Author Archives: lukefrugalev

As I write this in February of 2025, there seems to be no end to bad news. But fear not, we are in the middle of a wonderful success story, the end of coal is near. Coal is an abundant energy source, but highly polluting as it turned out, and that as well as economicsContinue reading “What happened to coal?”

As the skis get put away, and the water toys come out, its time for another look at the used EV market. Its unbelievable how affordable used EVs have become. Need basic around town runabout, try a first gen Nissan Leaf for as little as 5k. Can you hold your nose as you drive aContinue reading “Spring 2025 Used EV survey”

Now that my solar system is making its way through the licensing process, its a good chance to look back and see how the economics of solar worked out. I like to think of rooftop solar as a nice hedging strategy, as is often the case, what is a so-so deal right now, might turnContinue reading “Solar economics”

The average Canadian household uses about 9 000 kWh of electricity a year, further a 2533 cubic metres of natural gas, and about 3000 litres of motor gasoline (source, source and source). Since most of the time, heat-pumps can cover for natural gas, and EVs can cover for gas cars, lets convert this to electricalContinue reading “Household energy use”

I recently travelled to the Amazon. Given the geography (a big river), a cruise seemed the most sensible way to explore the Amazon, given the week we had over the March break school holiday. Being curious, I chatted with the kind and very knowledgeable staff which gave me an idea, why not put solar allContinue reading “Solar Cruise?”

Recently the Ontario provincial government introduced a new home energy efficiency rebate program (source). It builds on an older greener homes program, and offers rebates on a variety of projects: Home insulation, heat-pumps, solar and battery storage to name a few. Lets explore the new incentives and what that could mean for your projects. LetsContinue reading “New incentives from the Ontario provincial government”

I recently visited Brazil, which has a world leading bio-fuel industry. Ethanol from sugar cane, is readily available at petrol-stations throughout Brazil. In fact its often quite a bit cheaper than gasoline. Despite the relatively low efficiency of the “sunlight to wheels”, power-delivery, there are certain situations where some form of fuel and combustion areContinue reading “Are Biofuels a good idea?”

It took 12 years and $34B to build the 1150 km pipeline expansion from the Alberta oil fields to the port of Vancouver. These days, with Mr. Trump back in the white house, Canadians are looking more favourably at pipelines than they once were (source), although having the federal purse picking up the tab, mayContinue reading “Does the Trans-Mountain Pipeline expansion make any sense?”

As I wandered the streets of Toronto with my dog, I came upon a friendly crew unloading furniture in an electric delivery truck. What a brilliant idea, as last-mile delivery is rarely a thousand kilometre haul, leverage the strengths of the electric power-train and give the neighbours a break, not to mention the corporate beanContinue reading “The Electric Delivery”

Recently, I rented a Kia E-Niro as the teenagers were complaining about the 11 hr trip to Tremblant. We managed the Tremblant run in 8 hrs and 15 minutes, vs the usual 11 hrs. The Teenagers were most pleased. In an effort to further explore this, I figured Id try some of the other EVsContinue reading “Tesla Model Y to Tremblant”