Saturday, July 16, 2005

More and more records


Ontario witnessed and continues to witness a record setting summer. The records go hand in hand, in one way or another.

We have had some of the hottest, most humid days, in recorded history. People are dying from heat strokes, Ontario opened public "cooling centers," and even new legislation is being considered regarding landlords' responsibilities.

The government is now thinking of placing a maximum temperature that tenants can experience. Which means that landlords will have to provide air conditioning, if the legislation is passed.

The other record being set is an electricity demand record. Ontario has hit a record demand of 26,160 MW. Electricity is now being purchased from Quebec, Manitoba and even the US. Some government offices have relaxed the dress code, so employees can cope with the raised AC temperature set point. It was said that if the demand rises just a bit more then rotating black outs will happen, and we'll be saying "in2at3at el kahraba" once again (Syrian inside joke)

The third record pertains to energy as well. Oil prices are through the roof. The other day prices hit 95 cents a liter. Most of the time the price hovers around 88-85 cents/liter. Two years ago the price was in mid 60's, and before than it was in the 50's. Montreal and Vancouver actually saw the price rise over a dollar, which is just ridiculous.

Will the records keep on being broken? I hope not!

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posted by Omar S @ 11:56 PM   6 comments

6 Comments:

  • At 7/17/2005 9:02 AM, Blogger Sinan said…

    Well we're having weird records here in SA too this year.. It rained in May, the first day we faced high humidity was last Thursday... People are blaming it on the Tsunami wave.!!!

     

  • At 7/17/2005 5:10 PM, Blogger Omar said…

    Yeah it does seem to be something that is happening all over the world. But I doubt the tsunami wave has anything to do with it.

     

  • At 7/17/2005 7:39 PM, Blogger aleppian said…

    Remarks:

    1 Your language is excellent :)

    2 Drink a lot of water in hot weather, it is 2 L in winter daily needs, it should be 4 L in summer. ( I mean 4L liquids, it maybe replace whatever you wish like juices, tea, or other..)

    3 As for hot summers we are all seeing, I saw an ad from BBC tv, showing the winter in 50s in snow, but now winters in UK are without snow. This is an evidence on global warming. Plus my parents remember also that Aleppo weather before was not so hot, they slept well at nights in summer, but now we can't (now it is 3:37 am and I am writing here) :)

    4 Bush Afandi is to be blamed for not wishing to sign Kyoto agreement, thus further endangering earth future.

     

  • At 7/17/2005 8:05 PM, Blogger Omar said…

    Thanks Aleppian..

    I will take your advice and drink lots of water/juices. I think drink close to 2 L, so I should double that amount..
    I have also noticed a change in canada's climate. The winters have seena a decrease in snow fall, and the summers a decrease in rainfall. It used to get hot for 2-3 days and then rain for a day, now it hardly rains in the summer.
    And yes the US is the worlds largest user of energy and yet they refuse to sign Kyoto. I recommend you see "The day after tomorrow" a great movie on the subject of global warming.

     

  • At 7/17/2005 11:07 PM, Anonymous Amr A. said…

    Hi Omar,

    nice blog.

    Here in Australia its the same thing. Its the middle of winter yet we are hardly getting any rain. I remember 15 years ago it used to pour bucketloads this time of the year. Our PM Howard is Bush's lapdog, he too refuses to sign the Kyoto treaty, favours oil companies and refuses to provide propoer funding for renewable energy, which is stupid considering its sunny all year round.

    and we've broken Canada's records on pertol prices. these days its around 1.10-1.20 dollars/litre.

     

  • At 7/18/2005 8:40 PM, Blogger Omar said…

    Amr welcome to the blog and thanks for the comments. It's intereseting to hear about gas prices there as well, and that must be costly with prices over a dollar. It's too bad Australia is following the wrong example. Maybe by the next elections your PM will lose to a more liberal leader :)

     

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