Welcome to Ask Janet on Yukon Energy's blog

Ask Janet - A Question About Street Lights | Monday, January 16, 2012

Today's question for Janet: I would like to know how much energy a street lamp uses (particularly the ones lining the Alaska Highway). Who controls the hours that they are on?

Most of the street lights in Yukon are owned, operated and maintained by Yukon Electrical Company Limited, including the ones along the Alaska Highway, so it would be best if you contacted them to get specific details.

We can however provide you with some general information. Most Yukon streetlights range from between 100 to 400 watts each, depending on the application and type of lighting required (for example highway lights are generally of a higher wattage than downtown lights). The lights have photocells in them that detect low lighting levels and turn on and off accordingly. It is possible that if a photocell gets dirty, the light can stay on all the time until the photocell is cleaned or replaced.

Last year Yukon Energy carried out a pilot project in Dawson City, replacing some of the standard street lighting with LED lights. We found that the LEDs used about two-thirds less power than the standard lighting. We are in the process of reviewing the report that was done on this pilot project to determine next steps with regard to our own street lighting (primarily in Dawson, Mayo and Faro).

Ask Janet: New Turbine at Aishihik | Thursday, December 15, 2011

Question: I heard you on the radio today talking about Mayo B, but what about Aishihik 3? Is it up and running? Are you going to have a press release about that too? That is a good news story too because it was the clean-air funding that paid for that right? Another green milestone for the Yukon. Thanks.

Yes indeed, our new seven megawatt hydro turbine at our Aishihik plant is just about to go into service. We are just doing the final testing. It should be operating before the end of this year, and we will definitely put out a news release about this project very shortly. Thanks for your interest.

Ask Janet: Heating Your Home Overnight | Thursday, December 8, 2011

Question: I'm wondering if you can settle a family disagreement. To conserve energy, I want to turn the heat in our home down at night. However my husband thinks it takes just as much energy to bring the temperature back up in the morning than it does to keep the temperature higher throughout the night. Who is right?

We hope you have something really nice riding on this bet, because you win! Setting your thermostat back from 21 degrees to 16 degrees at night can result in energy savings of up to 10 percent.

We encourage the use of programmable thermostats that automatically adjust the temperature set points at pre-set times. This way the thermostat will automatically turn down the heat at night or when the home is empty and turn it up again when you are home.

When Is Electric Heat OK? | Monday, March 28, 2011

Question: What is Yukon Energy's perspective on using electric power for residential heating (in Whitehorse)? For example our oil-fired boiler is 50 years old and will need to be replaced soon. We've heard that an electric boiler would be more environmentally friendly since most of the Yukon's power comes from hydro. Yet I see from the daily energy consumption graph today that even when the night time temperature is only in the -5C to -10C range Yukon Energy is still needing to use diesel to meet demand.

So if we convert to an electric boiler, and so do X number of other households following the same line of reasoning, one can reasonably expect that Yukon Energy's diesel use will also increase. In effect all we'll have done is shift residential diesel use to Yukon Energy, placing a larger burden on an aging infrastructure. Yes more energy sources are going to come online in the next few years, but at what point will hydro power for heat *actually* shift the balance to be a real environmental choice (if ever)?

Your question is a good one and you have identified the crux of the issue. It is not Yukon Energy's place to dictate how people should heat their homes. That is obviously an individual choice. However it is important that Yukoners understand that heating with electricity may result in Yukon Energy having to burn more diesel. This may ultimately drive up the cost of electricity for all Yukoners, no matter what they use to heat their homes.

At this point I cannot predict if or when the "shift" that you speak of will take place. That, in part, will depend on the type and amount of renewable energy Yukon Energy is able to develop. Please know that the Corporation is working as hard as possible to find new sources of power that are not just environmentally responsible but also affordable, reliable, and flexible.

I'm afraid I haven't given you a very satisfactory answer in terms of your own particular situation. All I can suggest is that you weigh the pros and cons and choose what works best for your family.

Enhancing Our Energy Consumption Graphs | Monday, March 28, 2011

Today's question: I find the energy consumption graph for the last 24 hours very useful, and we use it to try and time our laundry etc. to a time of day when it is less likely to shift electric generation from hydro to diesel. It has no history though. Would you please do the same for consumption patterns over weeks/months/years? (and/or publish the raw statistics so people can create with their own graphs).

Thank you for your feedback regarding the consumption graph. Over the last few months a number of people have asked us to provide weekly or monthly graphs, and we are working on doing that. There are some technicial issues that are making it more difficult than we first invisioned, but we hope to have those worked out soon.

Info About Biomass? | Monday, March 21, 2011

Today's question: I have heard that Dawson might be investigating a "biomass boiler" system. This area of energy creation really intrigues me. I look forward to any information or path of research that you could pass onto me.

You are correct. The Yukon government is working with with the municipality of Dawson to incorporate a bioenergy boiler system to meet the thermal needs of both the waste water treatment facility and the winter time municipal water heating requirements. I understand that this facility will use local waste wood produced from local milling operations. The Yukon government is also working on developing a strategy for bioenergy development in the territory. For information about both these initiatives you can call the Yukon government's Energy Strategy contact at 456-6843. 

As a result of discussions during our recent energy charrette, Yukon Energy will also do some research to learn more about the potential for producing electricity in the territory using biomass. Watch this blog in the days ahead for further information.

Mega Confusion | Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Today's question: Why, when following Yukon's Energy's power-generation arithmetic, do I sometimes find projects measured in megawatts and sometimes in gigawatt hours? What's the difference? For instance, as I understand it, Mayo B will produce between 5 and 15 megawatts, or 36 gigawatt hours over a year. Does this mean that the upgraded dam would produce between 5 and 15 megawatts at any given time, and that it would pump out a total of 36 gigawatt hours over the course of one year? (With 1,000 megawatts equal to one gigawatt, as I understand?) I'd still be at a loss to do the math to get from one number to the other.

This is a great question, as people are often confused by the term 'watt' and its multiples (kilowatt, megawatt, gigawatt)  versus 'watt hour' and its multiples.

Watts, kilowatts, megawatts and gigawatts all refer to measurements of power; specifically how much power a particular piece of equipment has the ability to produce at any point in time. In the case of the Mayo hydro plant, we currently have the ability to produce 5 megawatts (5 million watts) of power with our two existing generators. With Mayo B we'll have two new generators with the combined ability to produce an additional 10 megawatts of power.

Watt hours, kilowatt hours, megawatt hours, and gigawatt hours all refer to energy. Energy is power multiplied by time. So when one of our existing hydro generators runs for an hour (let's use our largest Whitehorse unit, a 20 megawatt generator, as an example) the power consumed is 20 megawatt hours (20 million watts x 1 hour) of energy.

But there's a twist. Even though that generator might have the ability to produce 20 megawatts, that doesn't mean it will do that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Other things come in to play. For instance, the amount it can produce over time will depend on how much water is available. In Yukon the same amount of water is not available all year round. Also, we regulate the flow of water to the generating unit so that it will only produce what is needed to meet the demand, and that fluctuates based on the time of day and the time of year. 

This is why, when Yukon Energy is referring to the size or strength of our units, we use the term megawatt, but when we are calculating how much energy will be available to customers over one year, we use gigawatt hours per year (1 gigawatt hour being the same as 1 billion watt hours).

To convert between the two, remember that Power x Time = Energy. So if a 10 megawatt hydro unit ran for one third of an hour, it would produce 3.33 megawatt hours of energy (10 x .333). Part of doing energy planning is calculating how much energy each of our units will be able to generate over the course of a year.

I hope this helps.

Sewage to Energy? | Friday, February 18, 2011

Today's question: Has Yukon Energy ever considered the most sustainable energy resource that is available in almost every community in the country including Yukon? Every major community has a sewage waste disposal plant. Decomposing sewage produces methane gas. The technology is available to construct bio-gas generatiors that would produce gas to power generators. With growing populations there is an never ending fuel source.

To date Yukon Energy has not looked at the possibility of turning sewage into electricity and it's not something we have any knowledge about. However we are open to looking at all options and we may well do some research into this subject. Thanks for the suggestion.

Explaining the Math | Thursday, February 17, 2011

Today's question: A recent article in the Whitehorse Star said: "Residential customers in the Yukon are currently paying 12.1 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 1,000 kWh or fewer...As industrial customers, the Minto Mine and the revamped Bellekeno Mine in Keno City are paying 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour...The two mines are paying more per kilowatt hour than it costs to provide them with electricity - approximately nine percent more. Residential customers on the other hand are paying 21 percent less than the true cost."  The math just doesn't make sense to me. Can you explain?

This is a very good question. A lot of people are not aware that it costs more for Yukon Energy to provide service to residential customers than it does for us to provide service to an industrial customer such as a mine. There are a number of reasons for this.

• Industry typically has a more consistent load (the amount of electricity it needs doesn’t vary from summer to winter) whereas with residential customers their energy demand peaks in the winter, when it costs us the most to produce electricity.
   
• Residential customers need special distribution services (lower voltage lines and related services necessary to get power to small customers) that industrial customers don’t need. This reduces the cost to industry service relative to residential service.
   
• Also keep in mind that industrial customers currently must pay 100 percent of the cost up front to be connected to the grid. Since they’ve already paid this cost, it doesn’t show up in their power rate. For residential customers, they only pay a portion of the cost to connect them to the grid (the utility pays the rest). The portion paid by residential customers is taken into account when their rate is set.

The difference in rates and costs between industrial and residential customers is not unusual or unique to Yukon. There are similar situations in other jurisdictions. These differences aren’t new in Yukon either. They go back to when the Faro mine was operating and was an industrial customer.

So the bottom line is that while it costs less to serve mines, they pay the full cost (and then some) of getting power. While it costs more to serve residential customers, they only pay about 80 percent of the true cost.