Category Archives: Uncategorized

Recently, we installed a home battery system in our home. We had several reasons for this, but a combination of economics and energy-security had us looking for a home battery system. With the system in, we take a look at Toronto Hydro’s monitoring portal (which is actually really good), and see how things are shapingContinue reading “Home Battery System, early impressions”

Congratulations on your new electric vehicle (EV), lets talk next about what needs to be on your phone to make the most out of your new EV. You need these to access DC fast chargers which can greatly enhance your EVs utility. Most EVs nowadays can replenish 80% of their battery in as little asContinue reading “New EV, New apps?”

Lately, several articles have “hammered” EVs claiming they are a poor-investment. While for certain new EVs that is true, the solution is rather simple, be on the happy side of this deal and buy used. But lets dig into this a little further, briefly the “slower-than-expected” sales of EVs has caused depreciation of new EVsContinue reading “Depreciation and EVs”

A few weeks back, I wrote a post discussing the carbon tax, particularly, what might happen in the absence of a carbon tax, making use of my location near a construction site in Toronto, where somehow generators hum and pollute just underneath power lines. Perhaps this is because diesel and gasoline used on a constructionContinue reading “Argument against the Carbon Tax”

In some markets, particularly ones with lots of solar such as California, Electricity prices reach their lowest point not overnight, but in the middle of the day. The reason for this is the glut of Solar power that hits the grid at that time. Particularly in the spring, when its sunny, but not yet hot.Continue reading “The “Duck” curve”

Wife and I were thinking on how to speed up our trip to Tremblant, the idea of taking just one stop came up. Not sure if I’m up for that personally, I kinda do like my coffee/pastries/meals/dog-walks etc. But lets continue with it anyways to see where it might lead us. To begin with, thereContinue reading “Toronto to Tremblant in one stop?”

A good charging stop has not only lots of chargers, but productive means of using the charging time to further your journey. Lets look at some charging stops near Toronto, ON and see how they rate on my ever so subjective 5 star scale. Ideally, I like to see a grocery store, some restaurants andContinue reading “My Favourite charging stops”

I recently travelled to Japan, while there, its hard not to admire the Shinkansen, the Japanese high speed rail network. Particularly while zooming along at 320km/hr with barely a ripple in your tea. But does such a service make any sense in Ontario? Some have pointed to Canada’s vast geography, others point to the cost,Continue reading “Does the Shinkansen make sense in Ontario?”

One Marion King Hubbert (source) proposed something called “peak-oil” back in 1956. Briefly, when charted by year, oil production tends to follow a bell curve for a given geographical region. Let’s look at this sideways and review statistics on annual gasoline sales for a few regions: California, Norway, Texas and Ontario. Interestingly enough, in allContinue reading “Peak Gas?”

Change is hard, and without a nudge will not happen. Be it gas cars or humming generators, gas is everywhere in our society. A nearby construction site has generators humming day and night, despite having a power line they could use for less money. In fact, upon closer inspection, that construction site is using “colouredContinue reading “The argument for the Carbon tax”