Three cheers for Rockingham Councillor Bill Stone who proposed that Halifax reduce its atmospheric emissions by 20 per cent of 1990 levels (Sunday Daily News, 2 March 1997). If this target can be met, Halifax Regional Municipality will help Canada along the road to achieving commitments made at the 1992 Rio Summit, notably to stabilize its greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000. (As many readers may know -- Canada will not meet these targets; our estimates are that Canada's greenhouse emissions will be some 18 per cent higher by the year 2000.)
There are a number of greenhouse gases, the principle ones being carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. These gases are known as `heat trappers' because they restrict the flow of heat emitted from the planet's surface; gases such as carbon dioxide are essential for life, since through trapping heat they warm the planet to make it liveable. However, climatic records show that the concentration of these gases has grown steadily since the start of the Industrial Revolution, with the most noticeable increase since the Second World War. As the concentrations of these gases rise, more heat is trapped, thereby leading to a process often referred to as `global warming'; since the `warming' is not uniform (some places will get cooler), the effect is sometimes called `climate change'.
Of the greenhouse gases, the one that is of most interest to the Regional Municipality is carbon dioxide. If the 20 per cent reduction is to be achieved, the major sources of emissions must be identified and then steps required to meet this target must be decided upon.
The principle anthropogenic (that is, human) sources of carbon dioxide come from the combustion of three fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The three most significant sources of carbon dioxide in the Regional Municipality are:
As anyone who has gone on a diet knows, weight loss does not occur overnight; similarly, reducing carbon dioxide emissions will be a long-term task. One possible scenario is as follows:
In the short-term (i.e., within the next year), people are encouraged to reduce their energy consumption by leaving their cars at home and adopting other modes of transport (walking, biking, or busing). The Regional Municipality helps by raising the cost of parking and scrapping plans to widen existing or to construct new roads. The sale of low wattage and compact fluorescent light bulbs is encouraged by a Municipal energy campaign.
In the medium-term (i.e., within the next five years), new by-laws are in place that require houses to be constructed to maximize solar gain. Houses built in new subdivisions are heated by co-generated district heating (a centralized power station that generates electricity as well as hot water for domestic heating), using Sable natural gas. Where possible, all new subdivisions are built within walking distance of stations along the Sackville-Halifax commuter rail line. Major reforestation programs are initiated with the view to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; these forests will be used as energy plantations when the natural gas reserves are exhausted.
In the long-term (i.e., within the next ten years), many existing homes and subdivisions are connected to the city's district heating grid. Tuft's Cove is replaced by the growing number of co-generation stations. The success of the commuter rail system results in a new Cole Harbour-Dartmouth line and the construction of a new railway bridge across the harbour, thereby simplifying access from the downtown core to Burnside.
The benefits of this scenario are enormous: employment (in the construction and operation of district heating systems and commuter rail lines), health (reduction in traffic and the closure of Tuft's Cove reduce nitrogen oxides, a major component of smog), and the provincial economy (by reducing our dependence on imported oil and keeping wealth within the province).
As Canada found at the Rio Summit, making a promise is easy, while keeping it is the difficult part. The proposed 20 per cent reduction in emissions cannot be a short-term political whim -- it is a long-term commitment to which all sectors of society must subscribe.
Sent: 11 March 1997 (Daily News). Unpublished.
In early 1996, the Metropolitan Authority received a taxpayer funded report entitled "Commuter Rail Feasibility Study", describing the costs and benefits associated with a commuter rail system running from Beaverbank/Sackville to Halifax. This study has been the basis for the rejection of a regional commuter rail system by the Halifax Regional Municipality in Phase 4 of its "GoPlan". Last week a municipal staff report recommended that a `commuter rail committee' be established to review the 1996 commuter rail study.
Several months ago, Whale Lake Research Institute (WLRI) completed an independent review of the 1996 commuter rail study (available from this website) and found that the study contains a number of assumptions that conspire against the adoption of commuter rail. For example, one of the major assumptions made in the study is the choice of rolling stock, notably 40 year old ex-VIA Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs), which although the lowest purchase price, exhibit numerous limitations:
To be successful, a commuter rail system must offer features that are conducive to attracting passengers; the choice of antiquated rolling stock with high operating costs will doom the project from the beginning. The commuter rail committee should keep this in mind when examining the 1996 Commuter Rail Feasibility Study.
Sent: 29 April 1997. Published: 13 May 1997 (Halifax Herald).
Halifax Regional Municipality's recently announced reduction in transit service and the associated increase in transit fares make no sense, either economically or environmentally.
A number of councillors have claimed that if these actions were not taken, there would be an inevitable increase in municipal taxation to cover the costs of Metro Transit. What these councillors fail to realize is that people still need some form of transportation: those who can afford it will shift modes and resort to driving automobiles. An increase in the number of automobiles will put more demands upon our beleaguered roadways, resulting in an increase in municipal taxation to cover the inevitable cost of roadway maintenance and expansion.
Several months ago, Halifax Regional Municipality announced that they were joining the "20 per cent Club". Members of this club, organized by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent of 1990 levels by the year 2003 or within 10 years of joining. One step towards meeting this target is to encourage people to minimize the use of the automobile in favour of public transportation.
Transit riders and other concerned citizens should ask their local councillors how cutting public transportation will help the municipality reduce costs and improve the environment.
Sent: 10 June 1997. Published (Daily News and Halifax Herald).
As most Nova Scotians are aware, natural gas has been discovered near Sable Island. In a few years, natural gas will be flowing via undersea pipeline to the mainland where it will be processed to separate the natural gas (methane) from the heavier hydrocarbons (commercially viable by-products known as pentanes plus). The natural gas will then be transported by pipeline to end-use customers.
With few exceptions, the end-use of natural gas involves burning the natural gas to produce heat. End-use customers fall into a number of different categories: electrical generation, commercial space heating, industrial processes, and residential. Residential use includes space heating, domestic hot water, and cooking.
A justifiable concern raised by a number of groups in Halifax is that some of the combustion products of natural gas can pose health risks to residential customers. If these arguments are accepted and natural gas is not distributed to residential customers, could natural gas be used in some other way to satisfy residential demand? After all, a strong argument for using natural gas is that it produces fewer greenhouse gases per unit of energy than do the other fossil fuels oil and coal. Futhermore, Sable Island natural gas is Nova Scotia's and should be used to help improve the local economy.
There are essentially two ways in which natural gas can be used by residential customers without piping the gas directly into their homes. The first involves burning the natural gas in either gas turbines or conventional boilers and generating electricity; residential customers could then purchase the electricity for heating, cooking, or both. This approach works (Nova Scotia Power generates electricity by the combustion of oil or coal) but it is highly inefficient; anywhere from 50 to 70 per cent of the energy available in the fuel is discarded to the environment as "waste" heat.
The alternative is to supply this waste heat to residential (and commercial) customers for space heating and domestic hot water using a technique known as "co-generation." Co-generation involves generating electricity with a fuel such as natural gas and then piping the remaining heat in the form of hot water throughout a town or neighbourhood; this is commonly called "district heating."
In a typical district heating system, hot water is pumped from a central co-generation plant through underground insulated pipes to buildings occupied by end-users. The hot water flows through a heat exchanger connected to the building's heating and domestic hot water systems; customers are charged based upon the amount of heat they consume.
The co-generation station is essentially a communal furnace, meaning that strict environmental controls can be applied to the station's emissions. Air quality standards are harder to enforce on individual furnaces found in commercial or residential buildings. District heating systems are designed work year 'round, producing more heat and electricity in the winter time when it is colder and there are less hours of daylight, and the demand for heating and lighting are greater.
District heating is far from new; some of the earliest systems were in place over 100 years ago in Denmark. Well over one-third of the homes in Denmark are connected to district heating systems. District heating is used in other Scandinavian countries as well as in Russia. In these countries, entire industries have been created, from the manufacture of district heating pipe to the installation of the systems.
In addition to the economic, environmental, and health benefits already mentioned, district heating offers one other important benefit that natural gas does not. The Sable natural gas reserves are expected to last some 20 to 30 years; when the gas ceases to flow, there will be a network of gas pipelines under our roads but no gas to transport. Since district heating is not bound to a specific fuel, after the natural gas is gone, a new fuel source, such as wood waste, can be found. This means that the returns on our investment in district heating will continue long after there is no more Sable Island gas.
Sent: 28 July 1997. Published: Halifax Herald (8 September 1997)