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Florida Approves Largest Solar Power Plant in U.S.

redgreenandblue.org — The Florida Public Service Commission has “unanimously and enthusiastically” approved a plan to build America’s largest commercial solar-power plant in the state. The committee also gave the green light to a further two facilities, due to go on-line in 2009.

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  • cincylogistics, on 07/17/2008, -4/+34Now lets just see the rest of the states jump on this train to a better planet.
    • sweetwater88, on 07/18/2008, -1/+10Speaking of trains. The US still doesn't have bullet trains.
    • AeonTorpor, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3AZ would already have some sort of movement going for this if the good ol' US of A gov't hadn't pulled the strings and stopped the plan.
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Except that most states CAN'T jump on this train because they don't get nearly enough sun to make it worhtwhile.

      And by worthwhile, I don't just mean that it is bad financially. I mean that the energy and resources required to make the solar panels and the plant is more than what the panles would produce in their lifetime due to the lack of usable sunlight in many states.
      • bradhart2, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2no but they can promote various other forms of alternative fuels but won't do that either. Most states could greatly cut their own fuel budget, reduce CO2 and significantly improve air quality by planting biofuel crops in the medium strip between their highways.
      • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0And you have done extensive studies to know how well this would workm have you?

        Nice to shut down a land of the highway to harvest these biofuel crops, by the way
    • Suprfire, on 07/18/2008, -1/+2FLORIDA, ***** YEAH!
    • bradhart2, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2I think for any corporation to get a tax break, especially for building new buildings, they should have to install a solar or wind power station on their roof.
      • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0Again...in MOST states in this country, solar power is not only not useful, it is BAD for the environment, because the energy required to product and install the panels is greater than what the panels will produce. Not every state gets usable sunlight 350 days of the year.
    • N01SE, on 07/18/2008, -1/+2not quite so simple as "jumping on" but I like your naive enthusiasm. Thanks to jerrycurley for bringing up some of the complexity involved. You can't just sit back and say let's all do this or that, you have to actually understand how alternative energy sources work, how they are manufactured, and their advantages/disadvantages in the field, only knowing that they provide alternative energy is simply not good enough in discussion.
      • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0Well, that is the problem. the children of Digg think that they are experts on everything. And that they are SUCH experts that they can logically come to good solutions with just a tiny bit of background information. None of them understand how the real world works. Look at bradhart's comment as a perfect example. Once while riding in the car with his mommy and daddy, he looked at the median and thought, "Hmm, what if they planted stuff there." And that was good enough for him. Suddenly that becomes a a no brainer. It SHOULD be done, and only isn't done because governments are evil.
  • scotq, on 07/17/2008, -1/+75It is about time, what better place to promote solar technology than the Sunshine State?
    • peestandingup, on 07/18/2008, -14/+11The Sunshine State thing is BS, by the way. It rains damn near every day in FL.

      Disney are the ones responsible for coming up with the slogan to attract more people.

      Now Arizona. There's a freakin Sunshine State!
      • KnightWhoSaysNi, on 07/18/2008, -1/+6It rains almost every day, but it's over in 15 minutes. That's pretty cool.

      • JayRD, on 07/18/2008, -1/+4I live here and it only rains damn near every day... in the rainy season. After that it's sunny and dry as a bone for a couple of months.
      • Pronation, on 07/18/2008, -2/+3Obviously this guy doesn't live in Florida.
      • peestandingup, on 07/18/2008, -2/+10Wikipedia: "Florida's nickname is the "Sunshine State", but severe weather is a common occurrence in the state. Central Florida is known as the lightning capital of the United States, as it experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country. Florida has the highest average precipitation of any state, in large part because afternoon thunderstorms are common in most of the state from late spring until early autumn."

        Also, FL was officially nicknamed The Sunshine State by the board of Legislature in 1970, which was heavily influenced by the Disney Corp at the time. Disney World opened in 1971. Hmmmm.

        If you bitches are gonna digg me down, then prove me wrong.
      • bphicke, on 07/18/2008, -1/+3I would have to dig around to find it, but I remember reading an article a while back that said Florida was actually near the top of the list for most cloudy days every year.
      • crazycraka, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Haha its so true I remember when I first moved here during hurricane season a couple years ago, it literally rained every single day for like 4 months straight.. Plus not the mention the random power outages you get when it rains..

        I used to live in new york and my power NEVER went out when it rained.. Ever
    • Asianwaste, on 07/18/2008, -2/+5Was going to say a state with less storms and overcast, but someone crudely beat me to it.
    • usafdave, on 07/18/2008, -3/+4ahhh... the sunshine state. Denver, gorgeous... GORGEOUS

      ...what? Nobody's seen Old School? *buries self*
      • burjzyntski, on 07/18/2008, -1/+1I was thinking someplace that doesn't get as many hurricanes or tornadoes...
        It's a huge expense to install and maintain all of those solar panels, and it only takes a direct hit from a tornado or hurricane to ruin it all. My mom works for FPL (Florida Power & Light), so I hear about energy-related news on an almost daily basis. FPL Group, strangely enough, is the nation's #1 energy provider, and this will be their second solar plant...their first one, again, strangely enough, is located in the Mojave Desert, some 2000miles from home.

        But yeah, it's is pretty cool that it's in my county.
  • acero47, on 07/17/2008, -1/+107Finally, a story about Florida that doesn't include any crazy things (diaper wearing astronauts, voting screw-ups, giant confederate flags, etc.). Makes me proud.
    • DeathJux, on 07/18/2008, -1/+17lol, that's exactly what I thought!

      "Finally, Florida isn't ***** something up!"
      • suntzusputnik, on 07/18/2008, -0/+7though you do realize that it won't go online in 2009 like it says, and it won't stay on budget
    • MOJIRA, on 07/18/2008, -2/+3Don't forget all the teachers sleeping with their students and 80 year olds buying crack and hookers.
    • dvsbastard, on 07/18/2008, -0/+5Don't jump the gun, it's still just a plan... there are still plenty of opportunities to screw things up along the way! :P
    • StrangeFamous, on 07/18/2008, -0/+5Don't forget about how the state spent 1.75 billion dollars to buy up 187,000 acres of sugar plantation in order to return it to it's natural state of wetlands and restore the flow of clean water to the everglades. Props to Florida for stepping up with it's efforts at sustainability.
    • megamod, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1make me proud my 2nd home away from home :'-)
      (I'm originally from Brazil. Living in GA now)
  • gavinhudson, on 07/17/2008, -5/+8woop!
  • MxM111, on 07/17/2008, -1/+10What is interesting (at least for me) that one of those plants is photovoltaic! I wander why they decided to do it on this scale, when usually other types of solar plant are cheaper and more efficient. May be because it is build in Kennedy Space Center and there you can not build towers?
    • Barbarino, on 07/18/2008, -0/+4Well, it could help drive costs down so home owners can buy their own PV systems, so I'm all for it.
  • MattgUP, on 07/17/2008, -4/+61We should be careful, Solar is a dangerous technology. Do you know how many people are burned by the sun each year? Scientists say a lot. I think we should be focusing on the development of safe clean technologies like clean coal!
    • Rodalli, on 07/18/2008, -4/+15Pah! You are sooooo living in the past..."clean" coal and sunshine are both wasteful technologies. The government should be pouring more research dollars into harvesting the energy of the human body, like they did in The Matrix!!!

      OMG WAKE UP AMERICA!!!11!
    • santaliqueur, on 07/18/2008, -6/+5Screw solar. COAL 4 LIFE!
    • dvsbastard, on 07/18/2008, -3/+2This concept (a challenge to create an ad to support global warming) was actually attempted on Australian TV show, with some rather funny results!

      Check out the video here (fast forward to about the 18:00 minute mark):
      http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/latestshow. ...
  • alecsputnik, on 07/17/2008, -1/+29the sunshine state has earned it's name.
    • Aero347, on 07/18/2008, -2/+1but does not necessarily dictate the attitude of the people there..
      • captmorgan555, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1And our attitude is?
      • marx2k, on 07/18/2008, -1/+1captmorgan555: "Get off my lawn"/"My daughter is also my niece so I'd tap it"?
      • captmorgan555, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1marx2k: Your not worth the effort.
  • psud0, on 07/17/2008, -2/+20This is great news.
  • videoclipsmiami, on 07/18/2008, -1/+15It's about time that this technology is used in a larger scale.
  • Garganturat, on 07/18/2008, -1/+24Will they survive a hurricane?
    • suntzusputnik, on 07/18/2008, -1/+8they will, florida enforces a rigid building code for precisely that
      • liuite, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1I wouldn't be so sure. the building code might not guarantee against destruction in a category 5 storm involving 150+ mph wind. that would also depend on if there will be debris flying around. wind at that speed probably can pick up a branch or sign post and toss it like a javelin.
      • marx2k, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2"wind at that speed probably can pick up a branch or sign post and toss it like a javelin."

        Yes, but can it pick up a javelin and toss it like a branch or a sign post?
      • suntzusputnik, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1@liuite

        in the event of category 5 hurricanes over 150 mph, most if not all things fail regardless of their engineering at this point.
  • Gforce20, on 07/18/2008, -0/+33Put these in Arizona! Put the ungodly heat over here to good use for once.
  • depositcoupon, on 07/18/2008, -11/+1Hi.
    • Asianwaste, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3This guy's name just wreaks of potential spamming. This post just sorta proves he's new at it.
  • imapluralist, on 07/18/2008, -2/+11Nice try for the picture! ...mountains in the background.
  • wonderworm, on 07/18/2008, -15/+10WHEN THE OIL MARKET GET'S THE NEWS THAT THIS COUNTRY AND THE NEXT PRESIDENT IS SERIOUS ABOUT A MASSIVE RENEWABLE ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE, ................................................Gas will quickly be back to $2.00 gallon. BUT this won't happen with that other guy who was a "D" student and almost "failed out of school" even with tutors. Idiots don't understand economics nor solutions, they only understand violence. Come on Florida please, no more stupid people making decisions.
    • cmorriss, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3Last time I checked, our electricity didn't come from oil. Coal might get cheaper on the other hand, but I don't think that's much of an issue. When cars get more fuel efficient or start switching to electric, we might see a drop in the price of oil/gas, which by the way I'm all for.

      It's important to keep the two separate until they become connected.
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3Wow...perhaps hte most ignorant post ever on Digg.

      Congratulations.
    • jspegele, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Hi. Welcome to the real world. Where gas will never go back to $2 a gallon no matter how much we focus on renewable energy.
    • megamod, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1OH MY EYES, the CAPSLOCK...IT BURNS!!!
  • Draculecom, on 07/18/2008, -3/+1They obviously didn't vote on this energy efficient measure.
  • RRJackson, on 07/18/2008, -1/+2I'd like to photograph these while they're under construction. Guess I need to send out some email...
  • easypie, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0So be it.
  • suntzusputnik, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3they say 2009, but i fear it'll take longer and run over-budget... if it were developed and run by the private sector on the other hand...
    • iamdan1, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2FPL knows what they are doing. They are the leading green electric company in the world, using every type of energy available, so they should be able to build these plants on budget and on time.
      • suntzusputnik, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1its FPL then, ok, i overlooked that in the article. it should be fine then.
    • DavidtheDuke, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2If it were led by the private sector, it would be done quickly, and the electric bills from the plant would be quadruple afterwards to "cover the costs".
  • Barbarino, on 07/18/2008, -0/+10In other news our electric rates are going up 18%, 9% in August and another 9% in Jan and State Farm is seeking a 47.1% increase in homeowners insurance...

    But hey, solar is great, too bad at the rate people are leaving south florida, we could shut off few plants!
  • chrisduser, on 07/18/2008, -1/+5Bugs Bunny is not moved by this news.
  • gringodude01, on 07/18/2008, -1/+24From the Article:

    The largest, a 75-megawatt plant in Martin County on the East Coast, will be connected to a natural gas plant. Another 25-megawatt plant in DeSoto County will be the largest photovoltaic facility in the country, while a third, 10-megawatt photovoltaic facility is to be housed at the Kennedy Space Center.

    --------

    Ok, let's see how this compares with other energy production in Florida. Florida has almost no hydroelectric, so it principally gets energy from Natural Gas, Coal, Nuclear, and miscellaneous sources (including 2/3 of the nation's petroleum coke and significant petroleum liquids). Specifically in 2004 (the last year for which I have data), 29% of the energy was produced from Coal, 36% from natural gas, and 15% from nuclear. Miscellaneous sources (where I guess solar will one day fit) were 21% of the total production.

    Now we see that the three plants listed above produce a total of 110 MW of electricity. How does that compare, for example, with the nuclear power plants in Florida? Well there are 5 units. One unit at Crystal River can produce 842 MW, the two units at St Lucie (near Stuart) can produce 1678 MW, and Turkey Point (south of Miami) produces 1386 MW. The St Lucie reactors together were 43% of the nuclear production or about 6% of the total energy production. And St Lucie will produce 15 times the total of the three solar plants. Thus, by my calculations the three solar plants together will produce 0.4% of the electrical needs of Florida.

    Don't blow the trumpet too loud! A more significant investment is needed.
    • xcheats, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0Agreed. I believe they should put more focus into hydroelectric. I know when I spent some time in the Keys a couple years back, there was massive movement of water between the Keys during tidal changes. Seemed like an excellent place to put some sort of hydro generator.
    • Smashure, on 07/18/2008, -1/+4I live in St. Lucie County, and have for the 23 years of my life. Those nuclear reactors are amazing. There's no smoke or smog, and there have never been any other negative side effects to the immediate environment. If anything the federal govt should remove it's block on any new nuclear facilities being built.

      As far as the long term effects on the environment (not even sure where FPL sends it's nuclear waste) I probably need to do more research.
    • philhatesyou, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1It's worse than that, actually. Not one of these articles mentions how much land this would take. If Florida wants to get it's power from Solar, they should be prepared to cover the Everglades in panels.
    • minox, on 07/18/2008, -1/+2What's funny is that Gore isn't about to promote nuclear power plants, when they are really our best option and happen to create a lot of jobs.

      Also it is slightly funny that environmentalists dont complain about hundreds of acres of "pristine" coastal land being despoiled by fields of pv panels.
    • Barbarino, on 07/18/2008, -0/+150% of all power used here is used for cooling homes, the need is the highest during the day, thus shifting to solar for day time power needs makes sense then at night coal can take over but can be dialed back during the day thus off setting emissions etc.
  • Crossmenjeff, on 07/18/2008, -4/+9and one hurricane later florida will have the largest nonworking solar plant in the world.
    • Jumangi, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1LOL, thats the first thing I thought of. I could see money being spent on solar in a state like Arizona but Florida? Find something that's more practical for your environment.
  • gringodude01, on 07/18/2008, -1/+2Not necessarily.

    By the way, here is an interesting document from the DOE about projections in energy expansion. One area of interest is that there is an expectation of wind electricity generation to increase greatly. One area of astonishment is that the report assumes the price of natural gas and petroleum will fall after peaking before 2010. I disagree with this assessment.

    http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/trend_3.pdf
  • waldo21, on 07/18/2008, -0/+4What the story doesn't say is that there is going to be a small tariff added to each FPL customer's bill. It is pretty small, and I would personally be for it.
  • Iconoclastic, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0Spectacular news. I am pleased to know that there are steps being taken in the right direction, and have the sincerest hope that this will set a precedent for future improvements. Perhaps now they can turn their attention to their futile attempt to fight the natural receding of the Atlantic coastal margin- a program which has cost ridiculous sums of tax payer dollars.

    http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/programs/bchero ...

    http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4217 ...
  • gringodude01, on 07/18/2008, -1/+3As would I. A small sacrifice to get the ball rolling would be a joy to pay.
  • Brownies21, on 07/18/2008, -2/+4Aren't those solar panels going to get f'ed up because of all those hurricanes?
  • ptFoe, on 07/18/2008, -0/+7not a bad considering half of its residents are asleep at sunset
  • z28com, on 07/18/2008, -0/+5I have been so sick and tired of seeing nothing but constant gloom & doom in the news. This is a sight for sore eyes. Our bills should be going down, not up for this. What kind of BS is that? Once everything is paid for, it's all free power!! We should only be paying for the maintenance of keeping the panels clean and making sure wires don't dry rot or what not.

    Everyone living in Florida should have their entire roof converted to a solar panel and have free energy forever.
  • gringodude01, on 07/18/2008, -0/+6It will take a long time to pay for the investment. That's why there is a surcharge. Nothing comes for free.

    The best renewable electrical project I've seen in Florida is the proposal at FAU to capture the Gulf Stream with large propellers undersea. Here is a link to the FAU site:

    http://coet.fau.edu/?p=pilot

    1000 turbines = 20 MW. Again, it's a serious investment.

    It's part of an investment in higher education in Florida for research and technology:

    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5CNK/is_200 ...

    Anyway, there is a lot going on. I'm motivated because of Gore's speech, but the truth is we have a lot of work to do to recover the future of our country from the claws of the oil monopoly.
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0I was intrigued by the concept of harnessing the energy of waves. Not by having the water push propellers, but by having the constantly riasing and lower of the water due to wave action force air through turbines. I believe the first company to use it was WaveGen, in Scotland I think. It seems to me that we hve oe of the largest coastlines in the world. That is lot of wave energy going to waste.
  • adammharvey, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1I live in Florida and I had no clue about this, isn't that just interesting stuff being past without the knowledge of a voter hmm. either way good investment, expensive but still good.
  • chase001, on 07/18/2008, -2/+3I accidentally heard the funniest thing yesterday. My grandmother insists on watching Faux News and while walking past her room heard O'lielly refer to offshore drilling as "alternative energy".
    • use2bacanadian, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0Too bad that Oreilly would kick your ass in a one on one intellectual argument.
      • travis1982, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1I ***** new you admire that complete retard, O'Reilly. Wow...I think that answers everything. Now I know why ALL of your information is complete bias *****, because you refer to ***** O'Reilly!! hahaha.
      • chase001, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1He would have been an excellent used car salesman before Reagan got rid of the Fairness Doctrine too or perhaps a snake oil salesman before that.
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0Honestly...do you think it makes you sound intelligent with the Faux and Oliely?

      No one cares about your opinions. Or ever will.

      You also lied.
  • s4g4n, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3Anyone noticed what will happen to the solar panels if a hurricane or two passes by?
  • tehxen3, on 07/18/2008, -5/+5And who finances this, taxpayers? I swear Florida is run by dumbass Diggers.
    How about remove the regulations and taxes on energy companies to do what they want and allow them to drill oil, then maybe there would be more alternative energy technologies and cheaper oil.

    Epic waste of money.
  • kutepi, on 07/18/2008, -3/+0Arizona is building the largest Solar Power Plant in the USA. So There!!!!!
  • kutepi, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0Gforce20, they are already building a Solar Power Plant here in AZ, wake up and smell the heat.
  • uselessexpert, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1WOW!!! You mean the state of Florida is in the news about something positive this time around?!
    NICE....About time. As a Floridian I've become somewhat use to that every time I see news about the state I live in is something negative.

    This is a positive story I am glad to see coming from Florida.
  • umbrellainabin, on 07/18/2008, -2/+7imagine if a hurricane hits that.

    ***** GLASS FLYING EVERYWHERE
    • heartcoldfusion, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3My only regret is that I have but one digg to give you.
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0Yeh...I bet they never thought of that. They really could have used you up there. It is much better to have uninformed rants like yours rather than RESEARCH backed decisions.
  • gkiltz, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0As land intensive as solar plants are, and as expensive as land is in Florida, this sounds like a financial rat hole to me!
    I can think of better uses for that money!
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0It is not going in downtown Miami, moron. Not all of Florida's land is expensive.
  • heartcoldfusion, on 07/18/2008, -0/+3Paid for by taxes collected from the Brits and northerners who come down here and get sunburnt at Disney. Thanks
  • LZeppelinJ0, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Would love to see this adopted in Western NY... that is if we ever got any sunlight.
    • jerrycurley, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0And that is exactly the reason why you DON'T see it. Becuase it would be a negative for the environment. Not enough sunlight to produce the energy required to make this beneficial. The cost (in money,materials, and energy) of manufacturing the panels would be greater than what the panels would produce in their lifetime.

      Anyone in NY, or pretty much all of the north east, that buuys a solar panel is doing far more harm to the environment than good.
      • LZeppelinJ0, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1aaaannnddd that was the whole purpose of "that is if we ever got any sunlight."

        Thanks for essay though
  • N01SE, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1You can't just sit back and say let's all do this or that, you have to actually understand how alternative energy sources work, how they are manufactured, their advantages/disadvantages in the field, and how much energy they will actually produce in the area. Only knowing that they provide alternative energy is simply not good enough in discussion and not for sustainability. Thanks to all the Diggers especially gringodude01 above who took time to actually research, instead of simply dancing in the streets when someone says alternative energy.
  • marx2k, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Well, I guess that beats "The Florida Public Service Commission has “partially and grudgingly” approved a plan to build America’s largest commercial solar-power plant in the state."
  • str8lazy, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Solar Panels blow, what we need is a Dyson sphere. I suppose this is a start though. I would much rather see nuclear energy take off once again....

    If you are interested in getting a solar panel for your home, you should check out the links are embedded in the article, so you can see what it is that congress is doing for you! Or just get one because you can....
  • use2bacanadian, on 07/18/2008, -2/+0As a former Canadian I can assure you that this is a feather in the cap for the US. You would NEVER find this sort of commitment on the part of Canadians - even though their energy costs are 25 to 30 % higher than the US paying over $6 / gallon in some places for gasoline. Florida - hurricanes aside, has intense sunshine because of it's latitude. It gets more DIRECT sunlight than almost anywhere in the US. Sure you can put in the argument that Arizona is close but what is the population of Arizona? Who would be served and who would pay for it. The tax base in Arizona does not allow the state not the local utilities to erect such a project. In addition other States will not benefit because the transmission of the poser is not free and there is a loss of efficiency in transmission over distance. Florida is probably the BEST place to do this. As for hurricanes, solar panels are flat and could be fared properly to withstand a hurricane pretty well. Hurricanes do not happen that often and miss most of Florida on the west central Coast. Every part of the world has some sort of natural disaster risk. Vancouver Canada where I am from does not get any sunshine at all - except a few weeks in the summer and is threatened by earthquakes and Volcanoes....it is almost impossible to prepare for those types of natural disasters.
    • travis1982, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2You're an idiot, Canada doesn't make that commitment because of where we are located, we would not receive enough sun in order for the solar panels to be sufficient. If you don't think Canada is one of the leading countries in alternative energy research then you are sadly mistaken. But keep bashing Canada in every comment you write on digg, it's amusing to see someone so bitter and hateful.
      • use2bacanadian, on 07/19/2008, -2/+0So just exactly where are your resources on Canada's leading edge technology on alternative energies?? That's is right - you have none. All you have is your opinion and a poor Canadian education to sustain your comments about subjects you little understand.
      • travis1982, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1See, you ask people for "resources" and offer none of your own, at least any relevant ones that isn't some idiots blog. If you actually were interested in politics you would know what Canada has done for alternative energy, but you're too ignorant to look, all you have to do is type "Canada alternative energy" in Google and you will see for yourself. Oh, but that's right, you're an ignorant retard who only believes what he chooses to believe and disregards anything that contradicts your beliefs. Boy, that is some logical thinking right there, pfft. You're exactly like those Christians that you despise so much, except you are your own god. I tried having a rational discussion with you a long time ago, yet you failed. I ask you this, not as a Canadian or American, but as a human being, are you at all capable of a rational discussion? Because I wait for the day you can actually have a discussion with me that doesn't involve school yard antics and insults. Please respond, nobody is reading this post but you and I. If you have one brain cell that isn't completely incoherent, you will do this.
      • use2bacanadian, on 07/19/2008, -1/+0I am laughing out loud at you Travis1982. You are obviously a Canadian there is no doubt about that. Instead of scientific resources for your claims you try to turn the tables and ask the question in reverse the same way a 7 year old does. Leading edge technology in the US is self evident. It is the US Space Shuttle that your backwards country uses to show case their articulating. It is the US Martian rover and landers that your backward country uses to showcase their weather station. Both of these items could have easily been manufactured in the US but the US being a generous and benevolent nation allows Canada to put their little maple syrup flag on an item and send it into space on the back of American technology. You are on an American web site - where is Canada's equivalent of DIGG? Where are Canada's GPS Satellites you use daily. Where is the Canadian equivalent of Americas Harvard University? Where are Canada's jet fighters, Automobiles, Large Commercial Aircraft? Just to name a few.
      • travis1982, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Well, I guess I won't be seeing any rationality from you today,..or any other day. I don't know what to call you Captrick, you're not American, I'm actually ashamed to say that you're Canadian. Do you not see the hypocrisy in your question? I have given you references, more reliable references than I have EVER seen you give, you don't even give any references at all sometimes. When did I say that America isn't a technology powerhouse, it is, I'm not denying that. However, you ignorantly underestimate Canada and it's technological capability. Even though I am giving you references NOW, I don't expect you to read them, or even believe them...because you are utterly and completely insane. You have a severe narcissistic personality disorder, and you don't believe any positive thing you read about Canada.

        Known globally for high tech, Canada’s Technology Triangle continues to lead the pack in many pioneering technologies, from wireless to internet to production technology; employing more than 18,000 employees at more than 400 high tech companies. CTT is home to 150 research institutes as well as $290 million in Private-Sector Research and Development (2004).

        Companies like RIM Research in Motion (maker of the famous BlackBerry wireless handheld), Open Text, Electrohome, Christie Digital, COM DEV International, AGFA Healthcare, NCR, Raytheon, MKS and Descartes System Group are just a few of the names on the cutting edge of information technology. Fuelled by spin-off technologies from the University of Waterloo and the entrepreneurial spirit of the area, many of our local success stories are home-grown.

        Further solidifying its reputation as a high tech leader, Waterloo has been named among the “Top 7 Intelligent Communities” in the world by the Intelligent Community Forum, based on its “commitment to fostering institutions that drive technology innovation and share its benefits with the community at large.” (ICF, 2006)

        An area of a half million people, Waterloo Region is Canada’s 10th and Ontario’s 4th largest urban area. The Region is a significant force in the Canadian economy with a GDP of $20.9 billion. Annual exports in excess of $12 billion are larger than five Canadian provinces. It is a cost-competitive marketplace with global connections.

        Waterloo Region has a breadth of real estate options to meet the needs of any high tech operation, including high rise, revitalized urban warehouse, business park spaces, and locations immediately on Canada’s superhighway, highway 401.

        The University of Waterloo Research + Technology Park provides a setting supportive of aggressive and high impact research and commercialization, offering unprecedented access to the research expertise of university faculty, students and alumni. It is also home to the Waterloo Research and Technology Park Accelerator Centre, a fertile environment for up and coming innovators.

        Advanced CANDU Reactor
        The Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) is a Generation III+ design and is an evolutionary development of existing CANDU reactors designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. It is a light-water-cooled reactor that incorporates features of both Pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) and Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (APWR) technologies. It uses a similar design concept to the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR).
        The design uses lightly enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, light water coolant, and a separate heavy water moderator. The reactivity regulating and safety devices are located within the low pressure moderator. The ACR also incorporates characteristics of the CANDU design, including on-power refueling with the CANFLEX fuel; a long prompt neutron lifetime; small reactivity holdup; two fast, totally independent, dedicated safety shutdown systems; and an emergency core cooling system. The compact reactor core design reduces core size by half for the same power output over the older design.
        The fuel bundle is a variant of the 43-element CANFLEX design (CANFLEX-ACR). The use of LEU fuel with a neutron absorbing centre element allows the reduction of coolant void reactivity coefficient to a nominally small, negative value. It also results in higher burnup operation than traditional CANDU designs.
        The current size for the ACR-1000 is approximately 1200MWe. According to the AECL website, the ACR-1000 is planned to be in service by 2016.
        http://www.aecl.ca/Reactors/ACR-1000.htm
        ACEnet
        ACEnet or the Atlantic Computational Excellence Network is a partnership of nine Atlantic Canada institutions to organize themselves into a large scale high-performance computing (HPC) facilities for research. The nine institutions include; Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, St. Francis Xavier University, St. Mary's University and the University of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton University and Acadia University.
        ACEnet is one of seven HPC consortia in Canada that, under the newly announced National Platform Fund (CFI) will share resources and collaborate on various research projects that would never be undertaken by a single entity.
        http://www.ace-net.ca/aboutus.html


        AECL
        Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation with the responsibility of managing Canada's national nuclear energy research and development program, including the advancement and support of CANDU reactor technology which was developed at AECL starting in the 1950s. AECL also provides a variety of maintenance, diagnostic, waste management, refurbishment, and other services to the nuclear industry.
        AECL describes its mandate as follows:
        • Managing the Canadian nuclear platform responsibly and cost effectively.
        • Leveraging the technology base to deliver nuclear products and services to market.
        AECL is also the vendor of CANDU technology, which it has exported worldwide. Throughout the 1960s-2000s AECL marketed and built CANDU facilities in India, South Korea, Argentina, Romania, and the People's Republic of China.
        In addition, AECL manufactures nuclear medicine radioisotopes for supply to MDS Nordion in Ottawa, Canada, and is the world's largest supplier of Molybdenum-99 for diagnostic tests, and Cobalt-60 for cancer therapy.
        AECL is funded through a combination of federal government appropriations and commercial revenue.
        http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx

        ViCLAS Research
        In 1991, Sgt. Greg Johnson, who had little computer skills but extensive experience in the investigation of serious crimes was recruited to head up what would become the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS). Sgt. Johnson, along with others, including Sgt. Sharon Olver of the Ontario Provincial Police, and Sgt. Gerald Seguin of the Sureté de Québec, spent the next eight months conducting research into the most successful American automated case linkage systems.
        Dr. David Cavanaugh of Harvard University, who was a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ViCAP system has said about ViCLAS, the Canadians will have "...done to automated case linkage what the Japanese did with assembly line auto production. They have taken a good American idea and transformed it into the best in the world." It is not surprising that with endorsements like that and the portability of ViCLAS to other languages that other countries are looking at the system with envy.
        A number of Countries including, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Holland, and the United Kingdom have adopted ViCLAS and are using it as their major case linkage system as well as the American states of Tennessee and Indiana. The RCMP have given the software away free to these countries and have provided them with the necessary technical support and training to operate it. The requests for information on the system continues to come in, the most recent from Japan.
        Due to the number of additional requests and the fact the software is currently undergoing some re-engineering there has been a moratorium placed on providing the software to new countries. Once the software re-engineering is complete consideration will be given on a case by case basis, to additional countries.
        http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/viclas/viclas_e.htm
        Canada Geographic Information System
        The Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to assist in regulatory procedures of land-use management and resource monitoring. At that time, Canada was beginning to realize problems associated with its seemingly endless boundaries, in combination with natural resource availability. The government therefore decided to launch a national program to assist in management and inventory of its resources. The simple automated computer processes designed to store and process large amounts of data enabled Canada to begin a national land-use management program and become a foremost promoter of GIS.
        CGIS was designed to withstand great amounts of collected data by managing, modeling, and analyzing this data very quickly and accurately. As Canada presented such large datasets, it was necessary to be able to focus on certain regions or provinces in order to more effectively manage and maintain land-use. CGIS enabled its users to effectively collect national data and, if necessary, break it down into provincial datasets. Early applications of GIS with Canadian datasets benefited land-use management and environmental impact monitoring programs.
        In 1960, Roger Tomlinson was working at an aerial survey company in Ottawa, Spartan Air Services. The company was focused on producing large-scale photogrammetric and geophysical maps. In the early 1960s, Tomlinson and the company were asked to produce a map for site-location analysis in an east African nation. Tomlinson immediately recognized that the new automated computer technologies might be applicable and even necessary to complete such a detail-oriented task more effectively and efficiently than humans. Eventually, Spartan met with IBM offices in Ottawa to begin developing a relationship to bridge the previous gap between geographic data and computer services. Tomlinson brought his geographic knowledge to the table as IBM brought computer programming and data management.
        The Canadian government and Tomlinson began working towards the development of a national program after a 1962 meeting between Tomlinson and Lee Pratt, head of the Canada Land Inventory (CLI). Pratt was charged with creation of maps covering the entire region of Canada's commercially productive areas by showing agriculture, forestry, wildlife, and recreation, all with the same classification schemes. Not only was the development of such maps a formidable task, but Pratt understood that computer automation may assist in the analytical processes as well. Tomlinson was the first to produce a technical feasibility study on whether computer mapping programs would be viable solution for the land-use inventory and management programs, such as CLI. He is also given credit for coining the term geographic information system and is recognized as the "Modern Father of GIS."

        Nuclear power in Canada
        Canada has an active and independent nuclear power and research sector, producing about 15% of its electricity at nuclear power plants of domestic design. Canada is the worlds largest exporter of uranium, and has the world's second largest proven reserves. Canada also exports nuclear technology within the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.
        The province of Ontario dominates Canada’s nuclear industry, containing most of the country’s nuclear power generating capacity. Ontario has 16 operating reactors providing about 50% of the province’s electricity, plus two reactors undergoing refurbishment. Quebec and New Brunswick each have one reactor. Overall, nuclear power provides about 15% of Canada’s electricity with the majority of Canada’s energy as hydro-power. [1] The industry employs about 21,000 people directly and 10,000 indirectly. Canada’s nuclear energy production peaked in 1994 at 102.4 TWh, declined to 67 TWh by 1998 as reactors were mothballed, and increased to 85.6 TWh in 2005 due to improved reactor performance and refurbishment. Recently there has been renewed interest in nuclear energy, spurred by increasing demand (particularly within Ontario), and the desire to comply with Canada’s Kyoto Agreement obligations. The Government of Ontario proposed plans in 2004 to build several new nuclear reactors in the province. [2]
        Natural Resources Canada oversees nuclear power R&D and regulation in Canada, with responsibility for the crown corporations Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). AECL’s commercial operations include reactor development, design and construction of CANDU nuclear reactors, and provision of reactor services and technical support to CANDU reactors worldwide. Electricity planning and production are the responsibility of the individual provinces.
        Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NWMO) was set up in 2002 to investigate and develop an approach to the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. After extensive public consultation over a three-year period, the study report, released in 2005, recommended “Adaptive Phased Management” (see below).
        The Province of Ontario has announced plans to build a new nuclear station. The leading candidate is AECL's Advanced CANDU Reactor. Environmental assessments are
      • use2bacanadian, on 07/19/2008, -1/+0These are all self promoting Canadian websites you Cnucklehead!!!! Don't you know how to get objective information? You really are a half educated nitwit Canadian ignoramus. I bet you are gay and smoke pot too dont you? It is the self promoting ignoramuses from Canada that caused me to leave that backward country. Canada will NEVER be a powerhouse of anything except cooks, waiters, druggies and fags.
      • travis1982, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Where do you get your statistics when talking about Obesity in Canada? You ***** hypocrite! How can you justify your references you got from Canadian websites and disprove mine, wouldn't that mean that your statistics are wrong as well. See, I think you know your wrong, you just want to drive me crazy by making excuse after ***** excuse. Look at the facts of our argument, you retrieve Canadian statistics and say that the Canadian Obesity problem is worse off than the American Obesity problem, which is false because the American statistics I got from HARVARD disproved your argument. THEN, I find a Canadian reference to prove my point and YOU disprove them because they are "bias" for the sole reason that I referenced a Canadian GOVERNMENT website. You sir, are a horrible debater, your arguments are so blatantly false and bias, I have never seen anything like it. If there was a judge or a mediator monitoring our arguments, disproving your *****, I know you would still argue your invalid points. You're a freak show.
      • use2bacanadian, on 07/20/2008, -0/+0The freak show is in Canada pal - go hang around East Hastings and Columbia in Vancouver and then tell me about how healthy and fit and educated Canadians are. There is nothing like that anywhere in the US. But that is totally subjective information. There IS no objective information about Canadian Obesity from a non Canadian source - just as you would expect - because Canada is not a country worth studying. It is off of the radar scope for anyone who is seriously studying anything objective. Its Amercia junior just like he late night comedians say it is. I gave you the only TRUE scientific and unbiased non Canadian source of information that I could find and it said MALTA is the most obese country on planet earth - but you remove that from your evaluation because it does not fit in to your pre determined nationalistic biased idea of what the world is like according to you! You are an embarrassment to Canadians everywhere but so typical of Canadians in Canada. Get an education and do some world travel (if you can afford it) and then come back and debate when you grow up boy.
      • travis1982, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1Boy.....BOY? what are you...a 1900 century slave trader? wtf. You name ONE neighborhood that I have never been to, nor care to goto and label Canadians junkies and hippies? That would be like me going to ***** Harlem and basing every American on the poor individuals that I have seen there. So you're right, that is totally subjective information, because it is your ***** opinion you retard. Canada not worth studying...Canada is off the radar scope? THAT is where I lose you pal, that is where I know for a fact that your insanity runs much deeper than I can penetrate. You're basing your facts on "late night comedians"? wow, that is so subjective it blew my ***** mind...pffft. Now I see where you get all your sources...from late night comedians. Buddy, I have a better education than you can even dream of, and even if I was a coked out hippie, id still be smarter than your retarded ass. I told you the facts in my last statement, you have responded to ANY OF THEM. WHY??? Because you're a narcissistic retard. I gave you a scenario, you have not responded...why is that CAPRTICK?
  • OffPiste, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Now if only the US had some solar panel manufactures. Instead of giving all that money to the arabs we are giving it to the Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese.
  • Aero347, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2haha i'm from FL and it's not sunny here this time of year..
  • travis1982, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Well, I guess I won't be seeing any rationality from you today,..or any other day. I don't know what to call you Captrick, you're not American, I'm actually ashamed to say that you're Canadian. Do you not see the hypocrisy in your question? I have given you references, more reliable references than I have EVER seen you give, you don't even give any references at all sometimes. When did I say that America isn't a technology powerhouse, it is, I'm not denying that. However, you ignorantly underestimate Canada and it's technological capability. Even though I am giving you references NOW, I don't expect you to read them, or even believe them...because you are utterly and completely insane. You have a severe narcissistic personality disorder, and you don't believe any positive thing you read about Canada.

    Known globally for high tech, Canada’s Technology Triangle continues to lead the pack in many pioneering technologies, from wireless to internet to production technology; employing more than 18,000 employees at more than 400 high tech companies. CTT is home to 150 research institutes as well as $290 million in Private-Sector Research and Development (2004).

    Companies like RIM Research in Motion (maker of the famous BlackBerry wireless handheld), Open Text, Electrohome, Christie Digital, COM DEV International, AGFA Healthcare, NCR, Raytheon, MKS and Descartes System Group are just a few of the names on the cutting edge of information technology. Fuelled by spin-off technologies from the University of Waterloo and the entrepreneurial spirit of the area, many of our local success stories are home-grown.

    Further solidifying its reputation as a high tech leader, Waterloo has been named among the “Top 7 Intelligent Communities” in the world by the Intelligent Community Forum, based on its “commitment to fostering institutions that drive technology innovation and share its benefits with the community at large.” (ICF, 2006)

    An area of a half million people, Waterloo Region is Canada’s 10th and Ontario’s 4th largest urban area. The Region is a significant force in the Canadian economy with a GDP of $20.9 billion. Annual exports in excess of $12 billion are larger than five Canadian provinces. It is a cost-competitive marketplace with global connections.

    Waterloo Region has a breadth of real estate options to meet the needs of any high tech operation, including high rise, revitalized urban warehouse, business park spaces, and locations immediately on Canada’s superhighway, highway 401.

    The University of Waterloo Research + Technology Park provides a setting supportive of aggressive and high impact research and commercialization, offering unprecedented access to the research expertise of university faculty, students and alumni. It is also home to the Waterloo Research and Technology Park Accelerator Centre, a fertile environment for up and coming innovators.
    • travis1982, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Advanced CANDU Reactor
      The Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) is a Generation III+ design and is an evolutionary development of existing CANDU reactors designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. It is a light-water-cooled reactor that incorporates features of both Pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) and Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (APWR) technologies. It uses a similar design concept to the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR).
      The design uses lightly enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, light water coolant, and a separate heavy water moderator. The reactivity regulating and safety devices are located within the low pressure moderator. The ACR also incorporates characteristics of the CANDU design, including on-power refueling with the CANFLEX fuel; a long prompt neutron lifetime; small reactivity holdup; two fast, totally independent, dedicated safety shutdown systems; and an emergency core cooling system. The compact reactor core design reduces core size by half for the same power output over the older design.
      The fuel bundle is a variant of the 43-element CANFLEX design (CANFLEX-ACR). The use of LEU fuel with a neutron absorbing centre element allows the reduction of coolant void reactivity coefficient to a nominally small, negative value. It also results in higher burnup operation than traditional CANDU designs.
      The current size for the ACR-1000 is approximately 1200MWe. According to the AECL website, the ACR-1000 is planned to be in service by 2016.
      http://www.aecl.ca/Reactors/ACR-1000.htm
      ACEnet
      ACEnet or the Atlantic Computational Excellence Network is a partnership of nine Atlantic Canada institutions to organize themselves into a large scale high-performance computing (HPC) facilities for research. The nine institutions include; Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, St. Francis Xavier University, St. Mary's University and the University of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton University and Acadia University.
      ACEnet is one of seven HPC consortia in Canada that, under the newly announced National Platform Fund (CFI) will share resources and collaborate on various research projects that would never be undertaken by a single entity.
      http://www.ace-net.ca/aboutus.html


      AECL
      Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation with the responsibility of managing Canada's national nuclear energy research and development program, including the advancement and support of CANDU reactor technology which was developed at AECL starting in the 1950s. AECL also provides a variety of maintenance, diagnostic, waste management, refurbishment, and other services to the nuclear industry.
      AECL describes its mandate as follows:
      • Managing the Canadian nuclear platform responsibly and cost effectively.
      • Leveraging the technology base to deliver nuclear products and services to market.
      AECL is also the vendor of CANDU technology, which it has exported worldwide. Throughout the 1960s-2000s AECL marketed and built CANDU facilities in India, South Korea, Argentina, Romania, and the People's Republic of China.
      In addition, AECL manufactures nuclear medicine radioisotopes for supply to MDS Nordion in Ottawa, Canada, and is the world's largest supplier of Molybdenum-99 for diagnostic tests, and Cobalt-60 for cancer therapy.
      AECL is funded through a combination of federal government appropriations and commercial revenue.
      http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx

      ViCLAS Research
      In 1991, Sgt. Greg Johnson, who had little computer skills but extensive experience in the investigation of serious crimes was recruited to head up what would become the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS). Sgt. Johnson, along with others, including Sgt. Sharon Olver of the Ontario Provincial Police, and Sgt. Gerald Seguin of the Sureté de Québec, spent the next eight months conducting research into the most successful American automated case linkage systems.
      Dr. David Cavanaugh of Harvard University, who was a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ViCAP system has said about ViCLAS, the Canadians will have "...done to automated case linkage what the Japanese did with assembly line auto production. They have taken a good American idea and transformed it into the best in the world." It is not surprising that with endorsements like that and the portability of ViCLAS to other languages that other countries are looking at the system with envy.
      A number of Countries including, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Holland, and the United Kingdom have adopted ViCLAS and are using it as their major case linkage system as well as the American states of Tennessee and Indiana. The RCMP have given the software away free to these countries and have provided them with the necessary technical support and training to operate it. The requests for information on the system continues to come in, the most recent from Japan.
      Due to the number of additional requests and the fact the software is currently undergoing some re-engineering there has been a moratorium placed on providing the software to new countries. Once the software re-engineering is complete consideration will be given on a case by case basis, to additional countries.
      http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/viclas/viclas_e.htm
      Canada Geographic Information System
      The Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to assist in regulatory procedures of land-use management and resource monitoring. At that time, Canada was beginning to realize problems associated with its seemingly endless boundaries, in combination with natural resource availability. The government therefore decided to launch a national program to assist in management and inventory of its resources. The simple automated computer processes designed to store and process large amounts of data enabled Canada to begin a national land-use management program and become a foremost promoter of GIS.
      CGIS was designed to withstand great amounts of collected data by managing, modeling, and analyzing this data very quickly and accurately. As Canada presented such large datasets, it was necessary to be able to focus on certain regions or provinces in order to more effectively manage and maintain land-use. CGIS enabled its users to effectively collect national data and, if necessary, break it down into provincial datasets. Early applications of GIS with Canadian datasets benefited land-use management and environmental impact monitoring programs.
      In 1960, Roger Tomlinson was working at an aerial survey company in Ottawa, Spartan Air Services. The company was focused on producing large-scale photogrammetric and geophysical maps. In the early 1960s, Tomlinson and the company were asked to produce a map for site-location analysis in an east African nation. Tomlinson immediately recognized that the new automated computer technologies might be applicable and even necessary to complete such a detail-oriented task more effectively and efficiently than humans. Eventually, Spartan met with IBM offices in Ottawa to begin developing a relationship to bridge the previous gap between geographic data and computer services. Tomlinson brought his geographic knowledge to the table as IBM brought computer programming and data management.
      The Canadian government and Tomlinson began working towards the development of a national program after a 1962 meeting between Tomlinson and Lee Pratt, head of the Canada Land Inventory (CLI). Pratt was charged with creation of maps covering the entire region of Canada's commercially productive areas by showing agriculture, forestry, wildlife, and recreation, all with the same classification schemes. Not only was the development of such maps a formidable task, but Pratt understood that computer automation may assist in the analytical processes as well. Tomlinson was the first to produce a technical feasibility study on whether computer mapping programs would be viable solution for the land-use inventory and management programs, such as CLI. He is also given credit for coining the term geographic information system and is recognized as the "Modern Father of GIS."

      Nuclear power in Canada
      Canada has an active and independent nuclear power and research sector, producing about 15% of its electricity at nuclear power plants of domestic design. Canada is the worlds largest exporter of uranium, and has the world's second largest proven reserves. Canada also exports nuclear technology within the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.
      The province of Ontario dominates Canada’s nuclear industry, containing most of the country’s nuclear power generating capacity. Ontario has 16 operating reactors providing about 50% of the province’s electricity, plus two reactors undergoing refurbishment. Quebec and New Brunswick each have one reactor. Overall, nuclear power provides about 15% of Canada’s electricity with the majority of Canada’s energy as hydro-power. [1] The industry employs about 21,000 people directly and 10,000 indirectly. Canada’s nuclear energy production peaked in 1994 at 102.4 TWh, declined to 67 TWh by 1998 as reactors were mothballed, and increased to 85.6 TWh in 2005 due to improved reactor performance and refurbishment. Recently there has been renewed interest in nuclear energy, spurred by increasing demand (particularly within Ontario), and the desire to comply with Canada’s Kyoto Agreement obligations. The Government of Ontario proposed plans in 2004 to build several new nuclear reactors in the province. [2]
      Natural Resources Canada oversees nuclear power R&D and regulation in Canada, with responsibility for the crown corporations Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). AECL’s commercial operations include reactor development, design and construction of CANDU nuclear reactors, and provision of reactor services and technical support to CANDU reactors worldwide. Electricity planning and production are the responsibility of the individual provinces.
      Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NWMO) was set up in 2002 to investigate and develop an approach to the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. After extensive public consultation over a three-year period, the study report, released in 2005, recommended “Adaptive Phased Management” (see below).
      The Province of Ontario has announced plans to build a new nuclear station. The leading candidate is AECL's Advanced CANDU Reactor. Environmental assessments are currently underway for one site next to Bruce Power's Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Tiverton and another next to Ontario Power Generation's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station.




      Just to name a few.
  • beauley, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1With Global Warming on many people's minds, do we have any ideas of the best way to lessen the impact on our future, or maybe a possible relief of its possible ravages or even a possible key to its eventual reversal. Many scientific experts have proposed
    http://www.quazen.com/Science/Technology/Solar-Pow ...
    Solar Power, Source of Endless Energy
  • jeffpalmer, on 07/21/2008, -0/+0This is a great thing to see, solar really is viable if we push ahead with it and make the economies of scale work. In the late 19th century, most people thought that oil would never replace coal as the main source of power. 50 years later they were proven wrong. Solar technology is going forward at such a rate!

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