Academic literature on the topic 'Photovoltaic power systems – Ontario – Toronto'

Local food systems are crucial to sustainability, and one of the most effective ways to develop them is to harness the buying power of large public institutions, such as hospitals and universities. Steering public funds toward local food systems, however, is not as easy as it might appear. Institutions must navigate a maze of regulations that can become significant barriers to effecting change. In Ontario, for example, public institutions are squeezed between two contradictory policies: the Broader Public Sector Directive, which mandates a level playing field and prohibits preferential buying based on geography, and the Local Food Act, which aims to increase the consumption of local food (with a specific focus on procurement in Ontario public institutions) and to foster successful and resilient local food economies and systems. Adding to this tension, global trade treaties are drilling down to the local level, proscribing preferential procurement of local food as “protectionist” and a barrier to trade. Public institutions are caught in the middle, wanting to purchase more local products but unwilling to risk reprisals. This paper investigates these tensions by reporting on a recent study of institutional buyers and government officials in the Toronto area to understand more thoroughly these barriers to operationalizing a local food system, while recognizing that sustainable food systems require a judicious combination of ‘local and green’ and ‘global and fair’ (Morgan 2008).

The transport sector generates more than 35% of total CO2 emissions. Electric vehicles are the future of transportation systems, and the demand for electric vehicles has grown considerably in the last few years due to government support. Companies worldwide are investing heavily in electric car charging stations based on renewable energy. This research study presents a complete design (including an appropriate energy management strategy) for a photovoltaic energy-based electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) with or without the support of a fuel cell and electrolyzer system. The parameters considered for designing the necessary capacity of the battery pack to support the required load are relative to the location-specific solar radiation (using RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software, Version 9.0, Government of Canada, Toronto, Canada), the efficiency of the solar panel, the used strategy, etc. The battery capacity in the EVCS design based on a power-following strategy is about 20 times smaller than that resulting in the reference design. Additionally, the cost for an EVCS design based on a power-following strategy is almost half that resulting in the reference design. An analysis of the power-following strategy was carried out according to three EVCS operating scenarios.

e15653 Background: Several staging systems and models (TNM, BCLC, Okuda, CLIP and ALBI) have been developed to estimate the prognosis of patients with HCC. Most of these were developed prior to the prevalent use of sorafenib. The purpose of this study was to compare the prognostic and discriminatory power of these models in predicting survival for HCC patients treated with sorafenib. Methods: Patients who received sorafenib for the treatment of HCC between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2015 in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, as well as Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario were included. Survival outcomes for each model were assessed with Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves and compared with the log-rank test. Time dependent area under the curve (t-AUC) was used to test the discriminatory power of each model (higher t-AUC = more discriminatory power). Akaike information criterion (AIC), a measure of goodness-of fit of models while penalizing overly complex models, was used to compare the models (lower AIC = better model). Results: A total of 681 patients were included in this analysis. Median age was 64 years (range 8-91). Majority were males (80%), had a Child-Pugh score A (86%), ECOG performance status 0 (30%) and 1 (60%). 37% of patients were of East Asian ethnicity. Most common etiology for liver disease was hepatitis B (33%) and C (29%). At start of sorafenib, most patients were BCLC stage C (92%) and TNM stage IV (61%). The median overall survival for the entire cohort was 9.2 months (95% CI 8-10.4). See table below for t-AUC and AIC results. Conclusions: According to ourlarge multi-center study, CLIP appears to be the most informative in predicting survival in HCC patients treated with sorafenib. Prospective studies are needed to determine its role in patient selection for clinical trials and in guiding treatment decisions. The TNM and BCLC staging systems were the least useful in predicting survival in this population. [Table: see text]

The article attempts to present dilemmas related to shaping metropolitan policy in Canada, and then relate them to problems occurring in Poland. It is a part of the debate on seeking the right governance configurations and discourses in response to the communities’ needs. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of the scales of governance and socio-spatial relations in the Toronto metropolitan area. The article has been divided into four main parts. Part one outlines the theoretical framework and the context of the conducted analyses. Part two describes the structures and processes of regional and metropolitan governance in Southern Ontario, with the earlier reference to the institutional conditions and directions of reforms characteristic of the whole of Canada. Part three of the study concerns the governance arrangements that may constitute important reference points for the scientific and political discourse taking place in Poland. Part four is an attempt to capture the similarities and universal premises that have a decisive influence on the processes of forming metropolitan structures and policies, both in Canada and in Poland. The assumption was made that, despite different historical and socio-cultural conditions, comparing Canadian and Polish experiences is justified, necessary and possible. Firstly, due to the reason that socio-spatial relations in various territorial systems are subject to the same development processes and the accompanying processes of transformation and adaptation. Secondly, residents (members of local, metropolitan, regional, national and supranational communities) have similar needs and expect a high quality of life. Decision-makers and actors of political scenes in different geographical spaces have (or may have) the same technologies, ways of information processing, access to knowledge and knowledge of socio-economic processes. They also face challenges related to the inclusion of citizens in decision-making processes. The analysis of metropolitan processes in both countries emphasizes the differences resulting from various historical and economic contexts of development and also makes it possible to identify universal mechanisms and regularities independent of these contexts. The practice of metropolitan policy proves that the process of re-territorialization of power structures and governance is shaped as a resultant of the impact of forces and interests at all levels of territorial authorities: central, regional and local. Based on the analysis of the processes of the formation of metropolitan structures in Canada and Poland, it can be stated that the rank and position of regional authorities play a key role in it. In Canada, strong regional authorities initiate actions for the shaping of metropolitan structures and formulate the scope of their competence and organization. The importance of central authorities for the dynamics of metropolitan processes is secondary in this case. The weakness of regional authorities in Poland leads to the inability to give metropolitan processes the dynamics of development and the legislative rank adequate for the role played by urban regions in the socio-economic development of the country. As evidenced by the example of Toronto, the evolution of the governance system in practice initiates the process of self-learning the system which goes from one to another phase of development, improving the quality of its operation. In Poland, however, the process of creation of governance structures adequate for realistically existing functional metropolitan areas has been stopped, notably, due to the unfavourable political decisions at the central level.

Canada, along with other countries that are considering the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive wastes from nuclear power generation, is undertaking a program of research into deep geological disposal. This program, led by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) with support from Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, other federal government departments, universities, and industrial consultants, has been in progress since early in 1973. Geoscience research, the subject of this symposium, complements research on fuel waste immobilization to provide the data and information essential to the design and assessment of a complete disposal concept involving both natural and engineered barriers to the migration of radioactive material from the waste vault.During the early phases of the program, prior to 1975, an evaluation of the potential of Canadian salt deposits for nuclear waste disposal, as well as a preliminary assessment of the suitability of other geological formations, was made. Because the Province of Ontario was, and remains, the principal region in Canada for nuclear power development and because resources available for geoscience research would not permit simultaneous, intensive research on a number of rock types, the decision was taken to direct the main thrust of the geoscience research toward plutonic igneous rocks of the Canadian Shield in Ontario (Scott 1979). Lesser studies of salt and other sedimentary formations, including seabed, are continuing within the Geological Survey of Canada.Because the rock mass surrounding the vault will provide the principal barrier to the migration of radionuclides, should these be released from the emplaced wastes, knowledge and understanding of potential pathways through the rock mass and of the mechanisms of radionuclide transport and retention within the rock mass over the functional lifetime of the vault are fundamental requirements.Accordingly, the objectives of the geoscience research program (Dormuth and Scott 1984) are the following:(1) Develop and apply techniques to define the physical and chemical properties of large rock masses and of fluids within these rock masses.(2) Use these techniques in selected field research areas to calibrate and evaluate models developed to calculate fluid flow and mass transport through a large rock mass containing a hypothetical underground nuclear fuel waste-disposal vault.(3) Establish procedures to evaluate quantitatively rock bodies for their potential as disposal sites and thereby acquire the capability to compare different rock bodies.(4) Determine the long-term stability of plutonic rock masses by assessing the potential disturbance by seismic activity, glaciation, meteorite impact, and other disruptive events and processes.To achieve these objectives it has been necessary to undertake simultaneously a large number of research tasks involving the disciplines of geology, geophysics, hydrogeology, geomechanics, geochemistry, and mathematics. Some of these tasks are concerned primarily with regional aspects of the Canadian Shield, such as stress distribution, glaciation, and tectonic history; others with details of the surface and subsurface geology and hydrogeology of specific field research areas; and still others with the development and application of exploration technology to detect and evaluate the structural characteristics of igneous rock masses of relatively high integrity and uniformity. Field and office studies are supported by laboratory investigations of the physical and chemical properties of plutonic rocks, with specific reference to origin, history, and ability to retard or transmit radionuclides.Deep exploratory drilling and detailed surface mapping are carried out at designated field research areas in the Canadian Shield. Geoscience work at research areas has the two-fold purpose of (i) testing new and existing exploration techniques for the evaluation of rock masses; and (ii) through application of these airborne, surface, and subsurface techniques, providing the field data necessary for the development of concepts and models that form the basis for establishing site-selection criteria and performing safety analyses.The latest research areas have been established at Atikokan, Ontario, an area underlain by granitic rocks, and at East Bull Lake north of Massey, Ontario, where gabbroic rocks are the dominant type. These research areas complement previously established research areas developed on granitic rocks at AECL properties at Chalk River, Ontario, and Pinawa, Manitoba, and at a research area, also on granitic terrane, near White Lake, Ontario, where work was done early in the program to test geophysical exploration and borehole-logging equipment.The ability to predict subsurface geological and hydrogeological conditions at future waste-disposal sites is one of the primary goals of geoscience research in the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program (CNFWMP). One of the most important program elements designed to test this predictive capability was the construction of the Underground Research Laboratory (URL) in the Lac du Bonnet Batholith near the site of the Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment. Airborne, surface, and borehole methods were used to develop a geological model on the site, and hydrogeological investigations were carried out to establish preconstruction groundwater characteristics. As the excavation of the URL facilities proceeded, the geological features encountered and the changes in the hydrogeological systems were carefully monitored. These data are being used to assess and improve the geological and hydrogeological models being developed for the rock mass surrounding the URL.The URL provides an excellent opportunity to (i) study the effect of excavation techniques, heat, and stress on a rock mass; (ii) simulate and study the complex systems that may exist in a disposal vault environment; and (iii) develop and test shaft- and drift-sealing techniques. Recently, a bilateral agreement between AECL and the United States Department of Energy was signed for co-operative research on nuclear fuel waste disposal. A substantial part of this co-operative effort will be directed toward extension of the URL shaft beyond its present depth of 240 m and conducting a variety of nonnuclear experiments within the shaft and excavated chambers of the URL.From the time of formalization of CNFWMP over 10 years ago, a concerted effort has been made by AECL and other program participants to ensure both peer review of and widespread accessibility to results of research arising from CNFWMP. This symposium is the third to be sponsored by the Geological Association of Canada (GAC)—the two previous symposiums were held at GAC annual meetings in Winnipeg in 1982 and Toronto in 1978. In addition to these major symposia, general information meetings sponsored by AECL have been held annually at various centres across Canada, and research elements of CNFWMP formed a significant part of the technical program for an international meeting held by the Canadian Nuclear Society in Winnipeg in September 1986.Since 1979 the CNFWMP review process has been further enhanced by the Technical Advisory Committee chaired by L. W. Shemilt, McMaster University. This committee, comprising members nominated by major Canadian scientific and technical societies including the Canadian Geoscience Council, has annually provided a publicly available report of constructive criticism and recommendations for improvement in the research content of CNFWMP.During the second half of 1988 it is expecte

Purpose Every day, the sun provides by far more energy than the amount necessary to meet the whole world’s energy demand. Solar energy, unlike fossil fuels, does not suffer from depleting resource and also releases no greenhouse gas emissions when being used. Hence, using solar irradiance to produce electricity via photovoltaic (PV) systems has significant benefits which can lead to a sustainable and clean future. In this regard, the purpose of this study is first to assess the technical and economic viability of solar power generation sites in the capitals of the states of Canada. Then, a novel integrated technique is developed to prioritize all the alternatives. Design/methodology/approach In this study, ten provinces in Canada are evaluated for the construction of solar power plants. The new hybrid approach composed of data envelopment analysis (DEA), balanced scorecard (BSC) and game theory (GT) is implemented to rank the nominated locations from techno-economic-environmental efficiency aspects. The input data are obtained using HOMER software. Findings Applying the proposed hybrid approach, the order of high to low efficiency locations was found as Winnipeg, Victoria, Edmonton, Quebec, Halifax, St John’s, Ottawa, Regina, Charlottetown and Toronto. Construction of ten solar plants in the ten studied locations was assessed and it was ascertained that usage of solar energy in Winnipeg, Victoria and Edmonton would be economically and environmentally justified. Originality/value As to novelty, it should be clarified that the authors propose an effective hybrid method combining DEA, BSC and GT for prioritizing all available scenarios concerned with the construction of a solar power plant.

How do leaders make the impossible choice between harm enacted on racially oppressed students and families, and harm enacted on them as advocates for racial justice in systems steeped in whiteness? How do they negotiate multiple harms in Black and Brown bodies? Purpose: Situated in between the literature on tempered radicalism and Applied Critical Leadership (ACL), this study explores the experiences of six Black and Brown mid-level and senior-level district leaders in Greater Toronto Area, in Ontario, Canada. Research Methods/Approach: We draw on counter-narrative methodologies including in-depth oral history interviews and ongoing communication with participants to explore the impossibilities and possibilities of leading for racial justice. Findings: Impossibilities include complicities and complexities, accountabilities and alliances, and different metrics, different expectations. Possibilities include present and future hopes, personal power and voice, and joy and fulfillment. Implications for Research and Practice: This study adds to the literature on critical race-tempered radicalism by offering three important shifts in perspectives about leading for racial justice that blur revolutionary leadership and ACL. These include challenging a politics of representation and the necessary change in metrics, accountability measures, and systemic necessary to demonstrate the readiness for anti-racist leadership; anti-racist leadership as messy, ambiguous, and contextual that make space for complicities and complexities of this work; and anti-racist leadership beyond anti-racist leaders, which recognizes leadership beyond any one person, role, location, or generation.

In the summer of 2007, a single neighbourhood in downtown Toronto contributed at least 13 percent of all residential grid???tie solar photovoltaic (PV) systems sold in the Canadian province of Ontario. On average, PV purchaser households produced 37 percent as much electricity as they consumed. This research investigates solar energy adoption in a community case study. Specifically, it investigates why some residents who sign up for a solar resource assessment through a community solar energy initiative (CSEI) decide to purchase, and others decide not to purchase in the short???term. Characteristics and perceptions of potential adopters are analyzed to better understand their motivations and barriers to adoption. Community energy projects became an official public policy goal in Ontario, with the passing of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act in 2009. Approximately 80 percent of Ontario???s anticipated generation capacity will need to be built, replaced or refurbished within 15 years. In this context, the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Ontario Power Authority, and Deloitte (one of Canada???s leading professional services firms), have partnered with a ???green benefit??? fund, the Community Power Fund, to help local community groups access resources to develop and establish renewable energy projects. Understanding solar energy adoption in a community context is therefore important to improve the effectiveness of such policies, including the disbursement of multi???million dollar grant funds. Differences between purchasers and non???purchasers in respect of adoption behaviour were found in this study to cluster around two general themes. The first theme concerns differences in compatibility of both the concept of solar energy systems, and their physical attributes, with characteristics of potential adopter households. Some compatibility issues are straightforward, e.g. availability of roof space with a southern orientation. Others are more complex, involving several interrelated perceptual and socio???demographic factors. For instance, while both purchasers and non???purchasers rated cost as a very important barrier, purchasers rated the motivation of solar energy systems to reduce climate change higher relative to the barrier of high financial costs than did non???purchasers. Purchasers were also more likely to possess a graduate degree, while non???purchasers were more likely to hold a professional degree. The second general theme relates to potential adopters??? trust and stake in the ability of the community???based initiative to reduce barriers in the adoption process. Since two types of solar energy systems are considered in the case study???PV and thermal (hot water)???differences are explored between each of three respondent groups: solar PV purchasers, solar hot water (SHW) purchasers, and non???purchasers. iv Surveys were used to gather data on adopter perceptions and characteristics. A participatory research design helped identify the research topic. Two main bodies of literature???community???based social marketing (CBSM) and diffusion of innovations theory???were drawn upon to conceptualize the adoption process and interpret the survey findings. These include five models of human behaviour that can be used to guide the design of CBSM campaigns. Diffusion theory was used as a basis for discussing ???perceived innovation attributes???. The study takes an integrated approach by considering both social and technical aspects of solar energy adoption, together with the issues of fuel substitution and household electricity demand.

In recent years urban residential growth has created a serious encroachment problem to all industrial complexes including natural gas compressor stations. Union Gas Ltd. has recently been involved in the design of an acoustically treated compressor station. Noise emanating from a station into the environment outside the property perimeter is caused by mechanical equipment in operation and gas flowing through piping and valves. Noise generated from a turbine station varies in power level and frequency. The noises, varying from the high frequency startling type to the low frequency throbbing type, create a number of problems for surrounding residential homes. This paper describes the Parkway Compressor Station located near Toronto, Ontario, Canada at which various items of mechanical equipment were identified and acoustically treated with satisfactory results.

Large natural gas fired combined cycle electric power plants, while being an increasingly efficient and cost effective technology, are traditionally large consumers of water resources, while also discharging cooling tower blowdown at a similar rate. Water use is mostly attributed to the heat rejection needs of the gas turbine generator, the steam turbine generator, and the steam cycle condenser. Cooling with air, i.e. dry cooling, instead of water can virtually eliminate the environmental impact associated with water usage. Commissioned in the fall of 2010 with this in mind, the Halton Hills Generating Station located in the Greater Toronto West Area, Ontario, Canada, is a nominally-rated 700 Megawatt combined cycle electric generating station that is 100 percent cooled using various air-cooled heat exchangers. The resulting water consumption and wastewater discharge of this power plant is significantly less than comparably sized electric generating plants that derive cooling from wet methods (i.e, evaporative cooling towers). To incorporate dry cooling into such a power plant, it is necessary to consider several factors that play important roles both during plant design as well as construction and commissioning of the plant equipment, including the dry cooling systems. From the beginning a power plant general arrangement and space must account for dry cooling’s increase plot area requirements; constraints therein may render air cooling an impossible solution. Second, air cooling dictates specific parameters of major and auxiliary equipment operation that must be understood and coordinated upon purchase of such equipment. Until recently traditional wet cooling has driven standard designs, which now, in light of dry cooling’s increase in use, must be re-evaluated in full prior to purchase. Lastly, the construction and commissioning of air-cooling plant equipment is a significant effort which demands good planning and execution.

The Algonquin Power Energy-From-Waste (APEFW) facility is located in the suburban Toronto, Ontario city of Brampton. It receives approximately 140,000 metric tonnes (154,000 tons) of MSW per year from the Region of Peel (Region) and approximately 10,000 metric tonnes (11,000 tons) per year of international airport waste from the area’s two international airports. The APEFW facility commenced initial operations in 1992 and included four, 91 tonne (100 ton) per day Consumat two stage incinerators with heat recovery boilers and a dual-train air pollution control (APC) system consisting of evaporative cooling towers, venturi reactors and fabric filter baghouses. The APEFW facility expanded its capacity in 2001 with the addition of a fifth 91 tonne (100 ton) per day modular incinerator and heat recovery boiler. One of the stipulations in the permitting process was that the entire expanded facility meet more stringent emission standards that included a significantly lower nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission rate. After a review of several available NOx control technologies, the APEFW facility chose to install a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system. While SCR systems are fairly common on EFW facilities in Europe, the APEFW facility is the only EFW facility in North America that currently operates with an SCR system and as such has gained valuable insight into the application and performance of this technology that is very relevant to the North American EFW industry. This paper discusses the operation and maintenance of the SCR system, compares pre- and post-SCR NOx emissions and presents capital and operating costs for the SCR including the cost per tonne of waste processed and the cost per tonne of NOx removed.