The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will use a biomass gasification system from Vancouver-based Nexterra Energy Corp. to save on energy costs and reduce its carbon footprint. The system is being purchased by Johnson Controls Inc., which has been given an $89 million contract with Oak Ridge to deploy a number of building management and energy-conservation measures. (more…)

Those of you who frequent this blog understand my interest with geothermal power and my frustration that we don’t take it seriously in Canada, despite the massive resource this country offers. We’re the only major country on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” with no commercial geothermal power plants, so we haven’t even tapped the low-hanging fruit, let alone explored the opportunity presented by enhanced geothermal technologies. (more…)

I have a story in today’s Toronto Star about exploratory talks taking place between the Ontario government’s ministry of economic development and Better Place, the Shai Agassi venture that has electric-vehicle infrastructure projects on the go in Israel and Denmark. Sean Harrington, head of global development at Palo Alto, Calif.-based Better Place, said Ontario and the Toronto region specifically is a “good fit” for the Better Place model because of the high population density in the area — 5 million people within a 180-kilometre radius. He said talks are preliminary but that there’s already an effort underway to find a car manufacturer willing to participate in “Better Place Ontario” by locally manufacturing electric cars for such a project. (more…)

When we talk about using anaerobic digester technology to produce biogas from organic material, and then using that biogas to generate electricity, we’re usually talking about processing agricultural waste or manure out on some farm or rural facility. But what about the city? There’s thousands of tons of organic or “green bin” waste produced every day in cities like Toronto, and much of it still goes to landfill — particularly organics from multi-unit dwellings and industrial/commercial operations. (more…)

Jimmy Wales wants to build the world’s greatest handbook for going green. Actually, he wants you to build it.  The makers of Wikipedia have launched Wikia Green, a “project to build a community generated online resource that is home to the best information about green topics and issues.” There are many other sites out there trying to be a one-stop shop for all things green, so perhaps this is one — in the spirit of Wikipedia — that will actually work. Can’t hurt, right? It’s worth keeping an eye on this site to see how it evolves over the months.