http://hdl.handle.net/10315/6201 2013-05-26T07:16:51Z 2013-05-26T07:16:51Z Erickson, Bruce Orzechowski, Karol http://hdl.handle.net/10315/15500 2013-05-22T20:31:43Z 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z

UnderCurrents Erickson, Bruce; Orzechowski, Karol UnderCurrents is an independent non-profit journal of critical environmental studies produced by students, faculty and staff in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. Since 1988, with a brief hiatus from 2009 to 2012, we have been publishing creative and critical writing and artwork that explores the relationships between nature, society, and self. We openly and explicitly provide space for discussions of 'environment' which challenge the conventional boundaries and assumptions of academic and environmental discussion. UnderCurrents is produced annually by an editorial collective, which maintains non-hierarchical principles and a collaborative publishing process.

2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Gibson, Robert Winfield, Mark Markvart, Tanya Gaudreau, Kyrke Taylor, Jennifer http://hdl.handle.net/10315/14002 2013-05-22T19:17:41Z 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z

An Analysis of the Ontario Power Authority’s Consideration of Environmental Sustainability in Electricity System Planning Gibson, Robert; Winfield, Mark; Markvart, Tanya; Gaudreau, Kyrke; Taylor, Jennifer This report focuses on the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA) consideration of environmental sustainability in the development of the proposed Integrated Power System Plan (IPSP). The research was centred on a comparison of what the OPA did with what should reasonably be expected of the OPA in meeting the requirement, contained in Ontario Regulation 277/06 (The IPSP Regulation), for ensuring due consideration of environmental sustainability in plan development. In its decision on issues to be considered in the IPSP hearing, the Ontario Energy Board indicated that in order to meet this requirement the OPA is required to demonstrate that it has “weighed and evaluated” environmental sustainability in a way that is “meaningful” in the development of the IPSP.

2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Winfield, Mark Koveshnikova, Tatiana http://hdl.handle.net/10315/14000 2013-05-22T17:51:22Z 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

Applying the Total Resource Cost Test to Conservation and Demand Management Initiatives of Local Electricity Distribution Companies in Ontario: Assessment and Recommendations for Reform Winfield, Mark; Koveshnikova, Tatiana This study has its origins in my participation in the Ontario Power Authority’s Conservation and Demand Management Program Development Advisory Committee in 2006 and 2007 while serving as a Program Director with the Pembina Institute. In discussions with local electricity distribution company (LDC) staff involved in conservation and demand management (CDM) activities that served on the committee, one of the issues raised was the role of the Total Resource Cost (TRC) test in the evaluation of proposed CDM initiatives. It became apparent that the test was perceived as a significant barrier to CDM program innovation, development and delivery. The opportunity to investigate the role of the TRC test in local utility electricity conservation and demand management activities more formally arose as a result of discussions between the Electricity Distributors Association (EDA), the York University Foundation and the Faculty of Environmental Studies. Through the LDC Future Fund the EDA kindly provided a grant for a study of the impact of the TRC test on local utility CDM initiatives. The resulting study, presented here, recognizes the value of the TRC test in program design and evaluation. At the same time, the study identifies a number of areas where specific modifications and adjustments to the TRC test as currently applied by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) and Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to LDC proposals for CDM initiatives could be made to encourage and facilitate such activities. More broadly, the study concludes that the most important barriers to LDC-led CDM initiatives do not lie with the TRC test and its application by the OEB and OPA per se. Rather the study finds that the most significant barriers relate to the wider regulatory and institutional framework for electricity CDM within which LDC initiatives occur and the test is applied. These types of barriers are the focus of the recommendations made here.

2009-01-01T00:00:00Z Desfor, Gene http://hdl.handle.net/10315/13999 2013-05-22T18:38:41Z 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

Port City Relations: Global Spaces of Urban Waterfront Development Desfor, Gene Urban waterfronts have become key sites where global restructuring processes and local interests are engaged in complex struggles that are influencing the future of cities. The author discusses three issues related to these struggles. First, new waterfront spaces are emerging from a convergence of economic restructuring, globalization and technological changes. Second, port security has become an increasingly important factor in waterfront developments and port-city relations. And third, urban waterfront developments are part of the construction of socio-nature. Following a discussion of these issues, the author suggests that new policies are needed for waterfront development.

2007-01-01T00:00:00Z