SaskPower will be giving away 55,000 vehicle block heater timers to help Saskatchewan motorists save money and help the Crown corporation reduce energy consumption this winter.
A well-maintained vehicle only needs to be plugged in for four hours on very cold winter days (below -15 C) to ensure it will start. Yet many people just plug in their car's block heater when they get home from work, then unplug it when they leave for work the next day, consuming about 12 hours worth of electricity.
"So we're losing eight hours of consumption for nothing," said Garry Tollefson, manager of demand side management for SaskPower. Using a block heater timer will conserve energy and can save about $65 each winter on a typical household's power bill, he added.
Tollefson said a quarter of million households in the province are plugging in at least one vehicle, but "less than 100,000 are using any kind of timer. So there are about 150,000 or more opportunities for at least one or more vehicles in those houses to use this (timer).'
About 50,000 timers will be given away through retailers in 13 centres across the province, while another 5,000 will be given to students at post-secondary institutions in the province. Based on an average of $20 per unit, the program will cost SaskPower about $1 million.
But Tollfeson said the corporation will actually save money on the giveaway program. "It sounds like a ton of money," Tollefson said. "But we're going to get up to four megawatts, depending on how the 50,000 people are using the timers. You can't buy four megawatts of generation for $1 million.' Four megawatts of electricity is enough to power over 450 Saskatchewan homes.
In fact, the program could save the corporation anywhere from four to eight times its $1 million cost in reduced electricity demand, he said. "Plus, there's no operating costs. Once you've done it, you'll use it year after year, until the timer conks out."
SaskPower's Block Heater Timer Event will take place over three weekends in November and December at the following retailers:
On Nov. 26 and 27 and Dec. 3 and 4 at Rona stores in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert; Co-op stores in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert; Sears in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert and Peavey Mart in Assiniboia, Estevan, Humboldt, Kindersley, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Regina, Saskatoon, Swift Current.
On Dec. 3 and 4 and Dec. 10 and 11 at Canadian Tire in Regina, Saskatoon, Swift Current, North Battleford, Estevan, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Prince Albert, Weyburn, Humboldt and Melfort.
For more information about specific event details at each participating retailer, store locations, as well as power saving tips, visit saskpower.com/save_power.
Partnership: This LI Course is being sponsored by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication. Several course faculty are APHA members.
Statement of Purpose and Institute Overview: The purpose of this Institute is to teach public health professionals how to effectively convey the public health implications of climate change to a variety of internal and external audiences, including policy-makers and the broader public. Previous research has shown that the majority of local health departments across the nation are already witnessing health impacts from climate change, and that more and worse health impacts are anticipated over the decades to come. Few health departments have begun to systematically inform internal and external audiences about these impacts and risks, and engage these audiences in decision-making about how best to manage the risks, yet many recognize the need to begin this process. This Institute will provide participants with the skills they need to begin communicating the public health imperative of climate change, including: an overview of implications of climate change for human health; practical guidance on how to communicate the human health implications of climate change; an example of how public health communication on climate change was successfully used in a real-world situation in California; and the opportunity to plan and practice adding climate change and health messaging into ongoing public health programs.
Session Objectives: Participants will be able to: (1) Describe the public health implications of climate change; and (2) Design effective methods of communicating about the health implications of climate change.
Most reality TV has little to do with the real world. But here’s an online show that will reflect what is happening in and to our world: 24 Hours of Reality will feature 24 presenters in 24 time zones talking about the climate crisis in 13 languages. It starts September 14 at 7 p.m. local time in Mexico City and wraps with a live multimedia presentation from New York City by Nobel laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore at 7 p.m. on September 15.
Climate change is reality. It’s happening in front of our eyes, and massive volumes of research from climate scientists around the world confirm that it will get worse if we fail to do something about it. The facts are no longer in dispute. Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly caused by humans burning fossil fuels, are warming the planet. And the consequences aren’t pretty: health problems caused by pollution; increasing extreme weather events leading to floods, droughts, and storms; shrinking glaciers and related impacts on water supplies and agriculture; insect infestations; conflict over dwindling resources; threats to the survival of plants and animals… the list goes on.
Some people don’t recognize how serious the problem is, delaying efforts to resolve it. And the longer we put off finding and implementing solutions, the harder and costlier it will be to overcome the impacts. Former World Bank chief economist Lord Stern estimated that keeping heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions below levels that would drive climate change to catastrophic levels could cost up to two per cent of global GDP, but failure to act could be economically disastrous.
People accuse me and other environmentalists and scientists of being “alarmist”. But the situation is alarming, and it’s even more alarming that some people ignore it, perhaps believing it will go away – or that the crisis doesn’t even exist. In part, this disconnect with reality is because industrial interests spend billions of dollars sowing doubt and confusion, continually promoting discredited theories – just as they’ve done with issues including the dangers of tobacco smoke and the harmful effects of chlorofluorocarbons on the ozone layer. They tell us climate change doesn’t exist, or that it’s caused by volcanoes or the sun, or that it’s part of a natural cycle – even that God will regulate the climate to the advantage of humans.
But as Al Gore points out, “The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality.” That reality includes mountains of published, peer-reviewed research by close to 98 per cent of the world’s climate scientists, as well as real-time observation.
The David Suzuki Foundation’s executive director in Quebec, Karel Mayrand, will deliver the 24 Hours of Reality French presentation at 7 p.m. French Polynesia time (midnight Montreal time). He’ll be joined by two more Canadians, Peter Schiefke in Victoria at 7 p.m. Pacific Time on September 14, and Carl Duivenvoorden from New Brunswick at 7 p.m. Greenland time (6 p.m. New Brunswick) on September 15. They and others will show there is no debate among scientists and knowledgeable people over the existence of human-caused climate change. If there is to be debate it should focus on what to do about it. Doing nothing, as some of the industry shills argue we should, is not a viable option.
Solutions exist, although the cost and severity of the challenge is greater now than in 1988 when climatologists first called for emissions reductions. As more people become aware of the problem and its causes, and learn about the motives of the deniers, it becomes more likely that we’ll find ways to reduce the consequences and put humanity on a path to healthier lives on a healthier planet.
We can’t argue with people who deny reality. All we can do is to make sure the voice of reason speaks louder and that those of us who care about humanity join together to find better ways to live on our Earth. Please visit ClimateRealityProject.org to find out how you can tune in to 24 Hours of Reality. Choose the presentation and time zone you want, or take part in the entire event. You can even set up viewing parties with family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues. And spread the word. We need to speak up for the future of humanity.
24 million American children ride school buses daily. On average, these students spend an hour and a half each day in a school bus. School buses drive more than 4 billion miles each year. School buses are the safest way for children to get to school. However, pollution from older diesel vehicles have health implications for everyone, especially children. Clean School Bus USA (EPA based) brings together partners from business, education, transportation, and public-health organizations to work toward the goals of reducing the potential health impact on children. School districts, with the help of federal grants (and state grants in some cases) have been working to replace the oldest, most polluting buses, and to upgrade others with better pollution control equipment. (The Diesel Reduction Act was reauthorized for five years in December 2010, but it's unclear how much money Congress will appropriate to continue the program.) The way drivers operate the buses can also have a big impact on the air quality for kids.
School buses are a necessary evil despite some issues such as diesel pollution fumes.
Unnecessary school bus idling pollutes the air, wastes fuel, and causes excess engine wear. Fortunately, it's easy to implement practices that reduce school bus idling. This also applies to all of those people who drive their kids to school and let their cars idle in lines.
Idling school buses can pollute air in and around the bus. Exhaust from buses can also enter school buildings through air intakes, doors, and open windows. Diesel bus exhaust from excessive idling can be a health concern.
Idling buses waste fuel and money. When idling, a typical school bus engine burns approximately half a gallon of fuel per hour. School districts that eliminate unnecessary idling can save significant dollars in fuel costs each year.
Any bus built before 1998 should be considered a prime candidate for replacement because older vehicles are designed with higher air emission standards in mind. The ideal current goal is to have a fleet of buses built since 2007, when a new law went into effect requiring closed crankcases and advanced emissions controls to limit the emissions of soot and other harmful pollutants. On older buses, having drivers close the crankcase reduces pollution inside buses significantly.
Despite the air quality problems that persist in older buses, the bus is still the most efficient and least-polluting way to get most kids to school as well as the safest. If everybody drove to school there would be fifty vehicles for every bus spewing fumes and blocking traffic flow.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, COP 17 / CMP 7, 28 November - 9 December 2011
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, Durban 2011, will bring together representatives of the world's governments, international organizations and civil society. The discussions will seek to advance, in a balanced fashion, the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in 2007, and the Cancun Agreements, reached at COP 16 last December.
The Durban Conference will comprise:
- The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP),
- The 7th Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP),
- The 35th session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI),
- The 35th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA),
- The Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto
Protocol (AWG-KP)
- The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA.)
The Conference will be hosted by the Government of South Africa and will take place at the International Convention Centre (ICC) & Durban Exhibition Centre (DEC). Host country website
Further information on the conference will be posted as it becomes available.
