Sustainable Living Tips by Lee Leffler

Homeowners in the province of Ontario, Canada, are being given the opportunity to join the microFIT program of the Ontario Power Authority.

Under microFIT, owners of small (10 KW or less)  renewable-source electrical generators will be paid for the electricity they produce and deliver to the province’s electricity grid.

While many other electric utility companies offer similar plans, microFIT is the first we’ve heard of where the utility writes a contract guaranteeing a price over a 20-year term (40 years for waterpower projects), with the price being designed to cover the costs of the project and provide a reasonable rate of return on the homeowner’s investment over the term of the contract. Other utilities offer “net metering” plans, which may or may not adequately recover the costs of the generator project.

The microFIT program covers generators powered solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, water and bio-energy.

Read more at the Ontario Power Authority web site.

Have you ever heard the joke about the absurdity of putting a recreation area right next to a waste management plant?

This blog post on the New York Times website talks about a plan to open a ski park in a waste management plant. The article says, “If you’re itching to visit the new advanced waste management plant that will open in 2016 in Copenhagen, be sure to bring your skis. An urban ski park will cover the plant, which will incinerate the waste from five municipalities to generate heat and electricity for 140,000 homes.”

Imagine taking an elevator to the top of a building, then skiing down one of 3 slopes while your trash – and all the trash from the surrounding region – burns merrily inside.

Read this article to find out what these “geniuses” are thinking.

Hmm. Go skiing to take you mind off pollution.

The Obama administration today proposed guidelines for solar development on public lands in the West, to accelerate projects in six western states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

The detailed study, known as a Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, names 24 “solar energy zones” that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said are “best suited for large-scale solar development.”

Click to read the article on the Environmental News Service website.