33 and a Third

I find I have to rant about Toronto Hydro’s proposed windfarm off the Toronto Bluffs again. There was another meeting in Janurary, held for residents only, which brought some interesting things to light for me. Some residents were grasping at straws, making all sorts of wild, negative claims about windmills. Unfortunately, these claims will label the residents NIMBYs (and in some cases, idiots). But I did hear some things from Toronto Hydro that raises what I believe are valid concerns.

Everyone’s jumping on the renewable energy bandwagon. No one in their right mind would say that we shouldn’t increase the percentage of energy we get from renewables. The government has made lots of money available for such projects. What it doesn’t mean is that we should throw money at every project that comes along without making sure it makes sense.

The Ontario Power Authority commissioned a company called Helimax to provide a “technical assessment and ranking of 64 offshore sites (totalling nearly 35 000 MW) in the Ontario’s Great Lakes offshore region which are considered to have favourable potential for wind project development.” The full report can be found here.
This is how Helimax describes itself “…a leader in the field of independent wind energy consulting, excels in its particular use of engineering, meteorology and environmental science for utility-scale wind energy project development.”

If you read the Helimax report, there are a few things that stand out. They do not claim that their report is exhaustive: “This report by no means seeks to disparage any sites currently under development which are not part of the 64 sites selected. There are wind power projects that can be feasibly developed beyond the sites that are identified in the present study.” But there are other things in this report that should be considered.

Helimax did not bother looking at any sites where the wind speed is less than 8.0 m/s. They used the Ontario Wind Resource Atlas as a source of wind speed. (If you visit the web page, uncheck checkbox “water” to get offshore details. Note that magl=metres above ground level.) The last page of the Helimax report shows wind speed on their final page, and it’s a little easier to read. Looks like the Bluffs area, 2-4 km off shore is estimated at 6.5 - 7.0 m/s. Well below their cutoff of 8.0 m/s. What I get from this is that Helimax does not consider areas with wind speeds of less than 8.0 m/s to be financially viable.

Helimax states that it’s difficult to quantify things such as social acceptability, and they could not consider it in the report. Yet, they did to a degree. Page 6: “Social acceptability is a significant source of uncertainty, and development of some promising areas might face local opposition due to concerns about effects of turbines on personal enjoyment and recreation (e.g. viewscapes, aesthetic issues and noise), concerns about property values and effects on avifauna.” And page 9: “Wind farm development involves many environmental and social issues that are extremely subjective and varied. These issues range from local opposition to wind development on the grounds of visual impact or impact on flora and fauna to communities endorsing local projects for financial or environmental reasons. In an attempt to implicitly address this issue, population density and distance to shore are used as a quantitative indicator. Generally, social issues tend to diminish when fewer people live in the vicinity of a project. As a result, all other factors being equal, a site with a low population density would generally be more attractive to a potential developer.” Well said. There is a definite social aspect to locating the windfarm off a densely populated area as the bluffs.

A final remark about the Helimax report: the 64 sites provided were ranked, IN ORDER. The Scarborough Bluffs did not make the list.

Still, the Helimax report was based on the estimates given by Ontario Wind Resource Atlas, and not on actual measured wind speed, which they stress as follows: “It should be noted, however, that on-site meteorological measurements are required to perform a truly judicious assessment of the local wind resource and ensuing energy yields of a given site.” And so, I don’t really have any objections to the proposed anemometer being built to measure the actual wind speed. Who knows, perhaps the bluffs do something strange to the wind and the atlas is off in that area. But here’s my problem: in the January meeting, Toronto Hydro says they will not publish the wind speed data they gather.

The Toronto Hydro corporation, owned by the City of Toronto, has two arms: the Toronto Hydro Electric System (which is the rate based portion) and the Toronto Hydro Energy Systems (which is building the windfarm). THES competes with other energy services companies. They said, in the January meeting, that this is why they can’t publish the wind speed data they gather. I can understand their viewpoint, but I have a serious problem with this. They admitted (and I was the one who asked the question) that a large majority of the funding will come from public monies. How can we verify that our taxpayer money is being spent wisely, if we don’t even know what the measured wind speeds are? Will we end up with another “dud”, like the windmill at the Ex?

What makes me quite angry is this: This province is huge. We have lots of places to build windmills, where the wind speeds are higher. We’re looking at an offshore site which will cost us 30-70% more than onshore (pg. 20 of the Helimax report). And they’re not even going to publish their findings? Unbelievable.

This is a long post, as far as my posts go, but I’m not quite finished!

A few words about the environmental assessment. I was concerned about the monarch butterfly migration, and so approached our friend Peter Kotanen, who pointed out the bigger concern with bird migrations. He said he was concerned about a wall of windmills placed in the migration path just before they make landfall. I admit I hadn’t thought of that. He challenges the statistics sited by Toronto Hydro that “average is < 2 bird kills per year per turbine”. These figures were NOT gathered in a migratory path just before making landfall. My earlier post doesn’t mention this concern because Toronto Hydro said a full environment assessment would be done. It seems to me that such concerns should be addressed there. But now I’m not so sure. I keep hearing about Bill 150 - I’ve heard claims that the bill will help push through windmill projects despite environmental concerns — that environmental assessments aren’t required.

Finally, I have to complain about the aesthetics. I realize this is subjective, but it’s a big deal to those of us who live near the bluffs. The view of the lake from the top of the bluffs is stunning. I’ve lived near lake Ontario all my life - I used to swim in it when I lived near St. Catharines. I drive around it every time I go back home to visit my parents. I’ve admired it from Kingston and Wolfe Island where my mother-in-law lives. But look at it from atop the bluffs at 50 to 60m high, and it changes somehow. Much more lovely. While I find windmills to be beautiful and majestic - I can’t imagine rows of them in the lake from east to west as far as the eye can see. It destroys something that I find to be precious.

Reid and I have been calculating how large they will seem when we look at them from edge of the lake. We calculated that they’ll be 3-4 degrees high, which translates to 3 or 4 fingers wide, if you stand at the bluffs and hold out your hand out at arms length. For me, this is totally unacceptable.

Last night, I attended a meeting set up by Toronto Hydro about their future plans to build a wind farm in lake Ontario along the Scarborough bluffs approximately 2 km from shore. They would stretch approximately 24km, from Ajax to the Leslie Street Spit. They expect to have 60 turbines, I believe in rows 3 deep.

They’re only in the preliminary stages, and plan to test the offshore wind first. Their plan is to build at anemometer to measure wind speed for two years, before deciding whether the wind farm is feasible. The anemometer will be placed in the lake across from my neighbourhood, Guildwood. Therefore, the meeting was scheduled in the auditorium of the local high school.

An earlier meeting was located in a small church basement, which soon filled to capacity, and with a line of people still standing outside, Toronto Hydro wisely decided to reschedule the meeting to a larger venue. Most of the people I spoke to in line were opposed to the idea of the wind farm. I could tell that emotions were high, and I was sad to say, conspiracy theories abounded. People were handing out leaflets that described the horrors of living near a wind farm: health dangers, property values would drop, etc. I wasn’t impressed.

But before I proceed, I had better state my views. I was shocked when I heard about the wind farm. Many of us who live near the bluffs are emotionally attached to them. Scarborough is often unjustly maligned, and those bluffs make up for it a little bit. The view across the lake is stunning - the wide expanse of the lake, be it a sunny, shiny blue or a cloudy slate gray is a sight to be seen. And although I love the look of wind turbines, there’s something stately and elegant about them, I could not imagine a wall of them running across the entire view. Those of us who live in the Guild know what I’m talking about. Here are a couple of my “sigh” moments: At the top of Guildwood Parkway near Kingston Rd, just before you descend into the neighbourhood, you catch a glimpse of the lake over the trees. Ahhh. Why travel home along ugly, busy Kingston road, when you can travel south along Morningside. When you reach the end and turn along Guildwood parkway, there’s the lake. Majestic. Ahhh.

I thought to myself: please, put a wind turbine in my back yard. But please, please, don’t spoil the lake. I felt a little guilty. After all, I’m talking about aesthetics here. Perhaps I was being shallow. Still, in my gut, I couldn’t help but feel it was wrong. Reid disagreed with me. He thought it would be cool to have them in the lake. By the time I got to the meeting last night, as I told Tim, an acquaintance I met there, I was wavering.

At the meeting, Toronto Hydro gave an overview of their project. I liked their presentation - they were well prepared, and dispelled a few myths. They made it clear that they wanted to make the meeting about the anemometer, as there is no decision yet on whether to proceed with the wind farm (in fact, they would require a full Environmental assessment before they could proceed with that). But they were dreaming, the meeting would of course be about the potential wind farm. Their presentation was brief (about 40 minutes) and then they opened the floor to questions. They were smart: they brought a facilitator who laid the ground rules: let a person speak, no interruptions, etc. The crowd ignored it, for the most part. You could feel the tension in the air. (I called Reid and told him I wasn’t sure I’d get out of the room alive.) But the facilitator was crucial - I think he prevented bloodshed.

Those who wanted to ask questions had to line up behind two microphones. What seemed like half the room emptied as people scrambled for the microphones. As the questions (or rather comments) proceeded, I became a little shocked. Representative after representative of pro wind farm environmental groups gave their comments. Most were passionate pleas for clean energy, and how we could not wait - we needed more wind farms now! But I was concerned: after about 20 representatives spoke, where was the other view? Where were the residents?

The crowd started to get angry, and I didn’t blame them. “Where do you live?”, they’d shout. I was wondering, too, where did these folks come from? Where were the anxious community residents, who had valid concerns and questions? We learned that these folks were actually bussed in for this meeting!! Toronto Hydro claims they did not arrange it. They must have organized themselves. (I have to say I LOVED the hypocrisy. They were bussed in????? Their website says “Buses are available to pick you up from Kennedy station and take you to the public meeting. They will also return you to Kennedy Station after the meeting.” TTC bus 116 stops outside the door of the school, for goodness sake. The bus comes straight from Kennedy station, no need to change buses. It comes every 10 minutes in the evenings. And they call themselves environmentalists??)

I saw our councillor, Paul Ainslie, join the line up right away, but he ended up nearer the back of the line. It took him until after 10pm, over 2 hours, to get to the microphone. Our local MPP, Margaret Best came as well. She took the vacant seat next to me (after a resident left in disgust, as many residents did). I don’t think she was impressed. There was no way for her to get to a microphone.

Still, I started to be swayed. The environment is extremely important, and we have to do whatever we can to produce clean energy. But that changed a few hours later, when residents and our councillor finally made it to the microphones and made some interesting points:

- One gentleman asked, why is Toronto Hydro pursuing a wind farm project? Toronto is a very populated area with very little place to put such a wind farm, whereas Ontario is huge with lots of room! We could likely place a wind farm onshore, which is cheaper, in places where there is much more wind. Isn’t Ontario Power Generation (formerly Ontario Hydro) the correct group to pursue wind farms? Shouldn’t we be leaving this to them?

- A fellow came to the microphone and explained he worked in the financial industry. He managed a pension fund, and explained that before they ever undertook a large project, they would examine the financial viability to ensure it was profitable. Had Toronto Hydro done so? They said they had not. They would do so AFTER the test results were in. I couldn’t believe it!!

- A couple of people (including Paul Ainslie) questioned Toronto Hydro’s interpretation of the Helimax report (A report for OPG that estimated wind strength and suggested the best place to build them.) Paul commented that the report did not recommend the shore of Lake Ontario off the Scarborough Bluffs as an ideal location for building the wind farm. Nine of the recommended sites were within the Toronto Hydro jurisdiction, yet all 9 were ignored. He wanted to know why. I thought Toronto Hydro’s response was a weak one: because those locations weren’t exclusive to Toronto Hydro; others could develop them.

- A few people questioned the waterfront revitalization project. In fact, mayor David Miller was elected on that platform. Doesn’t building an industrial facility, like a wind farm, fly in the face of that? An impassioned woman, who was part of the West Rouge waterfront revitalization project, said she had worked for years with the group responsible for cleaning up their shoreline, putting in pathways so that the lake could be enjoyed by all. They completed it recently, and now fear it will be turned into an industrialized site.

- I was moved by the comments an oriental woman, who moved to Guildwood last summer. She explained that she came to Canada 21 years ago. The first place they brought her to was to Guildwood, to see the view of the lake. (She told us that we didn’t realize how popular this area was with Oriental visitors. ) She was determined, she said, to have a home in Guildwood. She worked for 21 years before she could afford it. Having been born in Canada, we don’t realize what we have here. She compared Canada to China, where there are so many people, there is no way one could have such an unspoiled view. She told us we would be losing something precious.

- One of our residents expressed a concern over the Guild Inn property. This phenomenal piece of property, with its important history, has been left in a state of decay while the City of Toronto decides what to do with it. The community has followed this project over the years, and we’ve been disappointed repeatedly as various plans fall through. Most recently, the city has been working with Centennial College to build their Cultural and Heritage institute, a restaurant, a boutique room hotel and a conference center. The resident expressed concern that Centennial may pull out given that the view of the lake, a draw for visitors of the hotel, may be so radically changed.

I left the meeting feeling, again, that the bluffs are the wrong place to build a windfarm. But it’s probably best to let Toronto Hydro build their anemometer and test the wind speed. Perhaps then they’d actually do an economic feasibility study as well, and determine whether or not it’s viable.

Reid made an excellent point when I got home: we should have an artist rendition of what a view from the bluffs would like like with a wind farm there. Given that they are 2 km out from shore, perhaps they would be tiny? I left him doing calculations to try and figure it out, but I don’t think he was confident in his figures. So, to anyone out there - how large would a wind turbine that’s 30 metres high look from a distance of 2 km, viewed from 50 to 60 metres high?

I was in Thorold a few weekends ago, and it happened to be wine making time!

My parents had already picked their grapes the week before (about 12 bushels, I think). Because their grapes are mostly white grapes, they bought a few cases of California red grapes to make the wine a red colour. What they do is warm the grapes up in a huge cauldron outside - just enough so that it will speed the fermentation. Then they crush them using a machine (no, they don’t use their feet!). Finally, they put the crushed grapes into large tubs and let them ferment for a week or so.

When I got there, my parents were ready for the next step: using the wine press. I took lots of movies, which you can view below. I’m speaking our Italian “Macchiagodena” dialect with my parents. Anything you hear that might sound like yelling is not yelling. It just sounds that way.

Moving the wine from the large tubs into the wine press. (I guess it’s not really wine yet, but I’ll call it that for now):

Making Wine 1 from Reid on Vimeo.

A view of the wine pouring out of the press. We haven’t pressed it yet, it’s just the juice from the crushed grapes. You can also see my mother preparing the sugar that’s to be added. She’ll add some of the wine and warm it up on the stove to melt the sugar. During the movie, I ask my mother what she does with the sugar (she says she’ll add it to the wine barrel), and she’s surprised I don’t remember all this. And I tell her that I was never around, all I remember was my grandfather giving me a ride on the metal bar over the press. (You’ll see that bar in a later video).

Making Wine 3 from Reid on Vimeo.

Next, we take the wine in a bucket over to the barrel in the next room. My father pours as my mother holds a sieve. I notice my mother has papered everything in an attempt to ease the clean up from all the wine splashing about. At the end of the video, I say “You’ve papered everything”, and she replies “And who else would paper it, your father?”

Making Wine 4 from Reid on Vimeo.

My dad starts to add wood blocks to the press. You only see a few in this video, but he will add 5 or 6 layers of blocks.

Making Wine 7 from Reid on Vimeo.

All the blocks of wood have been added, and the metal bars have been attached to the “screw” portion of the press. I distinctly remember getting a ride on those bars as a small child, but they would have pressed the grapes way down before I could fit.

Making Wine 9 from Reid on Vimeo.

They filled up the barrel, and a demijohn. They’d need another demijohn as they continued to press over the day. I had to leave before the end of the day, unfortunately. The wine will continue to ferment in the barrel and demijohns. After 40 days, it’ll be ready for drinking (although, they’ll probably wait longer).

For anyone who’s interested, I translated that last video below. In some cases, I tried to keep the word order in case anyone is trying to pick up the Italian out of our strange dialect (but wasn’t able to all the time). Here it is, for what it’s worth:

Mum: Are you done now? Wait. [places the bar] Ok

Dad: Turn now, go round and round

Luisa: So, I don’t fit any more to sit up there. How could I have ever fit up there?

Mum: How am I supposed to know?

Luisa: …With those cords, I would have hung myself.

Mum: When he wants to go…[teasing, he's going too fast]

Luisa: Oh! You’re too short. [She can just reach the bar]

Luisa: He goes too quickly, and you go too slowly [laughs]

Mum: Now he’s going on his own. See? See how it pours there?

Luisa: You can see it. You can hear it, too. Oh my God, it’s Niagara Falls

Dad: We’re going to need the big demijohn, and it won’t be enough, either.

Luisa: You see how they’re coming down, Lui [short for Luisa]

Mum: See in here?

Luisa: How does it [the wood] get sent down?

Mum: Huh?

Luisa: How is it that it sends that [wood] down?

Mum: With this weight.

Luisa: No, no, no

Dad: See it turns [general hand waving]

Mom: See the screw remains on top

Luisa: OK [giving up]

Mum: See in here, how much wine has come up [through the wood]

Luisa: Oh, the wine’s come up

Mum: This will all end up below, only this much will be left out. Then we’ve got to flip it.

Luisa: You have to flip the grapes? [They mean, after they've been pressed, they'll flip and re-press them to get more of the wine out]

Mum: You flip the grapes and then you put it all back and..

Mum: Ya

Luisa: And how much will come out?

Mum: Well it comes out “good”.. it can’t really be thrown out. Your grandfather (”tata”) would flip it 3 or 4 times

Luisa: And you?

Mum: Ha, dad, last year, did it only one time [laughs]

Luisa: Huh?

Mum: Dad, last year…

Dad [defensive]: But it was little! [a small amount of grapes]

Mum: One time

Luisa: But… how do you say it… it’s not worth it. It’s not worth it… not too much

Mum: For a bit of wine, one says, you have to do all that work

Luisa: A gallon, yes, but a little …

Mum: Huh?

Luisa: A gallon, ok, but.. a couple of glasses…?

Mum: … more you turn, the more comes out .. beautiful, clear

Luisa: Ya?

Luisa: Oh, fine and clear. Finally. Then, can you drink already now?

Mum: No! [laughs]

Luisa: Why? What’ll it do to you?

Mum: Ummm…uh… it’s cloudy.. it’s got to get clear

Luisa: And when will you drink that now?

Mum: Saint Martino’s

Dad: It needs 40 days

Mum: Saint Martino’s? When is Saint Martino’s?
[She recites a saying I can't translate.]

Luisa: My God [Refering to the saying. Yet *another* saying. She has one for everything]

Dad: 40 days

Luisa: 40 days.

Dad: Ya. But we have the old [wine], the large demijohn, we have to drink the old first

Luisa: Oh, you’ve got to drink the old first. 40 days. Oh, uh.. a month and a half

Mum: Those don’t have any… On the 11′th of November. … on the 11th of November is Saint Martino’s

Dad: Sighs [as he sits]. It’s filling!! It’s about to be full this bucket

Mum: No, it’s not too full

Luisa: You’re tired?

Dad: Huh?

Luisa: Now I’ll turn … now I’ll turn.