Emotionally and businesswise, I believe all renewables and energy conservation are good BUT I am increasingly troubled by BIG Wind.

The first time I saw the Shelburne, Ontario wind farm was on a bright, clear, starry moon lit night driving across the county road with light blowing ground level snow and the big sweeps were magnificent shadowy beasts coming through the misting snow. I had a meeting in the nacelle of the Toronto Hydro wind machine at the CNE, the view across Toronto was spectacular, the soft sound of the blades was soothing and the little motors and computers rotating the prop direction were fascinating toys for boys.

 But all is not well with the big machines!

The big machines are generating their best electrical energy at night and in the spring and fall when winds guaranteed take a pay rate of 11 to 14 cents per kWh -- about 4 to 5 times what base load nuclear energy can supply without needing other generation sources. The big machines are not required to be paired with either storage and/or alternate generation like a gas powered electrical generation facility plant so that wind machine supply package is 24/7/365 part of the electrical energy supply.  

The regulated 500 meter minimum set back from a residence is questionable at best. The Grey/ Bruce County Medical Officer of Health‘s interim report documents the negative impact 24/7/365 low level noise/ air pressure change is having on people’s health. Farm animals can’t talk to the vet but productivity issues are surfacing. The federal government has a major health impact study to be completed years forward but the damage will be done, and who is going to pay to move the machines?

Denmark, the world’s leader in wind energy, with some 20% of electrical generation from off shore wind farms now has people/animal issues as wind farms get located on land near residential and farm buildings.

It is time for a time out on Big Wind before the damage becomes too big to fail.  

Bob Fisher

Dalton McGuinty just announced plans to retire as Premier of Ontario opens the opportunity for meaningful revisions to the current Governments’ programs that contribute to the growing Provincial debt and deficit. Here are two that can save billions.

Universities: Ontario plans to create 40,000+ new undergraduate university spaces and 3 new campuses by 2016. At a current cost per student of around $14,000, that is another half billion dollars the government does not have the revenue to support. During the same time period there will be 50,000 fewer high school graduates. Rather than warehousing young people in university, what about revamping the co-op and apprenticeship skilled trades programs with private business  at nominal cost to the taxpayer.  There is a shortage of skilled trades people and a big over supply of arts and education university graduates.

Electricity: Ontario has gone from one of the lowest cost continental North American electrical systems to  2^nd highest( Long Island is still higher but not for long). Ontario has committed $35 billion for new nuclear generation that will cost homeowners at least 15 cents per kWh plus delivery, stranded debt, etc. Quebec has hydro for sale from its northern rivers for 6.5 cents per kWh and you only pay for what you use.

Time to get real at Queens Park and stop beating teachers for sick days for pennies and save billions on the big items.

Bob Fisher

This week the news emerged that Elections Ontario has improperly managed the data of 2 million or so Ontario voters and has “lost” our personal data. Apparently back in April, a couple of USB drives went missing from an Elections Ontario office, and they contained information collected about voters provided during the election last fall.

First, we’re going to set aside the issue of timing – that this breach occurred back in April and the news is only coming out now. This feels to me like a pretty big gap in accountability, but that’s a topic for another day

Second, we’re also going to ignore the notion that the likelihood of the data being misused is low – apparently due to the specialized software used to manage this data. While this possibly is true, I would never underestimate the capabilities of a determined hacker to be able to decode the data.  Further, what data was lost and how much damage can be done with it is not really the point, particularly if you happen to be one of the people whose data was on the drives.

But more practically, what happened here?

It seems that a number of “paper procedures” had been established but were not followed by employees.  And no audits appear to have been done to ensure the procedures were being followed. And finally, it seems that the significance of securing this data was not sufficiently impressed on at least a couple of Elections Ontario employees.

What does this mean for your organization?

First, have some security procedures – including but by no means limited to:

Personal data about customer or clients or citizens should not be put on a USB drive as a matter of policy, and if there are some exceptional circumstances, they should be depersonalized or encrypted at minimum.

Strong passwords should be required to get into any system containing personal data, and users should be forced to change them regularly.

Encryption software for laptops should be installed and activated.

Materials should be secured when users are not there – screen locks, laptops and USB devices stored in locked drawers, and so on.

Secondly, test the procedures and audit users behavior.  If that means something as silly sounding as walking around the office and checking, just do it.  If phones or blackberries are supposed to be password protected, check them to make sure.

Finally, ensure staff know the procedures, understand why they are there and the implications of them not being followed (both to the organization and to them personally) as it is at the personal level that security is most effectively implemented.

Christy DeMont

Imagine Canada reports that in 2003 there were 45,000 not-for-profit/charitable organizations in Ontario or 369 per 100,000 population.  Since 2003, the number of organizations has grown despite the challenges facing these organizations:   Ontario’s difficult fiscal environment, increasing demands for transparency and accountability by both stakeholders and funders, a shortage of skilled volunteers and a deficit in experienced senior management staff.  Seventy five per cent of not-for-profit agencies in Canada have fewer than 10 staff.  Virtually all agencies are facing challenges recruiting volunteer board members who have the requisite skills and expertise to govern.

The not-for-profit sector is a vital contributor to the Ontario economy and for this reason the sector needs to remain vibrant and sustainable.  The vast majority of not-for-profit agencies are found in the health and social services sectors.  Faced with these significant challenges, one should ask the question:  Why are so few agencies actively engaged in examining strategies for merging their talent with the talent of like minded agencies and move into a position of enhanced sustainability?

I would suggest that there are a number of reasons.  Agencies do not want to lose their independence and their “mark”.  They don’t want to lose their history.  Often times, they don’t want to lose power and control.    Perhaps they don’t see the benefits or feel the driving need to talk about merging or amalgamating.  Perhaps they are waiting for additional government funding to ensure their stability.  Perhaps they don’t know how to approach a discussion with another agency or group of agencies.  Or, perhaps they will wait until forced to seek alternatives.

The integration of agencies does not have to be a win/lose proposition.  There are many proven strategies that can be employed to ensure that agencies engaged in “joining up” will be highly successful and stable organizations at the end of the process.   However none of these strategies will work unless a leader emerges that asks the question “Why Not?”.  

Susan Bihun

How does a small business owner utilize the provincial government incentives to conserve, time shift and perhaps even generate energy in the Province of Ontario?  Well apparently it’s all here for you! Wind, solar, and even small hydro opportunities are all out there for consumers to consider to offset their electrical demand. Or so that’s how the Ontario Government (Ontario Power Authority) has presented the options to small and medium sized industrial users. I think we all understand however that it’s not exactly that straight forward and one really needs to start with the fundamentals and assess their demand in the context of their individual business operations. But what questions do we need to ask before we consider implementing changes? For one you need to know your demand profile - is my electrical demand continuous and not interruptible? Is there an energy conservation plan that can be applied to offset my peak high cost periods? Are there energy conversion options (multi fuel) to reduce the type of energy consumption at different periods? Can I load shift to change the pattern of use and save money? Understanding your business energy demand picture is the very first step towards improving costs and taking advantage of the incentives offered by your local utility.   

Here in Ontario the Ontario Power Authority does do a few things right. The Authority website is a great resource to users to investigate savings opportunities. Start with its home page and scroll through all the different programs available for consumers. Next check out the Hydro One website and review their programs. Some of the programs include:

• FiT and Micro FiT
• ICI OPA Industrial Accelerator Program for grid connected Users   
• Ontario Clean Energy Benefit offered by Hydro One-One
• OPA/Hydro One Audit program incentives

Many owners think electrical demand costs cannot be optimized and that these programs really don’t fit their needs. Not only is that incorrect but many businesses, maybe some of your competitors, have taken advantage of the incentives to improve their energy demand and costs. Now that’s something we need to pay attention to!

David Rankin

This summer I turned off the circulating electric fan motor on my gas furnace to CONSERVE energy, just like the ads say. But the house smelled stale and the basement musty. Turned on the furnace fan and in a few hours back to normal.

Using the hydro Smart Meter web site, I looked at my hourly/daily/peak/off peak electrical load. The furnace motor uses about half a kilowatt to operate. At the current hydro delivered HST included cost of some 15 cents per kWh, running the fan cost about $650 per year. Plus Toronto Hydro have just asked for another rate increase!

An new technology ECM motor in my not so old  furnace would save about 75 % or almost $500. New motors should cost about $700 installed - an ROI of 70%+ or 16 months to get my money back. A better investment than my stocks and bonds.

Do you know a good installer?

By the way if 2 M Ontario homes did this we would save several new nuclear reactors which are planned to cost billions of $.

Bob Fisher

One of the things that I like about being a contract executive is that it affords me the time to do some volunteering. I need to admit that I’m one of those people who have difficulty saying “no”, so sometimes I get myself overcommitted. Someone asked me why I do all the things that I do, and my answer is much like it is for being a regular blood donor – I have O negative blood, the universal donor, so I was given this gift and I have an obligation to use it to help others. I feel the same way about volunteering – I have skills and abilities, and there are organizations that need these abilities to do their good work.

Because there is such a need for volunteers, it is easy to get into something which is not enjoyable. I think finding the right volunteer opportunities is much like finding the right job. First and foremost, you need to believe in the work of the organization. Second, you need to understand yourself – what you enjoy and what you’re good at. Do you want to be part of the committee that organizes everything? Do you like to be behind the scenes preparing things? Or do you like to be on the front lines interacting with the recipients of the programs? If you don’t think through this carefully and choose correctly, then you will begrudge the time that you spend with the organization and likely won’t give it your best effort, so you won’t really be adding to the work of the organization. As one of my friends describes it, the time that you spend as a volunteer should be “life giving”.

I really like the thinking behind the requirement that all high school students in Ontario must spend 40 hours in community service. It’s important that we instil the practice of giving freely of their time to our youth. I know of many teens who have done something merely to get their required hours or to beef up their resume, but I hope that there are others who have had their eyes opened to this important part of making a difference to society.

Sheila Hamilton