Screen Actors Guild may discipline, expel Donald Trump

Wind and batteries the best bet

For years, Manitoba Hydro has claimed that we can’t rely on wind turbines during multi-day or even multi-week cold snaps. Although turbines can be equipped with cold-weather packages to operate down to –30 C, as at the St. Leon and St. Joseph wind farms, Hydro routinely warns of the possibility of a lengthy winter wind drought at the same time as electricity use peaks due to high heating demand.

This concern is largely why Hydro is pushing to build a 750 MW fossil gas-fired power plant in Brandon, rather than building more wind farms.

But new analysis by Alexander Hogeveen Rutter, a former energy modeller for Manitoba Hydro, shows that wind-generation reliability well exceeds assumptions and that, if combined with battery energy storage, it could meet even the most bullish load growth forecasts. (These findings were presented to the Public Utilities Board on Aug. 31, and the full report can be found on Climate Action Team Manitoba’s website.)

Hydro’s low estimate of wind generation stems from its erroneous assumption that all new wind farms will be built in the same locations as Manitoba’s two existing wind farms (St. Leon and St. Joseph). Because these two wind farms are only 100 kilometres apart, they have highly correlated wind speeds; when wind conditions are low at one site, they likely are at the other as well. This is not how new wind farms will be built in Manitoba. Instead, they will be located in different areas and use much taller turbines with higher generation potential than the existing wind farms.

Food literacy curriculum on the menu

Manitoba has a new recipe for health class and “food literacy” is a key ingredient.

The in-class portion of phys-ed has historically involved lessons about puberty, the risks of consuming drugs and dissecting Canada’s food guide.

A new pilot program asks teachers to expand their nutrition units and include in-depth discussions about how everything from diet culture to food insecurity affects eating habits.

“This is really moving beyond a conception of food as only fuel, where you just boil down food to its calories, its vitamins,” said Sarah Elvins, a food historian at the University of Manitoba who researches popular culture and marketing.

A development infused with personal memory

I haven’t written here in a while. Early this summer, my mom was unfairly taken from us — from me. Healing, as much as it’s possible, takes time.

Defenceman Morrissey focused on season ahead

Josh Morrissey insists that a trade request from the franchise goalie doesn’t change his desire to be a lifelong Winnipeg Jet.

The top-pairing defenceman and alternate captain reinforced that view on Monday morning when speaking to a group of reporters prior to the Winnipeg Jets Golf Classic at St. Charles Country Club.

“At the end of the day, I love being here and I love being a Jet. That’s how I’ve always felt,” said Morrissey, who spoke for just over nine minutes on a variety of topics. “That doesn’t change because of somebody else’s decision. Nothing is finalized, so who knows, he could be back. My position doesn’t change.”

Morrissey has two years left on a contract that pays him US$6.25 million and he’s only eligible to sign an extension on July 1, but the future of the franchise pillar will be a topic of discussion as the Jets work to sort through the situation with franchise goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, which remains unresolved.