redgreenandblue.org — The Florida Public Service Commission has “unanimously and enthusiastically” approved a plan to build America’s largest commercial solar-power plant in the state. The committee also gave the green light to a further two facilities, due to go on-line in 2009.
Jul 17, 2008 View in Crawl 4
mxm111Jul 17, 2008
What is interesting (at least for me) that one of those plants is photovoltaic! I wander why they decided to do it on this scale, when usually other types of solar plant are cheaper and more efficient. May be because it is build in Kennedy Space Center and there you can not build towers?
Closed AccountJul 18, 2008
Screw solar. COAL 4 LIFE!
travis1982Jul 19, 2008
Well, I guess I won't be seeing any rationality from you today,..or any other day. I don't know what to call you Captrick, you're not American, I'm actually ashamed to say that you're Canadian. Do you not see the hypocrisy in your question? I have given you references, more reliable references than I have EVER seen you give, you don't even give any references at all sometimes. When did I say that America isn't a technology powerhouse, it is, I'm not denying that. However, you ignorantly underestimate Canada and it's technological capability. Even though I am giving you references NOW, I don't expect you to read them, or even believe them...because you are utterly and completely insane. You have a severe narcissistic personality disorder, and you don't believe any positive thing you read about Canada. Known globally for high tech, Canada’s Technology Triangle continues to lead the pack in many pioneering technologies, from wireless to internet to production technology; employing more than 18,000 employees at more than 400 high tech companies. CTT is home to 150 research institutes as well as $290 million in Private-Sector Research and Development (2004).Companies like RIM Research in Motion (maker of the famous BlackBerry wireless handheld), Open Text, Electrohome, Christie Digital, COM DEV International, AGFA Healthcare, NCR, Raytheon, MKS and Descartes System Group are just a few of the names on the cutting edge of information technology. Fuelled by spin-off technologies from the University of Waterloo and the entrepreneurial spirit of the area, many of our local success stories are home-grown.Further solidifying its reputation as a high tech leader, Waterloo has been named among the “Top 7 Intelligent Communities” in the world by the Intelligent Community Forum, based on its “commitment to fostering institutions that drive technology innovation and share its benefits with the community at large.” (ICF, 2006)An area of a half million people, Waterloo Region is Canada’s 10th and Ontario’s 4th largest urban area. The Region is a significant force in the Canadian economy with a GDP of $20.9 billion. Annual exports in excess of $12 billion are larger than five Canadian provinces. It is a cost-competitive marketplace with global connections.Waterloo Region has a breadth of real estate options to meet the needs of any high tech operation, including high rise, revitalized urban warehouse, business park spaces, and locations immediately on Canada’s superhighway, highway 401.The University of Waterloo Research + Technology Park provides a setting supportive of aggressive and high impact research and commercialization, offering unprecedented access to the research expertise of university faculty, students and alumni. It is also home to the Waterloo Research and Technology Park Accelerator Centre, a fertile environment for up and coming innovators.
travis1982Jul 19, 2008
Well, I guess I won't be seeing any rationality from you today,..or any other day. I don't know what to call you Captrick, you're not American, I'm actually ashamed to say that you're Canadian. Do you not see the hypocrisy in your question? I have given you references, more reliable references than I have EVER seen you give, you don't even give any references at all sometimes. When did I say that America isn't a technology powerhouse, it is, I'm not denying that. However, you ignorantly underestimate Canada and it's technological capability. Even though I am giving you references NOW, I don't expect you to read them, or even believe them...because you are utterly and completely insane. You have a severe narcissistic personality disorder, and you don't believe any positive thing you read about Canada.Known globally for high tech, Canada?s Technology Triangle continues to lead the pack in many pioneering technologies, from wireless to internet to production technology; employing more than 18,000 employees at more than 400 high tech companies. CTT is home to 150 research institutes as well as $290 million in Private-Sector Research and Development (2004).Companies like RIM Research in Motion (maker of the famous BlackBerry wireless handheld), Open Text, Electrohome, Christie Digital, COM DEV International, AGFA Healthcare, NCR, Raytheon, MKS and Descartes System Group are just a few of the names on the cutting edge of information technology. Fuelled by spin-off technologies from the University of Waterloo and the entrepreneurial spirit of the area, many of our local success stories are home-grown.Further solidifying its reputation as a high tech leader, Waterloo has been named among the ?Top 7 Intelligent Communities? in the world by the Intelligent Community Forum, based on its ?commitment to fostering institutions that drive technology innovation and share its benefits with the community at large.? (ICF, 2006)An area of a half million people, Waterloo Region is Canada?s 10th and Ontario?s 4th largest urban area. The Region is a significant force in the Canadian economy with a GDP of $20.9 billion. Annual exports in excess of $12 billion are larger than five Canadian provinces. It is a cost-competitive marketplace with global connections.Waterloo Region has a breadth of real estate options to meet the needs of any high tech operation, including high rise, revitalized urban warehouse, business park spaces, and locations immediately on Canada?s superhighway, highway 401.The University of Waterloo Research + Technology Park provides a setting supportive of aggressive and high impact research and commercialization, offering unprecedented access to the research expertise of university faculty, students and alumni. It is also home to the Waterloo Research and Technology Park Accelerator Centre, a fertile environment for up and coming innovators.Advanced CANDU ReactorThe Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) is a Generation III+ design and is an evolutionary development of existing CANDU reactors designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. It is a light-water-cooled reactor that incorporates features of both Pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) and Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (APWR) technologies. It uses a similar design concept to the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR).The design uses lightly enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, light water coolant, and a separate heavy water moderator. The reactivity regulating and safety devices are located within the low pressure moderator. The ACR also incorporates characteristics of the CANDU design, including on-power refueling with the CANFLEX fuel; a long prompt neutron lifetime; small reactivity holdup; two fast, totally independent, dedicated safety shutdown systems; and an emergency core cooling system. The compact reactor core design reduces core size by half for the same power output over the older design.The fuel bundle is a variant of the 43-element CANFLEX design (CANFLEX-ACR). The use of LEU fuel with a neutron absorbing centre element allows the reduction of coolant void reactivity coefficient to a nominally small, negative value. It also results in higher burnup operation than traditional CANDU designs.The current size for the ACR-1000 is approximately 1200MWe. According to the AECL website, the ACR-1000 is planned to be in service by 2016.<a class="user" href="http://www.aecl.ca/Reactors/ACR-1000.htm">http://www.aecl.ca/Reactors/ACR-1000.htm</a>ACEnetACEnet or the Atlantic Computational Excellence Network is a partnership of nine Atlantic Canada institutions to organize themselves into a large scale high-performance computing (HPC) facilities for research. The nine institutions include; Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University, Dalhousie University, St. Francis Xavier University, St. Mary's University and the University of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton University and Acadia University.ACEnet is one of seven HPC consortia in Canada that, under the newly announced National Platform Fund (CFI) will share resources and collaborate on various research projects that would never be undertaken by a single entity.<a class="user" href="http://www.ace-net.ca/aboutus.html">http://www.ace-net.ca/aboutus.html</a>AECLAtomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation with the responsibility of managing Canada's national nuclear energy research and development program, including the advancement and support of CANDU reactor technology which was developed at AECL starting in the 1950s. AECL also provides a variety of maintenance, diagnostic, waste management, refurbishment, and other services to the nuclear industry.AECL describes its mandate as follows:? Managing the Canadian nuclear platform responsibly and cost effectively.? Leveraging the technology base to deliver nuclear products and services to market.AECL is also the vendor of CANDU technology, which it has exported worldwide. Throughout the 1960s-2000s AECL marketed and built CANDU facilities in India, South Korea, Argentina, Romania, and the People's Republic of China.In addition, AECL manufactures nuclear medicine radioisotopes for supply to MDS Nordion in Ottawa, Canada, and is the world's largest supplier of Molybdenum-99 for diagnostic tests, and Cobalt-60 for cancer therapy.AECL is funded through a combination of federal government appropriations and commercial revenue.<a class="user" href="http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx">http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx</a>ViCLAS ResearchIn 1991, Sgt. Greg Johnson, who had little computer skills but extensive experience in the investigation of serious crimes was recruited to head up what would become the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS). Sgt. Johnson, along with others, including Sgt. Sharon Olver of the Ontario Provincial Police, and Sgt. Gerald Seguin of the Suret? de Qu?bec, spent the next eight months conducting research into the most successful American automated case linkage systems.Dr. David Cavanaugh of Harvard University, who was a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ViCAP system has said about ViCLAS, the Canadians will have "...done to automated case linkage what the Japanese did with assembly line auto production. They have taken a good American idea and transformed it into the best in the world." It is not surprising that with endorsements like that and the portability of ViCLAS to other languages that other countries are looking at the system with envy.A number of Countries including, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Holland, and the United Kingdom have adopted ViCLAS and are using it as their major case linkage system as well as the American states of Tennessee and Indiana. The RCMP have given the software away free to these countries and have provided them with the necessary technical support and training to operate it. The requests for information on the system continues to come in, the most recent from Japan.Due to the number of additional requests and the fact the software is currently undergoing some re-engineering there has been a moratorium placed on providing the software to new countries. Once the software re-engineering is complete consideration will be given on a case by case basis, to additional countries.<a class="user" href="http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/viclas/viclas_e.htm">http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/viclas/viclas_e.htm</a>Canada Geographic Information SystemThe Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) was developed in the 1950s and 1960s to assist in regulatory procedures of land-use management and resource monitoring. At that time, Canada was beginning to realize problems associated with its seemingly endless boundaries, in combination with natural resource availability. The government therefore decided to launch a national program to assist in management and inventory of its resources. The simple automated computer processes designed to store and process large amounts of data enabled Canada to begin a national land-use management program and become a foremost promoter of GIS.CGIS was designed to withstand great amounts of collected data by managing, modeling, and analyzing this data very quickly and accurately. As Canada presented such large datasets, it was necessary to be able to focus on certain regions or provinces in order to more effectively manage and maintain land-use. CGIS enabled its users to effectively collect national data and, if necessary, break it down into provincial datasets. Early applications of GIS with Canadian datasets benefited land-use management and environmental impact monitoring programs.In 1960, Roger Tomlinson was working at an aerial survey company in Ottawa, Spartan Air Services. The company was focused on producing large-scale photogrammetric and geophysical maps. In the early 1960s, Tomlinson and the company were asked to produce a map for site-location analysis in an east African nation. Tomlinson immediately recognized that the new automated computer technologies might be applicable and even necessary to complete such a detail-oriented task more effectively and efficiently than humans. Eventually, Spartan met with IBM offices in Ottawa to begin developing a relationship to bridge the previous gap between geographic data and computer services. Tomlinson brought his geographic knowledge to the table as IBM brought computer programming and data management.The Canadian government and Tomlinson began working towards the development of a national program after a 1962 meeting between Tomlinson and Lee Pratt, head of the Canada Land Inventory (CLI). Pratt was charged with creation of maps covering the entire region of Canada's commercially productive areas by showing agriculture, forestry, wildlife, and recreation, all with the same classification schemes. Not only was the development of such maps a formidable task, but Pratt understood that computer automation may assist in the analytical processes as well. Tomlinson was the first to produce a technical feasibility study on whether computer mapping programs would be viable solution for the land-use inventory and management programs, such as CLI. He is also given credit for coining the term geographic information system and is recognized as the "Modern Father of GIS."Nuclear power in CanadaCanada has an active and independent nuclear power and research sector, producing about 15% of its electricity at nuclear power plants of domestic design. Canada is the worlds largest exporter of uranium, and has the world's second largest proven reserves. Canada also exports nuclear technology within the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.The province of Ontario dominates Canada?s nuclear industry, containing most of the country?s nuclear power generating capacity. Ontario has 16 operating reactors providing about 50% of the province?s electricity, plus two reactors undergoing refurbishment. Quebec and New Brunswick each have one reactor. Overall, nuclear power provides about 15% of Canada?s electricity with the majority of Canada?s energy as hydro-power. [1] The industry employs about 21,000 people directly and 10,000 indirectly. Canada?s nuclear energy production peaked in 1994 at 102.4 TWh, declined to 67 TWh by 1998 as reactors were mothballed, and increased to 85.6 TWh in 2005 due to improved reactor performance and refurbishment. Recently there has been renewed interest in nuclear energy, spurred by increasing demand (particularly within Ontario), and the desire to comply with Canada?s Kyoto Agreement obligations. The Government of Ontario proposed plans in 2004 to build several new nuclear reactors in the province. [2]Natural Resources Canada oversees nuclear power R&D and regulation in Canada, with responsibility for the crown corporations Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). AECL?s commercial operations include reactor development, design and construction of CANDU nuclear reactors, and provision of reactor services and technical support to CANDU reactors worldwide. Electricity planning and production are the responsibility of the individual provinces.Canada?s Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NWMO) was set up in 2002 to investigate and develop an approach to the long-term management of used nuclear fuel. After extensive public consultation over a three-year period, the study report, released in 2005, recommended ?Adaptive Phased Management? (see below).The Province of Ontario has announced plans to build a new nuclear station. The leading candidate is AECL's Advanced CANDU Reactor. Environmental assessments are
jeffpalmerJul 21, 2008
This is a great thing to see, solar really is viable if we push ahead with it and make the economies of scale work. In the late 19th century, most people thought that oil would never replace coal as the main source of power. 50 years later they were proven wrong. Solar technology is going forward at such a rate!
alwaysawakeJul 22, 2008
Whenever Government and Business start agreeing like this, there are mega-bucks to be made; they each get a slice of the pie; and the working class population is to be enslaved. They did it to us with coal; then oil; now we are choosing how to get financially raped from either solar, wind turbine, or nuclear technology. When will we ever tire of being sheeple ?