Solutions

A recent study  proves that coal could be phased out as early as 2011 if there is a move now to pursue more aggressive conservation initiatives, expand renewable energies and implement combined heat and power plants.  The three pillars of a modern energy plan are:

•    Conservation – Ontario has an enormous potential for energy efficiency.  Even the government’s own figures indicate that most of the province’s capacity for energy efficiency and conservation remains untapped.  Conservation is the underpinning to a successful clean energy strategy.

•    Renewable Energies –  Countries such as Germany and Spain, however, are installing over 1,000 MW of renewable power a year.  There’s no reason Ontario could not do the same and boost its renewable energy and conservation targets. Today Germany has 18,000 MW of wind power while Ontario has only about 300 MW, for example.


•    Decentralized power generation - Aside from their environmental benefits, these clean sources of energy are safer, cheaper, cleaner, and quicker to deploy than nuclear or coal, and can:

•    Meet Ontario’s electricity demand;
•    Reduce costs to consumers by 11per cent against the government’s plan;
•    Result in 50 per cent less greenhouse gases than the government’s plan over the next 20 years;
•    Enable coal to be phased by 2012 at the latest, whereas a nuclear-based plan means Ontario will burn coal until at least 2017.