ENERGY STAR qualified homes cost less (money) and save more (planet)If you were out house hunting, found a home you absolutely loved and it turned out to be a better built home – built to be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer and more comfortable all year round and this home (that you love, remember) could actually help reduce your energy use by up to 25% and even provided a healthier environment for you and the kids and it was just the right size and the perfect location... then we’d like to ask you, just how much LESS would you be willing to pay for such an amazing place? Conserve energy and you can save money and help to make our environment healthier. Take advantage of the new ecoENERGY Efficiency Initiative to reduce energy use in buildings and houses, industry, personal vehicles and fleets. Homeowners and owners of small and medium-sized organizations can also apply for financial assistance from ecoENERGY Retrofit, as well as other grants and financial incentives. An infinite source of clean power: Canada’s bountiful resource.
Wind is powered by the sun. In fact, all renewable energy, and even energy in fossil fuels, ultimately comes from the sun. The sun heats our planet to different temperatures in different places and at different times. This unequal distribution of heat is what creates wind as warm air rises and cooler air descends to fill the void. Wind is the ongoing movement of this air. As the sun warms the earth, it in turn, warms the air above it, making it less dense or lighter. As the light air rises, it creates a low pressure zone near the ground. Air from surrounding cooler areas rushes in to balance the pressure. These are called local winds. Temperature differences between the polar caps and equator, as well as the rotation of the earth, produce similar results on a global scale, called prevailing winds. So how much wind do we have in Canada? We have more than we could ever use, and it’s free. Our vast landscape, our three windy coastlines, the plains and mountains all contribute to this endless resource. Canada has still only scratched the surface of its massive wind energy potential, which currently powers the equivalent of 840,000 Canadian homes. Tomorrow we hope to do even more. Countries like Denmark already get over 20% of their electricity from wind. If we did the same in Canada, we would have enough wind energy to power 17 million homes! As long as the wind continues to blow, there is a great future in wind energy. |