Thoughts from one of our GreenDrinks regulars...
Currently we need to voice ideas to stimulate sustainable economic recovery for south western Ontario. Our government is considering putting my tax dollars into the auto sector. Should I, Citizen Lou, invest (in these trying times) in cars based on a combustion engine (cough, cough) or perhaps I should invest my hard earned dollars in a new idea?
Here are a few ideas gathered recently from several sources that I would like to share:
Investing in Senior Care
- significant disposable income within the senior sector
-doctors, and health service centers are already concentrated in London
-there is a good base to work from
-there sure is a growing market for senior care
-Develop senior’s homes out of the public schools being closed. Lovely large properties with existing infrastructure and already a part of neighborhoods. People for Education, reported recently that 77 schools across the province are slated or recommended to close over the next three years.
Renewable Energy
If we require that all Wal-Mart type retailers put solar panels on their big black roofs to produce their own, as well as regionally available energy, it would sure cost less in infrastructure as well as providing clean renewable energy. Including Canadian Tire and Sport Checks we would make enough energy to send it back to the grid. Add in some anaerobic digestion to make bio gas from the sewage and garbage and a “Smart Centre” would be way smarter.
The change is happening so the market is ready to move. The Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation has provided a $2.8-million forgivable loan through its Innovation Demonstration Fund and Wal-Mart Canada plans to contribute an additional $3 million a next generation system, designed to provide heat and electricity, on an Ontario Wal-Mart. Lets see if we can get the job to manufacture those panels for the Sterling plant.
Biogas from organic waste is also worth more development for the region. StormFisher, a Toronto based biogas outfit, is already putting in a plant out on Wilton Grove Rd to produce regional energy as well as safely process waste. The 2.8 MWel capacity will be the largest producer of energy from co-digestion in Ontario and is slated to be online in late 2009. Sintex Industries, a plastics and textiles manufacturer in Gujarat, India, has recently begun manufacturing and selling its own prefabricated “biogas” units for home use. Biogas systems are tried and true all over the globe yet new to Canada offering an opportunity for our region to perfect the market.
A London Mass Transit System
London needs a good mass transit system like Toronto or Tokyo. We are having a hard time catching our breath and its time for some cool technology – a magnetic mono rail even – to carry us into a sustainable future. Construction of such a system would take years and provide thousands of jobs. Operation of the system – as well as ongoing maintenance would provide a life time of employment opportunities.
I think back to the National Film Board bit with Dan Akroyd in it about building the Montreal Subway and using the fill that comes from the tunnels to build Saint Helen's Island. If we put in a subway we could score ourselves another Boler Mountain ski club if we planned it right.
In Conclusion
It would take a whole auto plant retrofitted to make either those trains or those solar panels. For solar panels mandated by a "big black roof" global warming regulation, the right now market is huge. Tap into a carbon tax credit incentive and that is something that I would invest in to both make jobs as well as a place for my babies’, babies to live. We have to start to think long term when we look at our leader actions while keeping in mind that is our money being played with.
http://www.peopleforeducation.com/schoolclosings)http://dcnonl.com/article/id28189http://www.trashtalkin.ca/presentations/Stormfisher%20Trash%20Talkin%27%20II.pdf
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/26/news/international/kahn_biogas.fortune/index.htm
Waste not, want not...Plastics maker Sintex seeks to solve India's energy and sanitation problems in one stroke - with an at-home biogas digester., By Jeremy Kahn
1 comment:
Have you guys in London Ontario heard of a revolutionary automated mass people mover called Skycabs being developed in New Zealand? They are looking for backers to fund a test track and will go anywhere to prove they have the least expensive
but technologically superior mass
people mover yet designed. I have looked at competing systems and none come anywhere near Skycabs. And no, I don't work for them.
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