The Darlington Declaration is Live

Please Help us Spread the Word!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for endorsing the Darlington Declaration, and your support for a 100% renewable energy future for Ontario.

Over 150 organizations, including green developers, women's groups, and students joined you in opposing building new reactors at Darlington so far -- and support continues to grow.

Today, four of the endorsing groups published in the Toronto Star, explaining why Ontario should dump its plans for new reactors invest in green energy.

You can find the article here. Please share it widely.

Please help us continue to build support for a green energy future in Ontario!

Let your friends know you oppose new reactors at Darlington by:

Sharing the Declaration on Facebook

Sharing the Darlington Declaration on Twitter

Ask your friends to sign the Declaration in person

Need more information on why we must Stop Darlington? Visit: http://stopdarlington.org/

A 100% renewable energy future is in sight, with your help.

Yours Truly,

Steve Cornwell,
Stop Darlington Team

48 hours to end ocean clear-cuts

Dear friends,

Our oceans are being systematically destroyed and we have 48 hours to raise the alarm. The seafood industry uses long chains of heavy metal disks to drag nets across the sea floor in search of fish, crushing everything in their path. This bottom-trawling is like clear-cutting a forest to catch a parrot -- and only our outcry can stop it.

In two days, UN policy-makers are meeting to review the impacts of this deadly practice. Pacific island nations are fighting to save the oceans and have appealed to Avaaz members to stand with them. This is our chance to win -- if enough of us speak out now, it will strengthen their hand against big fishing countries, and will embolden serious players like the US and Australia, who have already banned bottom-trawling in their waters, to push for protection everywhere.

Let's build an urgent call to stop the senseless destruction of our oceans -- and delegates will deliver our voices directly to the UN meeting. Sign now and help us reach half a million voices in the next 48 hours:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_ocean_clear_cutting/?vl

Massive fishing trawlers systematically move from one deep-sea ecosystem to another, crushing coral reefs, sucking up all living creatures and leaving vast deserts behind them that won’t regenerate for hundreds of years. In a single swoop, some boats are capable of clearing an area the size of 5000 football pitches. Canada, Russia and Spain lead the world in spreading this destruction throughout our most diverse and precious waters.

Already, major fishing nations have had 6 years to study the effects of bottom-trawling and move towards more sustainable practices. Most have failed to live up to their commitments to ocean protection and continue to direct huge subsidies -- over 162 million dollars a year -- to ocean clear-cuts.

This week’s meeting is our moment to turn the tide on this destruction. An international team of marine scientists recently called for a permanent end to deep-sea fishing, and the EU Fisheries Commissioner has spoken out against government subsidies to deep-sea trawlers. The momentum is growing, but it will take a massive global outcry to turn the UN meeting into an important accountability moment. Join the call to save our oceans, sign the petition now, and forward to your friends:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_ocean_clear_cutting/?vl

Just last year, Avaaz members provided crucial backing for the UK to create the world’s largest marine reserve. We also helped thrust a meeting on whales into the international spotlight, winning an extension on the global whaling ban. When we work together, we really do make a difference in preserving our seas and the rich diversity of our world’s creatures! Let’s stand together now with Pacific nations and all ocean-defenders to usher in a new era of conservation and protection.

With hope,

Stephanie, Iain, Antonia, Emma, Ricken, Alice, Wissam and all the Avaaz team

More information:

Scientists call for an end to deep-sea trawling (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-call-for-end-to-deep-sea-fishing/2011/08/30/gIQApPJc7J_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-call-for-end-to-deep-sea-fishing/2011/08/30/gIQApPJc7J_story.html

Deep-Sea Fishing: Marine Scientists Call For Sustainable Alternatives (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/09/deep-sea-fishing-not-sustainable-marine-scientists-trawling_n_954508.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/09/deep-sea-fishing-not-sustainable-marine-scientists-trawling_n_954508.html

Marine Scientists: Ban Deep-Sea Fishing (Newser)
http://www.newser.com/story/127908/marine-scientists-ban-deep-sea-fishing.html

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition
http://www.savethehighseas.org/

No Nukes News

No Nukes News

Sept. 6, 2011

Peace! Or Get Off the Pot - Marsha the Truck Driver

Energy and the Election with OCAA
Thursday, September 8th at 7 p.m.
Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Rm. #303, Toronto
Join Jack Gibbons and Angela Bischoff of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance to discuss where the provincial parties stand on energy issues -- nuclear, coal and green alternatives -- and how we can work together to promote a renewable electricity future for Ontario during the upcoming election campaign. Rsvp to Angela or facebook

The Plight of Canada’s Nuclear Industry 
The Canadian nuclear industry is in a period of demoralization and confusion, brought about by a number of embarrassing  technological and managerial failures as well as the inability to find an adequate market for their reactors. By Dr. Gordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

New Poll Measures Ontarians' Support for Party Energy Proposals
Majority of Ontarians support the cancellation of nuclear plant upgrades and favour green energy and conservation.

Why the Fukushima disaster is worse than Chernobyl Japan has been slow to admit the scale of the meltdown. But now the truth is coming out.

New Japanese PM Vows Gradual Phase-out of Nuclear Energy

Fukushima residents' urine now radioactive

Green & Clean helps Student Organization

Last May, we piloted a project to bring electricity to some of our partnering communities who had none. In the winter and spring, my University of Waterloo co-op student, Lavender Zhang, undertook a research project to connect us to solar panel wholesalers in southern Ontario. She found Green & Clean Energy Co. in Guelph and arranged a meeting.
Fast-forward a few months to Waterloo and Laurier SOS trip volunteers lugging the panels down to Guatemala and Nicaragua respectively as part of their checked baggage (thanks guys). With only a few customs issues, the panels made it to their new homes in Colomba la Florida, La Nueva Florida, Cerro del Padre and Ocalca. The groups used them throughout their trip but didn’t get them installed onto the buildings. At the end of their two weeks, everyone went home and left the solar panels there to be installed and used.

Read the full story here

Cracked Fukushima: Radioactive steam escapes danger zone

Workers at Japan's Fukushima plant say the ground under the facility is cracking and radioactive steam is escaping through the cracks. The cooling system at the plant failed after the devastating tsunami hit Japan in March, sparking a nuclear crisis. But new evidence suggests that Fukushima reactors were doomed to cripple even before the massive wave reached them. RT's Anissa Naouai talks to Dr. Robert Jacobs, a Professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute.

watch the report on YouTube

Fukishima Nuclear Plant after Tsunami and Earthquakes.

 

Wireless charging - the future for electric cars?

A US start-up WiTricity uses a different wireless charging method

The Citroen C1 springs to life and leaps forward with the enthusiasm only a French city runaround can muster.

This one is a little smoother and quieter than most. It's electric, and like all battery-operated automobiles needs regular charging.
But the top-up process is different from the usual hassle of plugging a bulky cable into a specially designed socket.
Here, the driver doesn't even need to get out.
"The charging is done wirelessly, you park up, turn off the key and voila... charging starts automatically," says Anthony Thomson, CEO of HaloIPT, a UK company that has installed the technology.
The process uses electromagnetic induction to transfer power from a pad built into the ground to another installed in the bottom of the car.

The charging is done wirelessly, you park up, turn off the key and voila... charging starts automatically”

Anthony Thomson HaloIPT

The system could be installed in a supermarket parking place, garage floor or the ground at a special charging station.

When a driver parks the vehicle, the two pads line up and with a flick of a switch, the charging starts.
Induction The phenomenon of electromagnetic induction was discovered by British physicist Michael Faraday in 1831.
He found that when two coils were placed close to each other and power applied to one of them, it produced a magnetic field, which then induced a voltage across the second coil.
In the case of charging a car, the coils are embedded inside the two pads.
The system was originally developed at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and commercialised by HaloIPT.

A total of 31 electric buses in Italy are charged wirelessly

And although some of the electricity inevitably gets wasted during the charging process, people who have tried it have praised its simplicity.

A total of 31 electric buses in Italy are charged wirelessly

Two of the induction-equipped C1s have been taking part in the Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Demonstrators (CABLED) consortium - the world's biggest trial of electric vehicles.
"City planners don't like the prospect of a line of charge posts down streets, adding to the existing street clutter," said Neil Butcher, the CABLED project leader, who has been driving one of the two cars since May 2011.

"There are obvious health and safety issues associated with many live electric cables hanging between the post and the car, especially in bad weather”

Neil Butcher CABLED consortium

"The lack of any visible connection minimises any risk of vandalism - unplugging or theft of cables.

"There are also obvious health and safety issues associated with many live electric cables hanging between the post and the car, especially in bad weather, including electric shock and trip hazards," added Mr Butcher.
But with wireless power transfer, bad weather is not a problem, claims HaloIPT.
Pads remain perfectly operational and safe in any conditions, "sending" the energy up, even through a layer of snow.
As simple as the process might sound, there is a catch - there are currently no charging stations in the UK.
So Mr Butcher can only feed his hungry Citroen at his garage where the system has been installed as part of a pilot project. As a back-up he can switch to a conventional plug-in cable charging point.
But HaloIPT is certain that things will improve in the future, and induction stations will become commonplace.

The experimental Rolls Royce 102EX Phantom model is equipped with inductive charging plates

One of their first visitors may be a Rolls Royce.
The luxury carmaker has equipped its latest electric model, the 102EX Phantom Experimental Electric with a magnetic induction plate.
And the technology is being deployed in more down-to-earth modes of transport.

read full story here

Solar panels to top whisky depots; Hiram Walker plans huge project

Windsor Star
Wed Jul 13 2011
Page: A1 / Front
Section: News
Byline: Dylan Kristy
Source: The Windsor Star

It could be the largest venture of its kind in the country, if the authorities that oversee power production in Ontario allow it.
Windsor's Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. is hoping to become home to the largest rooftop solar plant in Canada, with more than 35,000 solar panels blanketing the surface of its Pike Creek warehouses in Lakeshore.
And while Jim Stanski is confident the project will be approved by the Ontario Power Authority, the vice-president of operations at Hiram Walker said he has some trepidation about the upcoming provincial election.
"We're basically ready to go, so we're just waiting on the OPA approval and we hope that an election won't torpedo the whole project," Stanski said Tuesday. He said OPA usually takes about six to eight months to approve a project and theirs was submitted five months ago.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has said that, if elected in October, he plans to scrap aspects of the Ontario Green Energy Act - including a multibillion-dollar deal with Samsung, which has been estimated to create up to 16,000 direct and indirect jobs across the province.
"Our government is proud of the success our clean energy investments and projects have had in replacing coal, cleaning our air, attracting investment and creating jobs," Brad Duguid, Ontario's energy minister, said in a statement.
"The only thing driving uncertainty right now is a political uncertainty brought about by Tim Hudak's reckless promise to kill our clean energy economy and take down thousands of jobs with it."
Built under the feed-in tariff program for renewable energy, the 7.9-megawatt project will cover nine of the 16 warehouses Hiram Walker uses to mature its bottles of whisky, near East Pike Creek Road and County Road 22 in Lakeshore.
The project is slated to be completed in partnership with Mississaugabased solar panel installer Solar and Alternative Technology Corp. and German-based manufacturer Soventix Canada Inc., pending approval by the OPA.
Mariana Marquez, spokeswoman for Soventix, said the advantage this project will have over others that have failed to receive approval is the combined experience of both companies.
She said Solar and Alternative Technology Corp. has been an industry leader for over 15 years, originally stemming from Germany, and Soventix is one of the largest fully integrated solar module manufacturers in the world.
"We are confident that everything will go through because it is a solid project and it comes from good companies," Marquez said.
"We have submitted all the information necessary and we're confident that everything is going to go well."
The companies have entered into a 20-year lease agreement with Hiram Walker and will produce enough electricity to power 3,000 homes and offset 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Instead of collecting revenue over the 20-year lease, Hiram Walker will received a lump sum payment that will be reinvested to purchase higher efficiency boilers for the distillery, Stanski said.
"We are actually looking at further reducing our greenhouse gas by another 20 per cent here on site if we get approved," he said, adding that the amount of the lump sum payment is confidential.
"Not only should this project be quite beneficial to the Province of Ontario's sustainability efforts but it also allows us to improve our processes while demonstrating our commitment to responsible production."