The Oil Drum

69 comments on A Political Storm Over Canadian Energy Security

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Adam W on May 18, 2007 - 8:55am

Fair enough, I lived in Toronto, but was always in apartment buildings. I know (well, stats can says) that about 1.4 million people in Ontario live in apartment buildings (5 stories or more), and almost none of these buildings use natural gas in the apartments themselves (almost all electricity).

Almost no one in Nova Scotia uses natural gas, and I didn't notice anyone using it in BC while I was there either (although I was in Victoria, which might have a different infrastructure in place).

And have they finally settled and decided to actually build that damn power plant? It'll take more than a few of large gas plants to replace the Nanticoke behemoth, but NG beats coal (followed eventually by non fossil fuels, hopefully).

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Valuethinker on May 18, 2007 - 12:43pm

Hmmm... I thought most apartment buildings *did* use gas. It's just the furnace is in the basement? I'll have to consult my local expert ;-).

At least in NB, I *think* most people use wood and/or bottled gas. Bottled gas comes from the same place as natural gas?

(I once had an incredibly funny drunken discussion about natural gas with a guy from New Brunswick, a Phd engineering student. He thought we were teasing him, when we said that the gas in the house came out of a pipe in the ground. He found the idea completely frightening ;-).

I don't think there is a gas pipeline to Vancouver Island, but I could be wrong on that.

Yes the Toronto Harbour gas fired plant is well underway, last time I was home (last December). They wanted to do a smaller, combined heat and power unit, but they couldn't find an easy way to connect it to the central district steam heating system. A lost opportunity, in my view.

http://www.portlandsenergycentre.com/ nice photos

Honestly if you turned the gas off in Toronto, people would freeze to death. Natural gas is far and away the most common urban fuel source for Golden Horseshoe home owners.

Apartments I shall have to check.

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Adam W on May 18, 2007 - 2:13pm

I'll take your word for it, I guess I've just never lived directly in a place with NG access or direct NG heat, so I assumed there just weren't many. I know most large apartment buildings don't have a furnace in the basement providing heat (via hot air flow and ventilation), they have either hot water or electric heat in the walls. I guess the hot water could be from a NG fired hot water heater, and some of the electric heat would trace back to NG.

In NS, most houses use wood or oil furnaces (although I lived in a house with a heat pump at one point). I honestly can't recall what it was in Victoria...I think it's a mix of wood, gas, oil, and electric.