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Community Energy Co-operatives And Poverty Reductions In Rural Pakistan
No full textThe purpose of this Sustainable Energy Development degree project is to describe a project which I participated in from 2003 to 2008 as a District Program Officer of an NGO in rural Pakistan. This project involved organizing a rural village into an energy cooperative to address energy poverty and enable greater social, environmental and economic development. My objectives in doing so are: 1. To reflect on my professional experience with this project to identify the critical factors that both enabled and constrained project development and implementation; 2. To identify the major lessons learned from my project experience about the social, economic, institutional, cultural and financial issues affecting project development and implementation; and, 3. On the basis of my literature review on energy poverty and sustainable development, identify where the lessons learned from my project experience could contribute to the larger body of practice knowledge related to sustainable energy development for rural areas in developing economies
Scoping Study Of The Biophysical And Economical Impacts For The Construction Of The Proposed 500kv Transmission Line Between Alberta And British Columbia
No full textThe scoping study of the biophysical and economical impacts for the proposed 500 kV transmission line between Alberta and British Columbia presents the identification of the most relevant potential environmental impacts that could be produced as a result of the execution of the transmission line project. International, national and provincial guidelines and manual have been used in order to enforce the best practice of scoping for the proposed project. This Masters Degree Project (MDP) is aimed to provide to the affected and interested parties with a preliminary assessment of the most important biophysical and economical impacts that could result from the construction of a 500 kV –AC interprovincial transmission line between Alberta and British Columbia (BC) as proposed by the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) on its 2009 Long-Term Transmission Plan. This document will present relevant information for a sound decision-making process within the provincial environmental agencies, and for the future benefit of the final and official environmental impact assessment. This MDP should not be considered as an official scoping study of the proposed transmission project, as the author is not a registered environmental consultant, and has been prepared for educational purposes only
A Preliminary Study For An Environmental Management System And Energy Efficiency Plan For A Ceramic Products Manufacturing Plant
No full textEffect Of Snow On Solar Photovoltaic Systems In Alberta
No full textAlberta lies in the highest irradiance regions of Canada and has a cold climate which makes it the best candidate to expand its installed solar photovoltaic capacity. Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan to shut down coal generated electricity is another motivation to develop renewables like solar PV. However, there is a significant amount of snow in Alberta, which may hinder the electricity generation ability of photovoltaic systems. The primary objective of this paper is to find the effect of snow on electricity generation by photovoltaic systems in Alberta. A photovoltaic system is set up in Calgary for the experimental research. The result is there is a 9% loss in energy yield per year due to snow accumulation which is quite an insignificant loss considering the analysis is in the absence of bypass diodes
Fleet Sustainability For Enerplus Corporation
No full textRising fuel costs, stricter environmental regulations and an increased desire for corporate transparency by stakeholders are forcing organizations to be more sustainably focused in all aspects of their business. This is especially true for organizations operating in energy intensive and environmentally controversial industries such as oil and gas extraction and production. For organizations operating in Canada and the US where communities and resources are spread out over a large landmass, focusing on vehicle fleets with a sustainability lens has become increasingly popular over the last decade as a way to decrease costs and environmental impact. The purpose of this report is to analyze Enerplus Corporation’s vehicle fleet which is used for oil and gas operations in Canada and the US. Using data provided by Enerplus in conjunction with supplementary research this report identifies the difference in capital costs and emissions for gasoline and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) including compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It was found that CNG offers the most cost savings and creates the least amount of carbon emissions. Fueling logistics are also assessed for each AFV based on Enerplus’ operations locations along with information outlining costs and considerations for implementing private refueling infrastructure in addition to a discussion on mobile refueling services. The regulatory environment for both Canada and the US is also explored to better understand government action toward emissions from vehicles and emissions from industry. The concept of eco-driving is also discussed with cases presented to understand how non-aggressive driving behavior can result in decreased fuel consumption and accident risk. It was found that eco-driving can be attributed to decreasing fuel consumption by 6 percent and accident frequency by 35 percent. To conclude, recommendations for Enerplus from the author are included based on the findings of this report
Feasibility Of Renewable Energy For Rural Community Capacity Building In Value Added Businesses - A Focus On Waste To Energy Technologies In Small Abattoirs
No full textSince the entry of multinationals in the Canadian beef packing industry and the discovery of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Canada, small abattoirs have been hard hit and are slowly starting to fade out across the Province of Alberta. Value added industries are crucial to the economic sustainability of communities dependent on primary sectors and with the use of waste to energy technologies could become sustainable. By evaluating the feasibility of waste to energy technologies in abattoir of rural Alberta, it was found that gasification technology satisfied the requirements for energy production using slaughter waste. Due to the small size of rural abattoirs and the need for waste to make this technology feasible, a zone with multiple abattoirs and considerable agricultural biomass to use along the abattoir waste was delineated. Although the technology comes at a high price, it was estimated that the payback time through savings incurred by the use of gasification technology would be 10.17 years with an average useful life of 4.83 years
Cause-impact Evaluation Of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils At Petroleum Refineries
No full textThis Master Degree Project (MDO) is focused in Talara Refinery, which is the second largest refinery in Peru. Talara Refinery is in the implementation process of ISO 14001, however the contaminiation of soils and groundwater has been iidentifed as an important environmental liability that would prevent them of the implementation of this Environmental Management System (EMS). Contaimination of soils and groundwater occurs when petroleum products are released to the environment due to rupture or leaks of pipelines, valves and storage equipment, and/or poor operational practices.
This MDP identifies the souces of contamination and analyzes impacts on Talara and refinery itself. The author found that in the case of Refinery, spills or leaks were consequence of poor maintenance programs or operational practices. This caused the accumulation of important amount of hydrocarbons in the soil and groundwater that was evident during the visit to the site. Such degree of contamination impacts the environmental balance, brings social conflicts and deseases, and represents economical losses that are identified in detail in Chapter Four.
In addition, this project also evaluates the current practices at Talara Refinery in order to identify the stakeholders, driving fources or barriers that would prevent the implementation of a strategy for Remediation and Prevention of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils at the Refinery. Remediation Technologies are evaluated into a matrix in order to decide which technolgoy may apply to the problem of the Refinery. Three technologies are propsed by the authro for soil remediation: landfarming, beneficial reuse and bioremediation.
Finally, the author propses the Pollution Prevention Strategy with a list of tools to be used and practices to develop in order to avoid feture contamination of soils and groundwater at Talara Refinery and other Petroleum Refineries
Status, Structure and Stratification: Current Archaeological Reconstructions.
No full textProceedings of the 16th Annual Chacmool Archaeology Conferenc
Nuclear Power As An Option For Alberta
No full textAlberta has a challenging task ahead, of making important choices for its future source of energy, keeping the economy and environment into consideration. Should it increase the consumption of more fossil fuels, as the demand for electrical power and energy grows with increase in population and economic activities like oil sands operations, or should the province venture into other sources like the renewable and nuclear energy to combat the problem of climate change? Taking into account of its large capacity for energy production, with near absence of greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy could be the most viable solution for the province. I have tried to cover all the important facets of nuclear power in this report to get a better understanding of its technological concepts, benefits, issues that plague the sector – financial, environmental, political and made comparisons with alternate energy sources to get broader picture of the available choices