BC Cancer rolls out state-of-the-art scanner
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BC Cancer has rolled out a new diagnostic tool that it says is the fastest and most advanced of its kind in Canada.
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CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
How these condo dwellers got EV charging in their buildings
One of the biggest perks of owning an EV is waking up to a fully charged car every morning and never having to go to a gas station — that is, if you have at-home charging. Before Lucian Oboroceanu got EV chargers installed in his Toronto condo building, keeping his car charged was a pain. "I had to go around the city to find [a] charger and it was very difficult," he recalled. In a recent survey of 16,000 Canadian EV drivers by CAA and PlugShare, 85 per cent of respondents in single-family homes had access to home charging, compared to 62 per cent of those in multi-family buildings. In that survey, only 20 per cent of EV owners lived in a multi-family building, even though about a third of Canadians live in this kind of housing. Oboroceanu soon learned he wasn't the only person in his 350-unit building who was concerned about the lack of charging — several neighbours brought it up at the board's general meeting. One was trying to sell his unit and kept getting questions about the availability of EV charging from prospective buyers. As board treasurer, Oboroceanu decided to address the problem. Two years later, EV chargers are installed in the personal parking spots of anyone in the building who wants one, including his own. Retrofitting condo buildings with EV chargers can pose a challenge, as Oboroceanu learned. CBC News spoke with him and several other condo owners who succeeded, and learned what they did to make it work. Why getting charging into older condos is hard Joanna Kyriazis, public affairs director for the think-tank Clean Energy Canada, said it typically costs about $1,500 to install a Level 2 charger in a single-family home, but it can be far more to retrofit a multi-family building. (It's much cheaper in a new building.) That's because installation can be complex and involve expensive drilling and long-distance wiring through multiple levels of parking. When Oboroceanu first looked into what it would take to get charging for 10 cars in his condo building, he was shocked to learn it would cost $50,000 — a no-go. Some buildings also have limited electrical capacity. Peter Luff of Kanata, Ont., a suburb of Ottawa, calculated that to have charging capacity for all eight condo units, his building could only install Level 1 charging rather than the faster Level 2 charging that can fill an empty battery overnight. The good news is that Level 1 is often fast enough for many drivers, including Luff. Kyriazis said electrical capacity is often not an issue, thanks to technology that can monitor and optimize charging, but people may not know about those solutions. One final issue: How will EV owners pay for charging and the electricity they use? "There's not a standard way of doing this yet," said Kyriazis. Systems that manage charging and payment often require network connectivity, which can also add to infrastructure costs. Do your research While all these can be challenging, Oboroceanu, Luff and Kyriazis have some advice for success. Surveying one's building, residents and government subsidies are good places to start. Luff contacted the local electrical utility and nearby buildings that already had charging to get information. So did Dave Wong of Vancouver, B.C., who lives in a 36-storey highrise with 132 units. He learned from neighbours about federal and provincial programs that when stacked together with a subsidy from B.C. Hydro could defer almost all costs. He also got the names of four local vendors and quotes for different possible configurations. Finally, he hand-delivered surveys to every unit in his building to find out how many people had EVs, and how many planned to buy one in the next five years. Educate neighbours and build allies Cara Clairman, president and CEO of Plug'n Drive, an EV advocacy group, said getting neighbours on board is important, as a condo board will need to approve EV charging first. Wong and Luff both provided information about EVs and EV uptake to their neighbours. For example, Wong noted in his survey that B.C. will require 100 per cent of new vehicle sales to be zero emissions by 2035, increasing the future demand for EV charging. They argued that potential buyers will want EV charging in their building — something Oroboceanu's neighbours were already finding in 2023. Wong also argued that it would be cheaper to retrofit the whole building at once, especially since subsidies were available at the time. WATCH | Road to EV adoption: Why experts think the future is still electric Road to EV adoption: Why experts think the future is still electric 9 months ago Duration 5:47 Recent headlines have suggested that consumers are losing interest in electric vehicles, but a closer look at the trends tells a different story. CBC's Nisha Patel breaks down where we're at in the EV transition and why experts say the future is still electric. Keep your building's needs in mind Through his survey, Wong learned there were only five EV owners in his building. (He didn't even have one himself.) So instead of installing a charger in every spot, the building just wired every spot to be EV-ready at a cost of $1,000 per unit (with subsidies), with the option to add a Level 2 charger for $3,500. To Wong's surprise, 20 people did that. Luff went with Level 1 charging. His board learned that Ontario would allow the project to be paid for from the condo's reserve fund "so there was no problem in coming up with the money." He also kept payments simple, buying $40 electricity meters for all the new outlets. Residents pay bills based on the reading each month. The one disadvantage, he said, is that the system is "totally reliant on you being honest." That likely wouldn't work for a large building like Oboroceanu's. His research on local vendors in Toronto eventually brought him to Smart EV Systems, which offered a package with no upfront cost to install an electrical panel serving up to 10 EV chargers. He rents his charger and pays for the electricity monthly. Kyriazis said hiring companies like that can be a good solution, as they take care of many of the complexities. But she said she has heard mixed reviews on the payment schemes, which can cost more in the long run. So far, though, Oboroceanu is pleased with the result — so pleased that he's recommending the service to some of the 150 buildings he manages through Newton-Trelawney Property Management. For those looking to get EV charging in their own buildings, Plug'n Drive and Clean Energy Canada are working on a new guide that they hope to release in the fall.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Heart monitors for horses, shaded pens for bulls part of rodeo safety at Calgary Stampede
Tents are being set up to provide shade for bulls and broncs and some chuckwagon horses are to be fitted with tiny electrocardiograms at the upcoming Calgary Stampede. After scorching heat at the rodeo last summer, Ed Pajor, a professor of animal behaviour and welfare in the University of Calgary's faculty of veterinary medicine, says the animals could use a break. "We saw things like increased respiration rate in some of the bulls. We saw some bulls drooling. These are signs that the animals might be experiencing some discomfort due to the heat," Pajor said at a news conference Tuesday. The university is working with the Stampede to study some of the animals this year. They'll specifically look at whether bucking bulls and broncos will be happier and healthier if they have a shady place to hang out right before the competition. "It seems like a pretty straightforward question," said Pajor, adding if shade is beneficial, the Stampede would have to decide whether to invest in more tent coverings in the future. Additional research at the rodeo is to focus on the heart health of horses in the chuckwagon races. Dr. Renaud Léguillette, with the university's veterinary school, specializes in equine health and performance, and works closely with chuckwagon horses during the Stampede. His research includes identifying in equine blood a baseline for troponin — a protein released when the heart muscle is damaged — to track underlying cardiovascular or other health issues. "The goal of our research is to prevent cardiac accidents during the chuckwagon racing due to a cardiac problem," said Léguillette. "There are some horses who have more electrical activity issues when they race or have a harder time to recover from the races." At the Stampede, outrider horses and horses pulling the wagons are to be fitted with electrocardiograms before and during the races. Léguillette said the devices and the blood tests can show what horses are at a higher risk of cardiac arrest and that information is passed on to chuckwagon drivers. "I call it like a green light, an orange light and a red light. The red light horses, I will definitely have a discussion with the drivers ... they are very responsive, concerned and will make the right decisions." An official with the Stampede said research in this area could benefit an entire industry. "We know there is an element of risk in all sport. Our goal is to create the safest conditions possible. That's why all of this research takes place ... to remove all of those elements of risk," said Kristina Barnes, the Stampede's director of agriculture and western events. "Can we remove completely that element of risk? No. But anything that we can control we certainly will." The 10-day celebration of western culture, which runs from July 4 to 13, has long been a target of animal rights groups. The Vancouver Humane Society wants the rodeo portion of the Stampede eliminated. "We're seeing deaths at the Calgary Stampede almost every single year. It's really not a matter of if another animal will die at the Stampede ... it's when," said Chantelle Archambault with the group. "Last year, there were four animal deaths. It also marks at least 109 animal deaths at the Stampede since we began tracking fatalities in 1986."
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
N3XTST3P Delivers Basement Contractors Warm Ready-to-go Leads That Need it Done
N3XTST3P provides high-quality and highly intentful leads to help North American basement contractors acquire jobs on demand. N3XTST3P exclusive, highly optimized, and highly tested digital marketing strategies to help boost traffic to their qualification funnels for leads to convert into appointments that get booked directly into the contractors' calendars on autopilot. Add 10-20 extra closed basement finishings every single month on autopilot on a zero-risk basis while saving more time to do more outside of home-improvement with N3XTST3P. N3XTST3P is proud to announce its new approach to generating jobs from online leads for their clients. With a focus on delivering highly intentful, qualified, motivated homeowners to convert into high-quality jobs. N3XTST3P's approach is revolutionizing the way contractors convert leads. "N3XTST3P is thrilled to be able to offer a golden age opportunity for our partners enabling them to acquire more jobs from a few simple adjustments in the way they market themselves, that most companies will never reach." says Jacob Templeton, Founder of N3XTST3P. 'Our systems are clean, simple and easy to use and provide highly qualified online leads, making it a perfect brewing platform for any basement contractor looking to increase their income.' Unlike most companies, N3XTST3P promises on delivering 100% real, highly intentful, and qualified leads in their local area with 100% exclusivity. The contractor will be added to N3XTST3P's CRM where they can conduct appointments and communicate with leads to start the sales process. The CRM allows the contractor to see each lead's information, for example, a lead's information would show: The next time they are able to get a free inspection, address, confirmation on whether they are the homeowner or not, their name, email and phone number. Jacob emphasizes the need for proper lead quality that a ton of basement contractors put up with when trying to service jobs. 'The biggest problem by far when it comes to online leads is that a great majority of them become stale or aren't actually serious about getting an inspection, most businesses have it set up where they gather leads through Facebook or Instagram ads with a very low entry lead form and sends them immediately to the contractor, but the lead still says no most of the time becoming unqualified.' says Jacob. 'I used to have it set up similarly but I made the decision to pivot into a completely different, more refined and optimized process and once I did that, our system surpassed our competitors by a landslide and we stood out in the industry." Jacob also adds 'The magic lies within those first marketing steps where you get their contact information. That spectrum can determine the quality of your leads. On one side you have the warmest of warm golden qualified leads like the ones where you have more content you have/give out, time, and of course money you have ready to invest. On the complete opposite side you get the arctic cold lead side, you push out tons of ads, gain their information and then you enable your systems (like us) to filter through and find your next golden opportunities.' N3XTST3P's platform utilizes advanced interactive sales funnels and battle-tested digital marketing strategies to identify the most qualified and intentful leads that surpass industry standards. With a key focus on solely providing eager and qualified leads to the contractor, N3XTST3P should be a no-brainer for any contractor looking to aggressively scale their business. In addition to its acquisition services, N3XTST3P also offers a range of tools and resources to help their partners succeed with converting online leads to improve their home-improvement business/career. 'We care about people and we want them to succeed. The need for agencies to truly care about their partners is at an all time high and really, everyone should try to genuinely help each other instead of just thinking of getting a quick buck. Without them, we wouldn't be around.' Jacob noted. From consulting and scripts to bonuses, N3XTST3P has everything their clients need to increase the conversion rate of the online leads that they generate for them. The team is fully dedicated to helping their clients optimize and improve their online lead conversion to maximize the number of appointments they can close every single month. To learn more about N3XTST3P and its lead generation services, visit Media Contact Company Name: N3XTST3P Contact Person: Jacob Templeton Email: Send Email Phone: 613-222-8425 Country: Canada Website:
