Robert W. Gehl

Canadiana question: is "hydro" a blanket term for "electricity"?

I just read a Globe and Mail story that referred to windmills -- the things that are spun by the wind -- as "hydro windmills."

I can imagine how all this started but I gotta say it's really confusing seeing a term that literally means "water" being used for things that are not water. Would a Canadian say "hydro coal"?

#Canada #askACanadian

Mar 21 at 3:50pmWeb
Show threaddau Mar 21
@rwg hmm... i imagine it depends on where you're at? i don't hear it a lot here, but we are landlocked 
Show threadMarcusMar 21

@rwg I've thought "hydro" in that sense was an Ontario thing.

I used to believe it was important to care about words and meaning but I've let go of that. Sorta. 

Show threadRobert W. GehlMar 21

@puzzled The writer in question stated they were from BC originally, though that doesn't negate your observation that maybe it's an Ontario thing.

I can't let go of words -- they're all I have left

Show threadmusing_sys🇨🇦Mar 21
@rwg well, when your provincial electricity provider is named Hydro One…. But ‘Hydro windmills’ is just wrong
Show threadPaul Turnbull has moved.🇨🇦Mar 21
@rwg I think it's very regional. I know Ontario and BC will talk about Hydro as that's the name of their primary power companies. In Alberta we just talk about the power bill rather than the Hydro bill.
Show threadValue SubtractedMar 21
@Chigaze @rwg Manitoba, as well - the sole power company is Manitoba Hydro. The vast majority of what they produce is actual hydroelectricity, but they also maintain a thermal station, a handful of gas-burning stations, and windmills.
Show threadEdwin G. Mar 21

@Chigaze @rwg This also true for Québec… our electricity monopoly is called “Hydro-Québec”, or Hydro as a shorthand.

And we do have Hydro windmills, as in windmills owned by Hydro-QuĂŠbec.

Fun fact: Canada did have an actual hydro “windmill”, or tidal generating station in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapolis_Royal_Generating_Station?wprov=sfti1

Annapolis Royal Generating Station - Wikipedia

Show threadWilliam DentonMar 21
@rwg In Ontario that's how it's used, in my experience. When everything came through Ontario Hydro it was always "the Hydro" providing "hydro." You might now ask someone with a remote cabin if they're "on the hydro" or using solar panels.
Show threadRobert W. GehlMar 21
@wdenton And I presume that if they were using solar, they would not say "we have solar hydro"?
Show threadWilliam DentonMar 21
@rwg No, that's weird!
Show threadWilliam DentonMar 21
@rwg But if they offer some "BC hydro" then they're talking about something different, if you know what I mean.
Show threadRobert W. GehlMar 21
@wdenton heh!
Show threadRobert W. GehlMar 21
@wdenton I guess we can forgive folks -- the very word "windmill" is also not quite right. No grains are being milled.
Show threadLeanne WuMar 21
@rwg Depends on the major power source in your area and how your utility brands itself. Nobody uses "hydro" that way in my neck of the prairies, even if locally there are some hydroelectric dams that are part our power mix.
Show threadJustin DerrickMar 21

@rwg It’s a historical thing - most electricity was generated via Hydroelectric power - it became shorthand for all things relating to the electric grid. “They’re repairing the hydro lines” would make perfect sense, even though they weren’t talking about water.

The term has persisted, even though Ontario’s power is largely nuclear now. In Quebec, “Hydro Quebec” makes more sense since around 90% of their generating capacity comes from hydroelectric generation.

It’s just a strangely Canadian thing, like measuring driving distance in hours, or describing your height or weight in feet and pounds, but using metric for nearly everything else.

Having said all that, “Hydro windmills” is weird. “Wind turbine” is probably better / more accurate.

Show threaddavecb 🇨🇦Mar 21

@rwg Yes, especially in provinces with lots of rivers. It's important enough that the supplier, based in Niagara Falls, was named "Ontario Hydro" in 1974.

If you are being general, it's "hydro".

If you want to be specific, say "electricity from coal", "coal plants", "gas plants", etc. "Plants" will be recognized as meaning power plants if the context is right.

Show threadPeter BinkleyMar 21
@rwg ... nuclear hydro ... no. In Alberta now we never talk about hydro, but when we lived in Toronto we'd talk about the hydro bill certainly; I think we'd just say the power's out, though, not the hydro's out