Comments on: Fighting climate change with a pen stroke http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2007/12/16/fighting-climate-change-with-a-pen-stroke/ Trends, happenings and innovations in the clean technology market Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:49:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2007/12/16/fighting-climate-change-with-a-pen-stroke/comment-page-1/#comment-1682 Anonymous Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:52:00 +0000 http://www.cleanbreak.ca/2007/12/16/fighting-climate-change-with-a-pen-stroke/#comment-1682 Space heating energy usage accounts for about 30% of Canada's GHG emissions, so it is an obvious target. With the inevitable impostion of some sort of GHG cap and likely a 50% or more reduction target in the next 20 years, attacking heating related emission is a natural. Germany and Austria have many thousands of "Combi-systems", these are systems using solar thermal and conventional fossil fuels for home heating. Numerous commercial equipment options exist in those countries for these systems. We cannot get this equipment in Canada - yet. A further extension is to combine heat pump technology with solar thermal systems for further GHG reductions. In any case, huge reductions in GHG emissions are possible with these European systems, yes, of course they cost more than our $2500 natural gas furnaces, but there are annual energy cost reductions associated with all these systems too. In any case we will eventually stop asking if we can combat climate change with business as usual cost structures. That will not be possible, we will need to invest in capital intensive, but low operating cost systems. What we need to ask ourselves is what kind of programs will create jobs across sectors and reduce GHG most cost effectively. In our own home, I am literally this week installing a ground source heat pump coupled to a solar thermal system and expect to reach a heating (electrical) bill of about $500 - 600 annually, and of course eventually expect that electricity to be from sustainable sources. A cross country home retrofit and low interest home heating renovation loan program would employ 10,000's of people across the country, instead of spending the same or more money to research questionable technologies to sequester carbon after the fuel has been burned. Let's push our government to establish programs that put everyone on a sustainable energy path, not a sequestration path with the same old resource depletion and increasing fossil fuel cost and security uncertainties. Cheers Space heating energy usage accounts for about 30% of Canada’s GHG emissions, so it is an obvious target. With the inevitable impostion of some sort of GHG cap and likely a 50% or more reduction target in the next 20 years, attacking heating related emission is a natural. Germany and Austria have many thousands of “Combi-systems”, these are systems using solar thermal and conventional fossil fuels for home heating. Numerous commercial equipment options exist in those countries for these systems. We cannot get this equipment in Canada – yet. A further extension is to combine heat pump technology with solar thermal systems for further GHG reductions.

In any case, huge reductions in GHG emissions are possible with these European systems, yes, of course they cost more than our $2500 natural gas furnaces, but there are annual energy cost reductions associated with all these systems too. In any case we will eventually stop asking if we can combat climate change with business as usual cost structures. That will not be possible, we will need to invest in capital intensive, but low operating cost systems. What we need to ask ourselves is what kind of programs will create jobs across sectors and reduce GHG most cost effectively.

In our own home, I am literally this week installing a ground source heat pump coupled to a solar thermal system and expect to reach a heating (electrical) bill of about $500 – 600 annually, and of course eventually expect that electricity to be from sustainable sources.

A cross country home retrofit and low interest home heating renovation loan program would employ 10,000’s of people across the country, instead of spending the same or more money to research questionable technologies to sequester carbon after the fuel has been burned.

Let’s push our government to establish programs that put everyone on a sustainable energy path, not a sequestration path with the same old resource depletion and increasing fossil fuel cost and security uncertainties.

Cheers

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