Here’s the part I completely agree with:
Makes perfect sense to me. This legislation will have zero effect on me. I cannot, for the life of me, imagine paying to insert my penis into the vagina of a stranger. I don’t think I could even perform under such conditions, but if two adults care to enter into such a contract, so be it.
I’m reading a book right now that is germane to this discussion; it’s called Oil and Honey: The Education of An Unlikely Activist by Bill McKibben. It describes how the author is a rabid environmentalist, and he takes his fight against global warming to the pipelines being proposed to go through the US (the Keystone Pipeline). As far as I can tell, people are vehemently opposed to pipelines because they are connected with oil, carbon emissions, anthropogenic global warming, and climate change. What I’m taking away from this is that no regulations will be enough; what they want is to keep the oil in the oil sands, stop using oil everywhere in the world, and everyone stop driving cars.
That brings me to EmilyG’s point; Calgary has a half-assed transit system, but the decision-makers here want everyone to get out of their cars and onto the bus. We’ll just ignore the part where the buses don’t go where you need to go, when you need to go there, and things like it taking two hours to take a bus somewhere that will take you 10 minutes to drive. Public transit! Green! Argle-bargle!
And there’s the thing. People who live and work in cities at least have this option. There are a lot of us who don’t live in cities and don’t work in cities. Yes, I’m officially in Ottawa, but in a rural part that has zero services. I am on my own well. I have my own septic system. I do not have natural gas. I heat with fucking ELECTRICITY because that’s what the house came with 18 years ago. I FUCKING drive 160 kilometers one way to work every day.
I wish people (governments) understood that not all of us live in cities, can take public transportation, and heat primarily with natural gas.
Electricity rates have gone up by 30% over the last few years and are potentially going up by another 40% in the coming few years. Plus there is a proposed provincial gasoline tax increase of 5 to 10 cents a litre coming.
Now, I will be selling this house and moving, but others aren’t so lucky. We don’t all live in downtown condominiums on a transitway!
Electricity currently costs me about $6,000 a year, and I live alone.
Bother. Major ice storm possibly on its way to Southern and Eastern Ontario. I may not get to see my aunt this weekend.
Yeah, there’s definitely that too.
Bother indeed. Ice storms are teh suxxor.
Yuck. My parent were planning on being on the 401 tomorrow.
They’re starting to use phrases like ‘significant ice event’ and ‘stock up on water and canned goods’… good luck to everyone who travels.
I’m supposed to drive to Petawawa on Sunday for a baptism. I’m a bit scared, not gonna lie.
Just read a news report about the Ontario storms. Stay safe, all!
And a merry Christmas to all! 
I know every inch, every bump, and every curve of highway 17 from here to Deep River. It’s quite possibly the deadliest highway in Ontario, perhaps even Canada. Hey, I drive it 5 days a week, and haven’t had any issues in 4 years, but in that time there’s been a fatal accident about once every 2 or 3 months.
Drive safely, and don’t let other drivers pressure you into driving faster. There are passing lanes every 30 kms or so.
I’ve probably said this before, but - my in-laws are in a similar situation. They’re near Guelph, but just outside the city limits. Natural gas is not an option. When they built their house, they had to go with an electric furnace. The house was built to benefit from passive solar heating (the largest windows are on the south-east and south-west corners; the north-east and north-west corners are built into the hillside.) and was built to have the furnace heat supplemented with the wood fireplace. Longer term, they were going to have a corn stove or a pellet stove in the lower level. Still, heating the place in the depth of winter was that kind of expensive!
Then geo-thermal heating/cooling came along. Because they have fifty acres, it was dead easy to dig the long, deep trench and get them set up. (When my father-in-law was a bit younger, that was the source of much of the wood for the fireplace.) The Hydro bills are down to ~$400 a year, the house is comfortable year-round, and the fireplace is just for the pleasure of looking at a fire. They could probably bring that bill down quite a bit more, except my mother-in-law likes to keep the place around 25 degrees in winter, and worries that the lower level will be too cold for the grandkids to sleep. (No, it isn’t - not by a long road!)
Anyway, whether you’re staying in that location indefinitely or planning to sell up and move, it would be worth looking into. Geo-thermal has proved to be a very good solution for a lot of people in rural and almost-rural Ontario.
That’s part of why I’m so supportive of green energy subsidies - it helps people who look at an idea like putting solar panels on the roof, or replacing the windows, or going geo-thermal to think beyond ‘How long will it take for this idea to pay itself off?’ into thinking ‘This is worth it’.
I think I’ll just stay the heck inside for the whole weekend. I mean, I did run out of chocolate, but maybe that’s a good thing? Heh.
Appreciate the well wishes. My inclination at this point is to take the greyhound. Only problem is that it leaves Ottawa after midnight…grumble
Looks like we may miss the freezing rain “event” (*channeling George Carlin) here, and only get another 15 - 20 cm of snow.
In one year I can get a business manager.
That’s really good to know - I love the idea of heating and cooling a house with geothermal energy.
Also, 25º in the house?!? Holy flurking schnit! I’d die in there! We keep our house at a balmy 18º.
Home is getting 20 to 30 cm followed by freezing rain. I had to make arrangements to have my driveway plowed while I am away at the inlaws’ place. I’m just thankful that we are not set to get the amounts Ontario is. My father in law works in a storm chaser line crew and has gone up to Ontario to assist. Doubt he will make it home for Christmas.
Good luck to all affected!
My bother and wife and kid are supposed to fly here from Halifax on Monday. I hope they can make it.
We looked into geo-thermal when we were renovating this house in 2007/2008. There is a way to rig it so the pipes are bundled and stacked vertically rather than horizontally, which could have worked out. What put the kibosh on that plan was not the equipment, nor the effort of drilling wells - it was the question of what happens to all the slurry that comes up, and how do you keep it on your property on a city lot.
In the end, it would have added a solid $20,000.00 to the HVAC line on the equation, so we went with a high-efficiency gas furnace, thorough spray foam insulation and new windows instead.
It’s one of the things I keep in the back of my head for new subdivisions, though. There must be a way to put geo-thermal trenches on the edge of alleyways, walkways or park paths, so that they’re shared between all the houses on a block…