Author Archives: lukefrugalev

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”

Currently solar economics are driven by “net-metering” policies. Briefly, you are allowed to deduct generated electrons from your power bill. Thus, depending on your usage, there is a limit to how much solar you can get paid for generating. Some say that is fair, as sometimes excess electrons cause more problems on the grid. Nevertheless,Continue reading “Marginal solar?”

February of last year, I installed an energy monitor in my electrical panel. Briefly, these devices can tell you how much electricity each of your appliances at any time. We find that our heat-pump is the king, by some margin. Next comes the car charger, followed by the hot water tank. The largest breaker inContinue reading “A year of energy monitoring”

Mr. Trump has made much fuss over the US’s energy purchases from other countries. The US imports most if not all, of the Alberta Oil sands production. Mostly, as its cheaper than what the US themselves produce, and current US refineries, particularly in the mid-west, are ill suited to drink the premium juice coming outContinue reading “Mr. Trump’s gas price dilemma”

In the summer of 2024, some Nissan dealerships in Colorado found a way to leverage the state’s generous incentives to come up with a very cheap lease deal. Briefly, you could lease a brand new Nissan LEAF for as little as $20 (US) a month, with $2500 (US) (source). This caused a lot of stirContinue reading “Is there a market for a cheap EV?”