Category Archives: Energy

Energy

Potentially, The biggest Solar project in North America

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The 9th annual Paddle for the Peace begins today: Saturday, July 12, 2014. This year’s trek is especially important because of the impending decision on British Columbia’s proposed Site C dam. If this project is approved, close to 9,429 acres of class 1-5 farmland will be submerged by water. The government will also be breaking treaty 8, which promised the local First Nations they would be allowed to pursue their traditional way of life in this area “for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.” In its zeal to develop Site C, British Columbia’s Provincial Government could miss the opportunity to build what is, potentially, the biggest solar project in North America,

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Energy

Sun Above the Horizon: Meteoric Rise of the Solar Industry (A Review)

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Peter Varadi is one of the few people who could be said to personify the solar industry. He and his partner, Joseph Lindmayer helped develop this technology for space and founded the World’s first terrestrial solar company in 1973. It was the worlds largest, and possibly the only profitable, solar company when they sold out a decade later. That did not end Varadi’s involvement. He has continued to be at the center of developments, as a consultant to organizations like the European Commission, The World Bank and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His recently published book, Sun Above the Horizon: Meteoric Rise of the Solar Industry, is and insider’s view of what has transpired since Bell laboratories discovered that silicon was a incredible conductor of electricity in 1953.

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Energy, Finances

Developing Germany’s Wind Energy Potential

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Germany has long been one of the world’s leading centers of the wind industry. Thus I welcomed an opportunity to question Esther Frey, renewable energies expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), about this technology’s effectiveness and future development. GTAI is the foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ms Frey provided some valuable insight into some of the issues involved in developing Germany’s Wind Energy Potential.

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Energy

Unako: A House of their own

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By Roy L Hales

Kevin Edgecombe’s passion was enflamed ed during a trip to Nepal in 2009. His wife, Linda, was one of the Directors of IWEN (Intercultural Women’s Educational Network), a charity that rescues females from bonded labour and provides meaning to their lives through education. After seeing the extent to which the program liberated young women, he decided to get more involved. A builder by trade, it is only natural that he would come up with a program like “Classrooms for a Cause.” In 2012 he led a team of volunteers that built two classrooms at the Chainpur School in Godhawa, Nepal. Now he is building a 4,000 square foot multi-functional facility, called Unako House, in the Dang region of Nepal. The name Unako means “it’s hers” in Nepalese. The building will hold a community center, classroom, workshop, kitchen, large meeting room, two retail outlets and living quarters for a caretaker. Though the grid is very intermittent, there are excellent solar conditions. The building will be solar powered and truly Unako:  a house of their own.

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