Local firm E.G. Gray Transportation unveiled its newest fleet member Thursday, a green, more ecologically friendly transport that’s one of a kind in Peterborough and may be the first of its kind to hit the road in Ontario, the company said.
The 2011 Volvo 780 runs on diesel fuel but puts out nearly no emissions, company president Dave Pogue boasted.
“It’s the latest in tractor and trailer technology. This truck, although it runs on the same diesel that other tractors run on, there is near zero emissions,” he said.
“They have removed the bulk of the particulates from the diesel fuel as it’s rescrubbed in the engine. Basically we are putting out cleaner air than what’s going in. Water and nitrogen, that’s it.”
Paul Bichler says he can’t understand why every laundry room isn’t eco-friendly.
The co-founder of Peterborough’s Eco Laundry Room on Simcoe St. said he has recently expanded to Toronto where a new location opened its doors in January.
To bring some green star power to the official grand opening, the owners tapped Toronto mayoral candidate George Smitherman to speak on April 21, he said.
“He will talk about eco-conscious businesses and how Ontario’s Green Energy Act is affecting businesses like us,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of good response.”
The Toronto Eco Laundry Room, at 2741 Danforth Ave., is the first of its kind in the GTA, he said.
The Camp Kawartha Environment Centre has announced its lineup of events for the month of March.
Sustainable design consultant Melanie Scott is holding a workshop on passive solar design March 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. Topics include insulation and landscaping strategies, window and site selection, building orientation and renovation design concepts.
There’s a suggested donation fee of $5 per person upon entry to the workshop.
Alicia Zobel is talking about local plants and their uses March 18 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. There’s no fee to attend, but people are encouraged to bring a donation of a non-perishable food item for Kawartha Food Share.
I was really quite perplexed last Friday when I got a call from a reporter looking for comment
on a “solar farm” project that was announced earlier in the day. “Solar farm?” I thought, “in Peterborough?” The idea sounded a bit far-fetched, because when I think solar farm, the first place that comes to mind is sun-soaked southern California.
I put in a call to Peterborough Utilities and got them to fax over their one-page press release, and low and behold it was true. I was not only a little surprised, but also quite excited. Not only are we one of the first communities in Ontario to have one of these projects in our backyard, but also the first municipally-owned utility in the province to start such a project of this magnitude.
About 140 acres of farmland just west of Peterborough will be transformed into a $45-million solar farm project capable of producing renewable energy for about 1,500 homes each year.
Peterborough Utilities Inc. announced Friday it would begin construction on the Lily Lake Rd. solar farm within a month.
“We will be the first municipally owned utility to build a solar farm in Ontario,” Peterborough Utilities president and CEO Larry Doran said.
“One of our mandates is to build profitable renewable generation. That’s what we are doing. It will be renewable. It will cut down on greenhouse gases. It will return a profit that will eventually be paid to the city.”
It’s a dream Jacob Rodenburg, executive director of Camp Kawartha, has had for five years.
Yesterday that dream became a reality with the official opening of Camp Kawartha Environment Centre.
Located on Trent University property, built by students at Fleming College and fuelled by community donations, including $100,000 from the Gainey Foundation, the building is one of the greenest buildings in the nation.
