Gerry Cornwell is One of Canada's Leading Lighting Designers

Gerry Cornwell, LC, (B.A. Hnrs, Brock University) is one of Canada's leading lighting designers. His expertise comes from an extensive background in professional theatre and museum display lighting, over twenty years as an award winning independent lighting designer and six years as Senior Lighting Consultant at Engineering Interface Limited. He has also been an independent consultant on contract to VESTAR, formerly Rose Technology Group, as Senior Lighting Specialist. [Read more].

Ontario Power Signs Cogeneration Contracts

The Ontario Power Authority said yesterday it has signed contracts for seven cogeneration power projects across Ontario that would add a combined electrical capacity of 414 megawatts to the province’s power grid. The seven projects represent a total investment of about $800 million and range in size from 2 MW district energy project in Oshawa to a 236 MW industrial application in Thorold, the authority said in a release. The plants are expected to come online between February 2008 and May 2010. “Developing more distributed energy such as these cogeneration projects is key to having a balanced, reliable and secure electrical system for Ontario,” provincial Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said in a statement. The contracts are the first to be announced under a government plan to see the production of 1000 MW of power from alternative sources. The cogeneration plants take advantage of situations where larger industries or groups of users require both electricity and thermal energy for industrial use, heating or cooling.

The successful projects are:

The 11.5 MW Great Northern Tri-Gen Facility in Kingsville, by Soave Hydroponics Co. and Great Northern Hydroponics.
The 12 MW Countryside London projects in London, Countryside London Cogeneration Corp. and Countryside District Energy.
The 5 MW Warden Energy Centre CHP in Markham, by Markham District Energy.
The 2.3 MW Durham College CHO District Energy Project in Oshawa by Oshawa PUC Energy Services Inc. and Durham College.
The 63 MW Algoma Energy By-Product Cogeneration project in Sault Ste. Marie by Algoma Energy L.P. and Algoma Steel Inc. (TSX:AGA).
The 236.4 MW Thorold Cogeneration project in Thorold by Northland Power Inc. (TXS:NPI.UN) subsidiary Consolidated (TSX:A).
The 84 MW East Windsor Cogeneration Centre in Windsor by East Windsor Cogeneration L.P. and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F).

Meantime, a report from Washington released yesterday says companies are not building power plants and power lines fast enough to meet growing demand, according to a group recently assigned by the federal government to assure proper operation of the power grid.

The North American Electric Reliability Council, in its annual report said the amount of power that could be generated or transmitted would drop below the target levels meant to ensure reliability on peak days in Texas, New England, the mid-Atlantic area and the Midwest during the next two to three years.

(Record News Services)

How many scientists will it take to change the light bulb?

Canadian firm developing a bulb that uses 90% less energy, lasts 50 times longer

A Canadian company whose financial backers include federal government and energy giant EnCana Corp. is on the quest to develop the world’s best light bulb. Ottawa-based Group IV Semiconductor Inc. announced yesterday a three year, $9.1 million initiative aimed at developing solid state lighting products made of silicon that uses 90 percent less energy than a traditional incandescent light bulb and last up to 50 times longer.

It also disclosed that Jozef Straus, former chief executive and co-chair of fiber optics powerhouse JDS Uniphase Corp., has taken on the role of chair. Stephen Naor, chief executive of Group IV, said the company’s vision is to introduce light bulbs “priced for mass adoption” that fit existing light fixtures. The goal is to transform the $12 billion global lighting market, dominated by incandescent technology.

“What we’re announcing is a project to take the results of the research we’ve done and really start developing that towards a product,” said Naor. “The target is to have a demonstration ability meaning a real light bulb, in three year’s time”.

Group IV has been quietly working on the technology for several years.

On top of superior efficiency, Group IV’s bulbs – which produce light when an electric current passes through a piece of silicon – promise to product high-quality white light and wouldn’t be hot to the touch. They also wouldn’t contain mercury, which creates a disposal challenge for today’s compact fluorescent bulbs.

EnCana Environmental Innovation Fund has invested $2.5 million in the initiative. Sustainable Development Technology Canada has contributed $2.1 million. The comes from sources that include BDC Venture Capital and Silicon Value venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.

The engineering departments of Carleton University and McMaster University have assisted in the technology research, along with help from the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre in Ottawa.

It is estimated that 20 percent of the world’s total electricity consumption is the result of lighting, with 60 percent of all light bulbs on the planet based on incandescent technology that was first commercialized by Thomas Edison.

Incandescent lights are extremely inefficient, using on 5 percent of the electricity that flows into them for light. The remaining 95 percent is lost as heat, which during the summer puts an added strain on air conditioning. Fluorescent can compact fluorescent lights are four times more efficient, but Group IV believes it can raise the bar on efficiency dramatically higher and produce a bulb with a life of 50,000 hours – about 10 times the life of compact fluorescent bulbs.

The company also holds that its lights will be higher quality and cheaper to produce than light-emitting diode or LED technology, another type of solid-state lighting that holds promise as an alternative to incandescent bulbs.

Naor said the company hopes to have its bulbs mass produced within the next five years, though actual manufacturing of the product would be done by light bulb makers like General Electric and Osram Sylvania.

(Toronto Star)

Energy Efficient Lighting Technology Options

The Lighting Market Characterization study is a multiyear effort to evaluate light sources in the United States and identify opportunities for saving energy. Sponsored by the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technologies Program (BT), the Lighting Market Characterization consists of two phases. In September 2002, the Department of Energy published the U.S. Lighting Market Characterization Volume I: National Lighting Inventory and Energy Consumption Estimate. This report, U.S. Lighting Market Characterization Volume II: Energy Efficient Lighting Technology Options identifies fifty-two different lighting technology options that promise to save energy. [Read more]

Building Owners to Power Down

Vow to cut hydro use by 150 megawatts, part of wider 4-year conservation plan.

Building owners across the city are getting more serious about conservation. The Building Owners and Managers Association of Greater Toronto has promised the province that its members will reduce their electricity consumption by a total of 150 megawatts within four years.

They'll do it by upgrading heating and cooling systems, using lighting more efficiently and replacing old appliances with energy-efficient alternatives.

"We are on the front line when it comes to reducing energy consumption in the sector," said Mike Miceli, president of the association, which has 740 members that control 1,500 commercial, retail and hotel buildings across the GTA.

The commitment is part of an agreement between the association and the Ontario Power Authority, which pledged $150 million yesterday toward a plan to conserve 330 megawatts of electricity by 2010.

Under the plan, the City of Toronto has also agreed to conserve 90 megawatts, partly through the retrofit of municipal buildings, while Toronto Hydro Corp. said it would match that reduction by expanding a number of existing conservation programs, including its popular Peak Saver initiative and the Keep Cool air conditioning recycling program.

The agreements "will help ensure the reliability of Toronto's electricity supply," said Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan, who joined Mayor David Miller in making the announcement. "It will also help the economy and the environment."

Peter Love, the province's chief energy conservation officer, said the $150 million will come from money consumers pay for electricity, and will be augmented by funds from the city and the private sector. "We need to provide some incentive, but we're not going to provide the whole shot," said Love.

He said most of the money will go toward conservation and demand-management programs that reduce peak electricity consumption, helping the city and province avert a power crisis during days of record electricity demand.

Efforts will include a range of commercial and residential initiatives, such as energy audits, load-shifting projects, use of deep-lake water cooling, where cold water is pumped from a lake to be used to help cool buildings, and automation and upgrades to building lighting.

Using sensors to control and dim lighting and installing higher-efficiency light fixtures can reduce lighting costs in a building by more than 50 per cent, according to Terry Mocherniak, chief executive of building automation expert Encelium Technologies in Toronto.

With so many buildings in the downtown core lit up unnecessarily in the evening when they're mostly empty, there's plenty of room for conservation, said Mocherniak. Jose Etcheverry, climate change analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation, said yesterday's announcement is a step in the right direction.

"It's going to enable people in the city of Toronto to gain expertise on these strategies," he said. "The more these types of initiatives get implemented, the clearer it becomes that we don't require centralized, polluting approaches."

Miller said the city spends $200 million a year on energy and is eager to drive that cost down, while at the same time improving air quality.

He said the city's energy plan will be completed in 2007 and will shed light on conservation initiatives under development.

David O'Brien, CEO of Toronto Hydro, said the utility's conservation efforts are already paying off, pointing to 26,000 customers who have already registered for its Peak Saver program — which lets Toronto Hydro turn down air conditioners of participants in peak periods.

(Toronto Star, Sep 28, 2006)