Is Hydro One reaping huge profits with Smart Meter
Use?
What is the population of Clarence-Rockland in 2010?
Are there any rumblings about having a bus route going down Canaan?
Have there been any updates on making 174 between Trim
and Rockland into two lanes?
My computer just crashed. How can I replace my software
easily? |
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| Is Hydro One reaping huge profits with Smart
Meter Use? |
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 (Tuesday,
July 31, 2012) A Forest Hill resident asks... I find it curious that with the hotest summer on record here in the
Ottawa Valley and with more people using their air conditioners for longer periods of time that we have not heard
one word from Ontario Hydro about conserving energy or cutting back on electricity use. Could it be that now that
they have the "smart meters" installed they are reaping huge profits and actually want us to use more
electricity?
 We provided a headline link
a few weeks ago which read: "Why the power stayed on during Ontario's
heat waves".
 According to the folks who keep watch over the province's power grid, Ontario should have plenty of electricity
throughout the summer to withstand any spikes in demand.
There's no one reason, says Alexandra Campbell, spokeswoman for the Independent Electricity System
Operator, the provincial government agency that oversees the power grid.
"It's a combination of things," she says. "A number of years ago, we were relying
on importing power from our neighbours to meet our needs during the … extreme demand periods. We have more generation
available in Ontario now to meet our needs but we've also seen demand come down."
That falling demand is a reflection of, among other things, the decline in the economy. Ontario's
industrial and manufacturing sectors took a big hit with the international downturn in 2008, and less power is
needed after companies scaled back or shut down operations.
"One of the biggest things that's changed is that some of the big industrial consumers have
either left the province or have downscaled and are no longer using nearly as much power," says Warren Mabee,
an energy policy expert and professor in the department of geography and school of policy studies at Queen's University
in Kingston, Ont.
"And that just means that there is more power to go around."
(Editor's comment: We don't think it has anything
to do with Smart Meters so much as it does with the fact as noted above that Ontario has more electricity available.
As far as "conserving energy" goes, it's up to all of us to mind our energy use for the good of all.)
Related reading:
- The dope on Smart Meters from Hydro One
- A senior writes: "Smart meters ruining retirement"
- Privacy and the smart grid: how privacy protections were designed into Ontario's central meter
data repository
- TIME-OF-Use Prices - A new way to manage your electricity use (and costs), reduce strain on
the electricity system, and help the environment
- How to Test Your Smart Meter for Accuracy
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| 2010 - What is the population of Clarence-Rockland? |
Someone asked
this question on the "True Knowledge" website: What is the number of people
normally resident in Clarence-Rockland, the bilingual city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the United Counties of
Prescott and Russell on the Ottawa River in the year 2011?
The answer: 20,790, but it
is more than that as we will see when this year's (2011) census is published.
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| Any rumblings about having a bus route going
down Canaan? |
(Thursday,
December 16, 2010) From a Blue Jay Ridge resident: Are there any rumblings about having a bus route going down
Canaan Road?
For some reason, Canaan Road
was never seriously considered as a viable route, but if there was enough interest now within the area (Blue Jay
and Forest Hill) we might get something going.
(There was also talk about setting up a "Park and Ride" at the Highway 174 and Canaan Road... possible
parking along McTeer which parallels the highway. However this strip is not really suitable for a Park and Ride
as it would not support the number of vehicles that are likely to use it.)
We first contacted Leduc Bus lines and were told that the Clarence-Rockland Transpo service was managed by the
City and that we would have to call them as Leduc only followed the requirements set out by the City.
We then contacted the appropriate department (Physical Services - Yves Rouselle) and were told that Canaan Road
is not an appropriate collector route for bus service and there are no plans for bus service here. |
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Have there been any updates on making
174 between Trim and
Rockland into two lanes? |
(Thursday,
December 16, 2010) From the same Blue Jay Ridge resident: Have there been any updates on making the 174 between
Trim and Rockland into two lanes?
This is a question that keeps
coming up again and again, at C-R council meetings, councillor ward meetings, etc. I was following this item for
some time and did have a web page dedicated to it. Maybe it is time to update the info?
As I understand it, everyone (that is residents) east of Ottawa --from Rockland to Hawkesbury and all the places
to the south of the Ottawa river-- want a four-lane). Our Provincial Member of Parliament, Jean-Marc Lalonde, has
been on this for several years and officials within
Clarence-Rockland, the United Counties of Prescott-Russell, etc. have been pushing for the highway expansion.
At one time the province designated a large amount of money towards the project, but it has been the City of Ottawa
all along that has been dragging its feet. They don't feel that they should be putting money into a project that
will benefit everyone but them.
The latest information is that the matter was going to a study to determine the environmental and safety concerns
with adding more lanes. This process is still in the works, with no answers forthcoming in the forseeable future.
Another question is whether or not there is room to widen the highway, given the building of homes along the routeadjacent
to the Ottawa River, west of Cumberland Village.
And, the Cumberland Village Community
Association (CVCA) is opposed to the four lanes as they feel that it will have a negative
impact on their community. (You can read more about this and see the links on the CVCA site. You will eventually
find a link to the study on one of the City of Ottawa web pages.
There have also been rumours about extending Innes Road, east, to connect to Wilhaven or Baseline, but I don't
know where that stands or even if it is in the works. |
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| My computer crashed, how can I replace
software cheaply? |
My computer
has crashed and the big cost of replacement for me will be my software programs, ie. Microsoft Office 2007 and
Word Perfect 12. I really cannot afford to upgrade and I don't have my original disks. What can I do?
Well, you can't "borrow"
the software because that would be copying, and that would be illegal.
One solution would be to download OpenOffice
from the Internet.
It is a free and open source software put out by Sun Microsystems, which we use all the time. It is every bit as
good as Word and WordPerfect and will open just about any document, including Word, WordPerfect, spreadsheets,
PowerPoint, and more.
It will also save the document in those formats so you can share the files with others. It downloads and installs
easily and is probably less complicated than Word.
You can read up on it on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org
( OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components
are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. It is available for a number of
different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software and is written using its own GUI toolkit.
It supports the ISO/IEC standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) for data interchange as its default file format, as
well as Microsoft Office formats among others. As of November 2009, OpenOffice.org supports over 110 languages.
As free software, users are free to download, modify, use and distribute OpenOffice.org.)
You can find it here:
http://www.openoffice.org/
And you can download it here:
http://download.openoffice.org/index.html |
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New to the area?
When is the last time you
had your septic tank cleaned?
(Click on pic for more)
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and 
