gains traction with urban drivers

February 21, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 117 views
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Car-share services across North America are proving they’re not a passing fad as a growing percentage of urban dwellers — facing high parking prices, a lack of spaces, urban congestion and urban smog, not to mention higher fuel prices — are choosing to not own vehicles. Research firm Frost & Sullivan predicts car-sharing membership... [read more]

Is Vestas planning to lay roots in Ontario?

February 9, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 193 views
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I have a story in today’s Toronto Star about Vestas and why the world’s largest maker of wind turbines is seriously looking at setting up shop in Ontario. Vestas already has a large manufacturing footprint in Colorado, but its interest in southern Ontario has more to do with the potential North American market for offshore wind. So why... [read more]

Samsung deal: Criticism justified, but missing the bigger picture

January 25, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 331 views
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I have a column in today’s Toronto Star that’s bound to upset a number of solar and wind developers, and the investors behind them. I argue that the $7 billion Samsung deal announced last week in Ontario isn’t a bad deal at all, and that Ontario was right to jump on the opportunity when it presented itself. The deal is... [read more]

Samsung, Ontario ink $7 billion solar/wind manufacturing and development deal

January 21, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 513 views
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They’re calling it the largest integrated solar-wind deal of its kind in the world. Whether or not it’s true, there’s no question that this one ranks high. South Korean industrial giant Samsung Group signed a deal today with the Ontario government that will see 2,500 megawatts of solar and wind developments and construction of four... [read more]

Why wind developers can’t afford to make mistakes

January 9, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 167 views
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There’s an article in the Toronto Star today by real-estate lawyer Bob Aaron about the impact of stupidly planned wind projects (or any electricity project for that matter) on nearby property values. A resident in Ontario complained that his property taxes were too high because the assessed value of his property didn’t take into account... [read more]

Canadian Solar to build 200 MW module facility in Ontario

December 3, 2009 by Tyler Hamilton
with 188 views
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Looks like 500 solar module manufacturing jobs are coming to Ontario. According to my story this morning in the Toronto Star: Solar module maker Canadian Solar Inc. says it is preparing to establish a manufacturing facility in Ontario that will create 500 direct jobs to take advantage of a provincial green-energy program that mandates... [read more]

Ontario’s coming carbonomics controversy

June 14, 2009 by Tyler Hamilton
with 124 views
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I had a feature this weekend in the Toronto Star about the cap-and-trade system coming to Ontario and the likelihood an offsets market will be created a year or more before the 2012 launch of the program. The government here is working hard to align our own provincial system with the Western Climate Initiative, in which it is a... [read more]