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Category Archives: Alternatives

ORA’s first Youth Engagement event!

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ORA collaborated with Engineers Without Borders (UW Chapter) to host a youth engagement workshop for 35 grade 11 students in St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School on March 31st. The group included students from the STEM Club and from the Environment Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) Red Seal Program. ORA offered the students a Sector-Partnered Experience (SPE) focusing on real-world environmental issues to be solved.

ORA’s team consisted of a Fisheries Biologist, Civil Engineer and Environmental Sciences experts interacting with the students to present and discuss the significant and ongoing environmental effects of hydroelectric facilities, as well as the engineering principles behind them.

The students were then assigned to groups and encouraged to think of alternative eco-friendly solutions to meet the growing electricity demands of the country. We helped them consider several aspects of power generation including how electricity can be used more efficiently, its impacts on wildlife and communities, and the criteria we need to consider when constructing electricity generation facilities. The groups presented their innovative ideas and gift cards were awarded to the group with the most sustainable and feasible solution.

We were thrilled and amazed at the enthusiasm and ingenuity of the students!


Is it Renewable Energy if it Degrades the Environment?

Is it really renewable energy when it degrades the environment and impacts on communities in a negative way?

There are 241 hydroelectric dams in Ontario, and only 3 facilities have provided any form of fish passage.

The effects of dams and waterpower facilities on fisheries have been well documented over the past century, and include the loss or serious decline of many iconic fish species, which are resources of importance to Ontario’s economy, biodiversity, and natural and cultural heritage. 



Lockheed Martin Claims Fusion Breakthrough That Could Change World Forever

Lockheed Martin, the aerospace and defense conglomerate based in Bethesda, Md., is claiming to have made a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion, which could lead to development of reactors small enough to fit on the back of a truck within a decade.

In the simplest terms, nuclear fission breaks a single atom into two whereas nuclear fusion combines two atoms into one.

Fusion, the holy grail of nuclear power, creates three to four times as much energy as fission. More importantly, fusion’s key advantage over fission is that it does not produce cancer-causing radioactive waste.  Read the rest of the article here.