Green Energy Futures's Ckua Radio Podcast

Ontario has successfully transitioned away from coal power and is ramping up renewable energy. It's the single largest carbon emissions reduction project ever undertaken in Canada and it deserves to be recognized.

When you buy a house the first thing your eye goes to is the sticker price. But buying a home comes with a major hidden cost that doesn’t show up in the MLS report. It turns out transportation costs could more than eat up the savings of a lower priced home in the suburbs. This week we learn all about location efficiency. Learn more at http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/location-efficiency

Cradle to Cradle is the evolution of recycling. Instead of turning what we recycle into a lesser version of what it was before Cradle to Cradle asks manufacturers to think of their materials as nutrients in a vibrant ecosystem. Episode here http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/cradle-cradle

LEED is everywhere but what is it worth the effort? We look into the effectiveness of this ubiquitious green building raiting system. Episode at http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/leed-building-industry-transformed

We find that people are genuinely curious about geothermal. From our first season one of our most popular episodes is on geothermal so we decided to follow up and make some interesting discoveries about energy efficient heating and cooling technology. Episode at http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/geothermal-201

Industrial and commercial users of energy make up the vast majority of electricity use. We talk to two different startups that are using big data, proprietary hardware and a dose of common sense to help industrial and commercial customers save money while reducing their energy bill. 

Judith Sayers is the former chief of the Hupuchasath First Nation on Vancouver Island. She was key to getting one of the first run-of-river projects that was majority owned by a First Nation built in Canada. Learn about her and the China Creek project this week at Green Energy Futures http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/judith-sayers-first-nation-run-river-hydro

We've got the latest science and numbers on the actual effects that wind turbines have on birds and bats.

The 30,000 square foot Mosaic Centre in south Edmonton is Canada's first net-zero office building. Learn how they did it with solar, geothermal and a ton of thoughtful design. 

Even people who research and write about energy for a living struggle with jargon and making this stuff feel real. This week we explore a couple of commonly used energy terms and try to make them understandable. 

Titan Clean Energy Projects is a Saskathewan based company making a very interesting product: biochar. We visit their plant and learn more about this amazing product that has a ton of different uses - including long term sequestration of carbon in the soil. Learn more at www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/biochar

The town of Craik, Saskatchewan hatched a plot to increase the population of the slowly dying prairie town. An eco-village on the edge of town where people would build environmentally friendly homes on unserviced lots sold for a dollar. See if it worked and get a tour of this amazing community at www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/crai…-eco-village

We check out one of the rarest electric vehicles in Canada and that spurs us to check on the state of electric vehicles in Canada 

Whitecourt, Alberta has a pulp mill and a saw mill. With all that wood comes wood waste. We look at how one company is turning this wood waste into something useful - green electricity.

David Dodge of Green Energy Futures gets out of his comfort zone and jumps on a bike in the middle of an Edmonton winter. He learns about what kind of gear you need and how to stay warm for this fun, energy efficient mode of transportation.

California just comissioned a battery project instead of a powerplant - energy storage is getting ready to expand across the world. We head to Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan to see a finished project and understand how energy storage helps get more renewable energy on the grid.