Hearst greenhouse grower installs geothermal heating system Heating up Patrick Demers La Maison Verte, a Hearst not-for-profit reforestation grower, spent the majority of December installing a $230,000 geothermal heating pump for one of its greenhouses, and plans on using January and February to test it.

Entrepreneur cultivates way to extend the harvest Farm-fresh and year-round Ian Ross Like many of the Finnish immigrants who settled west of Thunder Bay at the turn of the last century, Leo Hunnakko is a big believer in being self-sufficient. The Thunder Bay area entrepreneur believes being located in a

New technology reduces organic waste Food to go Liz Cowan Food waste is a rotten problem but a new company has a fresh solution that reduces its volume by 90 per cent. Food Cycle Science, based in Cornwall, Ont., obtained the rights to technology developed in Korea that dehydrates and converts the organi

Sustainability theme for Heast green tech centre 'Form follows function' Patrick Demers When developing the idea for the new $2.5-million state-of-the-art Hearst Regional Green Technologies Centre, the community had two main focuses. One was business, and the other sustainable development. “It focuses

Green tech researchers roll out projects Finding a greener way Ian Ross For two years, it seemed CRIBE was almost as dormant as Thunder Bay's Sleeping Giant. But evidently there's been plenty going on behind the scenes. In a period of four months this year, the Centre for Research and Innovation in th

Hearst seedling greenhouse delves into consumables Growing in the right direction Patrick Demers What started as an association to create job opportunities for single mothers has flourished as a viable greenhouse operation. For 29 years, the Hearst-based La Maison Verte was run by manager Michelle Lamy

Sudbury miner, college team up on experimental forest Hands-on education Lindsay Kelly A collaboration between College Boreal and Xstrata Nickel on a new experimental forest will allow for long-term planning, while providing valuable research and information-gathering opportunities about local forests. T

Businesses can increase profits by going green Lindsay Kelly Sustainability can be a scary word for businesses. The idea of going green can suggest time and cost, which turn businesses off, said Bob Willard, a sustainability proponent and the guest speaker at a recent workshop jointly hosted by the Greater

Xeneca leads hydroelectric development in the North Toronto company advancing 19 water power projects Lindsay Kelly In the race to develop renewable energy projects across the North, Xeneca Power Development Inc. stands out amongst the water power players for the sheer number of projects it's proposing.

Jet fuel plant, 383 jobs slated for White River Northern Ontario Business staff A California biofuel and energy company is ready to build a plant in northeastern Ontario that makes jet fuel from wood biomass. Los Angeles-based Rentech Ltd. announced it has been selected by the Ontario goverment to rec

First Nation to produce 4 MW of power in 2012 M'Chigeeng wind farm gets green light Lindsay Kelly Revered for its hiking trail and stunning vistas, the bluff overlooking M'Chigeeng First Nation will soon be known for something else: wind power. At this time next year, the promontory will host a pair of 2

Municipal microFIT program first of its kind in province Sun shines on Blind River solar project Lindsay Kelly The sunlight glinting off the roof of the Blind River municipal office brings a smile to Graeme Lowry's face. Lowry, the CEO of North Shore Power Group Inc., knows that, with every sunny day, po

A Toronto biofuel company has innovative plans to use Northern Ontario woody biomass to make a specialty pellet that European power producers may be eager to snap up. Protocol Biomass wants to set up shop at the former Marathon Pulp mill site and

 A five-year-old plan to convert the coal-burning Thunder Bay Generating Station to natural gas has been dusted off and is being put into play. 

 Sault Ste. Marie MPP David Orazietti is again delivering the goods to St. Marys Paper.  He has announced the province and paper maker have reached a 10-year, 30-megawatt Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that will enable the company to build a $175-million biomass-fueled co-generation plant, creating 555 jobs in the process. 

With expectations that global energy costs will climb ever higher in the coming years, Renewable Resource Recovery Corp. (R3C) is banking on the reliability of the world’s greatest energy source: the sun.  

A trio of new green-focused projects at Sudbury's Cambrian College are among the school’s most visible symbols of its renewed drive towards applied research.

Dryden’s Bryan Tardiff wants to unlock the vast potential of local energy independence in northwestern Ontario.The local fuel distributor is spearheading a plan that will introduce some cutting-edge European technology for a district heating system for two industrial parks now under construction. 

 As major hydroelectric projects loom large on the municipality’s horizon, the Town of Kapuskasing is taking a close look at itself to ensure it will have the workforce necessary to meet employers’ impending needs.

An executive from a Spanish solar panel manufacturer, intending to set up shop in Sault Ste. Marie this summer, will be speaking this week at an alternative energy workshop in the city.

A southern Ontario green technology company is poised to begin construction of a large waste-to-energy gasification plant in Sault Ste. Marie to handle all of the city's household garbage.

Sault Ste. Marie is entering the North American solar panel supply chain market in a big way using some leading-edge European-style technology.

 Nearly $2 billion worth of hydroelectric developments underway is set to provide a financial shot in the arm for two Northern Ontario communities along the winding Mattagami River.

 Industry promoters of the Alberta oil sands are predicting gradual growth in the latter half of 2010 as development projects, shelved by the recession and dipping oil prices, come back to life.

 A northeastern Ontario First Nation community is aiming to crack the biomass market.

 While many companies worry about wasting energy, the team at the Sudbury-based Renewable Resource Recovery Corp. is fine with seeing it go down the drain – literally.

After years of discussion, planning and false starts, Sudbury’s Cambrian College is finally looking to make its $6-million Xstrata Nickel Sustainable Energy Centre a reality in the spring of 2010.

 Northeastern Ontario is being billed as the 'Saudi Arabia of biomass' and delegates attended a North Bay conference heard of the opportunities and challenges to heat and power the region with this green crude.

 The jury is still out on a bio-fuel trial to determine if two types of grass can be mixed in with wood waste to fuel Abitibi-Bowater's new biomass boiler in Fort Frances.

 A Toronto-based manufacturer of peat fuel wants more transparency from the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) on its grand plan to replace coal with wood biomass fuel at its generating plants.

 Thunder Bay's Confederation College is taking their partnership with global energy experts Honeywell to another level with plans for a biomass wood-fire boiler.

 The uncertainty over Ontario's fledgling biomass economy has a northeastern Ontario community dropping a biomass energy project and switching to solar.

 The Pic River First Nation have acquired full ownership of the Twin Falls hydro-electric plant near the Lake Superior Ojibway community.

 Ontario Premier Dallton McGuinty was in Sault Ste. Marie July 17 to announce the official opening of Essar Steel Algoma's new $135-million co-generation facility, which will reduce the mill's emissions and power use.

 Ellsin Environmental Ltd. will establish the plant to test a patented process for reclaiming used tires after a $2 million investment by the province's Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.

As Bullfrog Power’s co-founder, Heinztman has a solution that allows customers to get green energy without having to make drastic changes in their lives.

The ‘Greenest city in Europe’ is not some sun-soaked southern village covered in solar panels, nor a windy costal town surrounded by a forest of wind turbines, but rather the city of Växjö, nestled in the forests of Central Sweden.

A private landowner and entrepreneur plans to start construction this fall on a small one-megawatt hydroelectric power station, near Webbwood in northeastern Ontario.

A new renewable source of energy is all around us just waiting to be capitalized upon: Biomass plant material, vegetation, chipped wood and agricultural waste is a permanent natural resource in Northern Ontario.

Geothermal energy systems can drop the average person’s energy costs to one-half or one-third, said Robert Belanger, service manager for Campeau Heating.

Storing nuclear waste in the deep confines of the Canadian Shield has always evoked a basic gut level reaction from Northerners.

An innovative heating system installed on a high-rise apartment building in Greater Sudbury is producing real savings for the manager of technical service manager at the non-profit corporation.

The real future of construction across all of North America, lies in the sustainable building sector, according to international “green” building guru David Johnston.

As Luc Duchesne edges closer to bringing his mini bio-diesel refinery machine to the fuel-consuming masses, the normally talkative entrepreneur is becoming less expansive than usual.

Essar Global is reportedly eyeing both Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie for a wide diameter pipe mill to supply the oil and gas industry.

Gord McGuinty has every confidence his Adams Mine project will be up and operating by the end of 2005.

As if municipalities in Northern Ontario did not have enough to worry about with the collapse of the forest industry, "competitive" granting programs, the loss of the secondary industry, skilled labour, declining population and assessment and increased taxes.

Northwestern Ontario is a treasure trove of untapped mineral wealth with vast opportunities for sustainable development, but Ottawa and Queen's Park must collaborate on a regional strategy and respect First Nation treaty rights, say community leaders.

This year, bioenergy projects in Canada's forestry communities are on fast-forward. Fighting a strong loonie, a declining US housing market, rising oil prices, and high fibre and energy costs, biomass rich-communities, entrepreneurs, sawmills, harvesters power companies, and pulp and paper mills have been exploring and implementing new bioenergy projects, either to bolster a conventional forestry operation or to start up a new, energy-based one.

The man with a dream sits on a wooden bench 190 kilometers north of the Albany River and 240 kilometers west of James Bay.