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HYBRID LIGHTING STILL LIMITED TO SAFETY AND SECURITY PURPOSES
March, 2007
Wind and solar-power light standards aren't likely to be illuminating urban streets and parking lots any time soon, but the City of Barrie has agreed to test the practicality of the emerging technology for remote locations that would otherwise be in darkness. Throughout 2007, the City's engineering department will be monitoring the performance of a light standard powered with a vertical axis wind turbine and photovoltaic solar panel.
The demonstration project is a partnership with a GTA-based company that specializes in combined wind and solar applications known as hybrid energy systems. Hybridyne Power Systems Canada initially approached Barrie Hydro before being steered to what seemed like a fitting test case.
"We have had a number of inquiries, for safety and security reasons, to get some lighting in certain locations in some parks. These locations are not necessarily close to a road or close to a power supply, and we had already been talking about how we could introduce lighting for safety and security without it costing a fortune," explains Barry Thompson, Energy and Environment Officer with the City of Barrie.
The proposed solution is a light standard with a self-contained renewable power source that can produce 0.4 to 0.6 kilowatts and provides battery storage for approximately 12 hours of operation in the absence of wind or sunlight. If the demonstration unit provides adequate, reliable light and withstands the climate and/or other possible sources of damage, it could be an alternative to the expense of connecting remote locations to the power grid. However, the economics remain far from competitive for widespread use.
"It's in the neighbourhood of seven or eight times more expensive than a standard light so we'd have to get a lot of electrical savings to pay for that," Thompson says. "Until the pricing comes down, it would be difficult to justify it on an energy savings basis."
A simple switch to LED lighting is dramatically more cost effective. "We're at the present time changing all traffic signals from incandescent to LED. That one project alone will save us $150,000 in energy and another $100,000 in maintenance and replacement costs. We expect the lights to last about five times as long," Thompson reports.
At current costs, it would take 20 to 30 years before the hybrid wind and solar lights could match the savings LED lights offer. City officials are also wary of installing expensive and elaborate equipment in remote areas where safety and security might be an issue and access for maintenance could be problematic.
"Vandalism is always a concern in locations like that," Thompson adds. "This unit has three batteries, it's got a moving axis wind turbine and it's got a solar panel, but that's all fairly high off the ground. It's difficult to get at the moving pieces."
For now, the demonstration unit has been placed in a more high profile spot on Barrie's waterfront so that the public can easily see it. Researchers with Hybridyne will also be watching and considering ways to improve the technology based on this year's test results.
INCENTIVE PROGRAM TARGETS PRIVATELY OWNED LOW-INCOME HOUSING
Electricity customers with low incomes could qualify for a new conservation incentive program that will provide an average of $2,250 per household for energy audits and energy efficiency upgrades in privately owned homes and rental housing. The recently announced pilot project is a possible forerunner to a more comprehensive incentive program as part of the Ontario government's goal to reduce the province-wide demand for electricity by as much as 1,350 megawatts by the end of 2007 and, specifically, to save 100 megawatts in the low-income and social housing sector through conservation and demand management.
The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) has initially put up $2.9 million to be dispersed by September 30, 2007. The pilot project will be administered by nine local organizations throughout Ontario that operate under the umbrella of Green Communities Canada, including Green$aver in Toronto, Windfall Ecology Centre in York and Durham Regions, and Green Venture in the Hamilton, Brantford and Niagara area.
Participants must meet income eligibility requirements, pay their own hydro utility bills and live in an electrically heated dwelling. The pilot program is primarily geared to single family residential, row houses or townhouse units, but low-rise apartment buildings may also qualify if tenants with low incomes occupy at least 50% of the units.
Green Communities has been a longstanding delivery agent for the EnerGuide for Houses program and has a network of trained experts already in place to conduct energy audits, assess needs and recommend energy efficiency upgrades.
"We really look to work with existing delivery agents," notes Peter Love, Ontario's Chief Conservation Officer. "I think it supports the need to have different programs for different sectors. We're not trying to get one-solution-fits-all." The OPA also has a separate $9.25-million incentive program for the existing social housing stock, and has recently announced a new rebate program for housing providers who incorporate energy saving measures in new housing to be developed through the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.
Each of the participating Green Communities members has a target number of units for the geographic area it covers. In total, the pilot program should underwrite energy efficiency improvements for up to 1,400 dwellings.
"The first measures are implemented during the first actual visit to a home," explains Jen Atkinson, Program Manager with Windfall Ecology Centre. "That's items like compact fluorescent light bulbs, pipe wrap, water heater blankets and faucet aerators." Energy auditors also determine at that time if there is a potential payback for more costly and/or complicated interventions such as installing insulation or replacing inefficient appliances.
"We [Windfall Ecology Centre] can do 90 homes for the first audit and basic measures," Atkinson says. "Of the 90, we can do up to 50 deep retrofits."
Program proponents urge that any future incentive program following from this pilot should extend eligibility beyond just electrically heated dwellings. "The point is to reach low-income households, not just a particular energy type," says Clifford Maynes, Executive Director of Green Communities Canada. Statistics show that the average Ontario household spends about 3.9% of its annual budget on energy, while householders in the lowest quintile of income earners typically allocate about 13% of their budgets to energy costs, even though they also tend to use less energy than more affluent households.
The local Green Communities organizations are currently working with various social agencies to promote the program and find qualified recipients. "The recruitment of participants in this program is the actual challenge for us," Maynes notes.
"It's the hardest piece. The technical stuff, we can do that easily," concurs Heather Donison, General Manager of Green Venture in Hamilton/Niagara. "Primarily, we are working through existing social services providers, but it doesn't mean that people can't approach us. We may be contacting property managers, as well, to see if they manage complexes with a high percentage of low-income residents."
Private multi-residential rental housing has been excluded from a $75-million OPA-sponsored energy efficiency incentive program for Toronto's commercial electricity customers, so this pilot program's indirect benefits for private business owners who provide low-end-of-market housing raises some questions. However, program coordinators focus on the flow-through benefits for the occupants of the rental housing. Participating landlords will also be required to repay a pro-rated portion of any investment in the property if they sell it within three years of the energy efficiency upgrades.
"It's always problematic because there is little incentive for the landlord to improve the energy efficiency if the tenants are paying the energy bills," Donison says. "We will be in properties that, yes, may be in need of a lot of other improvements. This is a pilot to try to figure out where the problems in this approach may be."
In York Region, the Regional government has offered support for the program by sponsoring a public information session for both the prospective recipients of the incentives and the social agencies that could provide referrals. "One of the groups that we are targeting is seniors," Atkinson says. "If the person is currently enrolled in an existing [social services] program, that qualifies them. The other way is through income, proved by their T4 or income tax statement from Revenue Canada."
For more information, see the Green Communities Canada web site at www.greencommunitiescanada.org.
UTILITY TAPS CONSERVATION POTENTIAL IN NON-PROFIT HOUSING
Two non-profit housing complexes in Newmarket are a test case for the savings that electric thermal storage (ETS) technology could deliver. The pilot project, which is supported with funding from the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), has been implemented in conjunction with Newmarket Hydro's conservation and demand management incentive program.
ETS equipment, which is programmed to gain and store heat during the hours when electricity prices are lower, has been installed in six units in two different electrically heated residential complexes. This allows residents to shut off their electric baseboard heaters during the time of day when electricity prices are higher, yet stay warm as heat is released from the ETS system. "We predict a savings of 30 to 40% in electricity bills," says Pam Riley, the Energy Conservation Coordinator with Newmarket Hydro.
The volunteers now testing the ETS system were identified through a steering committee first set up in 2005 to determine how Newmarket Hydro could best distribute funds for conservation and demand management to the social housing sector. The initiative, and similar programs that local electric utilities are sponsoring throughout Ontario, results from an Ontario Energy Board directive that required utilities to invest the equivalent of one year's worth of rate increases in programs that would help achieve the Ontario government's goal of a province-wide 5% reduction in electricity demand.
"We allocated a very significant portion of our funding to the social housing community," Riley says. "I believe our program is very industry leading. At Newmarket Hydro, we recognize that [energy efficiency] upgrades are costly and managers in the social housing community typically don't have the funding to do the work themselves."
Approximately $334,000 has been pledged to five non-profit housing groups that submitted proposals for funding. Recipients will be required to monitor and report savings in both dollars and kilowatt-hours.
"They are going ahead and getting things done and we are paying the invoices," Riley reports. "Each of the housing providers is doing something different. The funding is supporting a range of projects, such as replacing appliances with those carrying ENERGY STAR ratings, putting in weatherstripping, switching to compact fluorescent lights and installing new hot water tanks."
At Newmarket Cooperative Housing - a complex of 98 electrically heated townhouses built in 1985 - the funding will pay for weatherstripping, new front doors and garage doors, and other sealing measures such as gaskets in exterior outlets to prevent cold air from getting through.
"If we were not involved in this program, none of this would have happened," says Lauren Hele, Housing Coordinator for the co-op. "We would do as much as we could, but there's not a lot of room in our operating budget."
Nor could the co-op cover the upfront capital cost of ETS technology at the current prices, so members are watching the pilot project with interest. Some adjustment to the heating output was required as the system was commissioned, but relatively minimal construction and reconfiguration was needed to install the ETS units that are now being tested in three of the co-op's townhouses.
"The equipment is noticeable," Hele observes. "You definitely know that it's there, but you only need one unit for your whole house so people can live with that." She is optimistic that the pilot results will make an economic case to secure funding for wide-scale implementation.
"We expect the payback will be a couple of years, however this result will be verified upon completion of the pilot," Riley says. "We want to determine if it makes sense to install the electric thermal storage equipment in all the units."
REBATE PROVIDES MODEST PERK TO PROMOTE ENERGY EFFICIENCY
A new rebate for ENERGY STAR qualified equipment and appliances could translate into $850 per unit for developers participating in the first phase of the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.
The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) have jointly pledged $3.7 million to help defray some of the capital costs of energy-efficient lighting, refrigerators, laundry machines and/or HVAC components such as boilers, pumps, fans and motors. An associated education and awareness campaign targeted to the developers, financiers, designers, managers and occupants of non-profit housing will promote the message that long-term operational savings should far outweigh the extra upfront capital investment for energy-efficient equipment.
The rebate would nominally supplement funding of up to $70,000 per unit that the federal and provincial governments are providing for projects built under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program. The program, which was announced in the spring of 2005, is slated to eventually produce 15,000 units through phased funding allocations. Development proponents are now moving forward with projects that have been awarded funding in the initial stage of the program, which underwrites about 5,000 units.
The energy efficiency rebate is to be dispersed by September 30, 2007. "It will significantly reduce energy consumption, and be a showcase for other affordable housing providers to illustrate the savings that can be obtained through energy-efficient products," John Gerretsen, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said when the program was announced in late February.
Housing providers are now waiting for more details about the program requirements and what products will be eligible for the rebate. Constructing to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) compliant standards typically increases capital costs by at least 1 to 5%, so $850 per unit won't significantly compensate for that investment. However, if the scope of the program were narrowed to ENERGY STAR qualified equipment, the rebate would cover a greater portion of that capital outlay.
"The rebate will help the economics of efficiency improvements, though with limited impact. It would reinforce the motivation for doing them, especially for those who are new to energy-efficient construction," suggests Subhash Bhatia, Program Manager of Corporate Energy Services for York Region.
Developers already committed to energy-efficient design appreciate the gesture. "If they want to hand us $22,000, we'll take it," says Bruce Rosensweet, Director of Properties with Toronto Artscape Inc., which intends to seek LEED certification for its 26-unit live/work project on a former Toronto Transit Commission yard.
Similarly, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) could receive about $626,000 towards the construction of 737 units it is building as part of the Regent Park redevelopment project. "Essentially, the rebate is helpful and we appreciate it, but it's a modest percentage of the overall costs," says TCHC spokesperson Frank Clarke. "Toronto Community Housing is building to very energy efficient standards, and the $850 will assist us in doing that, but it doesn't go very far in offsetting the extra capital costs."
TCHC has a concurrent energy management program in its existing portfolio, which is home to more than 160,000 residents. All refrigerators and stoves more than eight years old - about 12,000 appliances - are slated to be replaced within the next two years, and approximately 210,000 energy-efficient light bulbs will be installed in both tenants' suites and common areas before the end of 2007. "As far as energy efficiency is concerned, absolutely, that's a top priority for us," Clarke reports.
That's good news for the OPA, which is charged with spearheading the Ontario government's efforts to reduce the province-wide demand for electricity by as much as 1,350 megawatts by the end of 2007, and to specifically save 100 megawatts in the low-income and social housing sector through conservation and demand management. The OPA offers a separate $9.25-million incentive program for energy efficiency upgrades in the existing social housing stock, and recently announced a $2.9-million pilot program to provide incentives for energy efficient improvements in privately owned low-income housing.
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