BulletinsThe Ontario Clean Air Alliance sends out email bulletins on air quality and energy issues two to three times a month. Read our latest bulletins below or browse the archive. You can also add your own thoughts on the issues raised in our bulletins by clicking the "Add Comment" link below each posting.
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Ontario doing more with lessThere was a time when a growing population and economy meant growing electricity use. Those times are gone. Instead, we are seeing a strong trend toward declining electricity use despite continued population and economic growth in Ontario.
Electricity use dropped 10% between 2005 and 2012 despite GDP growth of 7.4% over this period. And the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) projects that electricity use will continue to decline until at least 2017 - at an average annual rate of 1.6% per year between 2005 and 2017.
This is big news: Ontario is entering a new economic phase where increasing energy productivity (dollars of goods and services produced per unit of energy consumed) is becoming a key economic driver. And this is no recessionary blip – this change is being driven by factors like new technology, a greater emphasis on energy efficiency, including self-generation in some industries, and permanent changes to our economic profile (less heavy manufacturing, more services).
It is critical that our energy planners catch up with this trend toward lower overall consumption. If electricity demand continues to fall by 1.6% a year until 2030, it would reduce our electricity generation requirements by 35.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year – 1.3 times the output of the Darlington Nuclear Station. That means this is the worst possible time to lock into costly and inflexible generation mega-projects like re-building the Darlington Station.
Instead, we need to keep our options open by working harder to close the electricity productivity gap with some of our key competitors. New York State, for example, produces 50% more economic output per kWh than Ontario. In Ontario, we still have a long way to go to fully exploit our cost-effective energy savings opportunities.
We also have a neighbour – Quebec – with a huge surplus of low-cost hydro power ready for export. This is a cheaper, more reliable and more flexible solution to meeting our changing electricity needs than another over budget and long delayed nuclear project. The existing transmission connection between Ontario and Quebec can carry enough power to displace 86% of the power currently produced by Darlington.
The times, they are a changin’. Sticking to yesterday’s solutions will leave us paying too much for too much power.
Please click here to download our new report: Efficient Growth: Breaking the link between economic growth and rising electricity usage
And click here to read our Toronto Star op-ed: Repairing Pickering nuclear plant is a waste of money
Thank-you.
Phase-out Pickering Nuclear Station and save $850 million per yearSubmitted by OCAA on Tue, 05/28/2013 - 17:21.Phase-out Pickering Nuclear Station and save $850 million per year The Pickering A Nuclear Station is the highest cost nuclear plant in North America while the Pickering B Station is the 5th highest cost. The good news is that the operating licences for the aging Pickering reactors expire in 2014 and 2015. Phasing out these high-cost reactors would reduce our electricity bills by $850 million per year or 5%. But despite these potential savings, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Premier Wynne to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to extend the operating lives of these aging high-cost reactors for another four to six years. This doesn’t make sense since Ontario’s demand for electricity is falling and we have much lower cost options to keep our lights on (e.g., energy efficiency investments and hydro-electric imports from Quebec). The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing on OPG’s proposal will take place on May 29 - 31 in Pickering (watch it live here). The CNSC, however, will not consider whether extending the life of these old reactors makes economic sense. That’s why Premier Wynne must step in and save Ontarians close to a billion dollars a year by ordering the phase-out of the Pickering reactors ASAP. Click here to tell the Premier that we must avoid another electricity expenditure fiasco – don’t waste our hard-earned money rebuilding this aging and outdated facility!
Angela Bischoff Facebook – Ontario Clean Air Alliance Don't waste money rebuilding the aging Pickering Plant.Phase-out Pickering Nuclear Station and save $850 million per yearThe Pickering A Nuclear Station is the highest cost nuclear plant in North America, while the Pickering B Station is the 5th highest cost.
The good news is that the operating licences for the aging Pickering reactors expire in 2014 and 2015. Phasing out these high-cost reactors would reduce our electricity bills by $850 million per year or 5%. But despite these potential savings, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Premier Wynne to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to extend the operating lives of these aging high-cost reactors for another four to six years. This doesn’t make sense since Ontario’s demand for electricity is falling and we have much lower cost options to keep our lights on (e.g., energy efficiency investments and hydro-electric imports from Quebec). The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing on OPG’s proposal will take place on May 29 - 31 in Pickering (watch it live here). The CNSC, however, will not consider whether extending the life of these old reactors makes economic sense. That’s why Premier Wynne must step in and save Ontarians close to a billion dollars a year by ordering the phase-out of the Pickering reactors ASAP. Premier Wynne can lower your energy bills - with the power of efficiencyNew leaflet People in Ontario use 50% more energy per person than their neighbours in New York State. That’s a big gap that can’t be explained away by a colder climate or other factors – the bottom line is that we are simply much more wasteful in our energy use. We need to close that gap to save money, make our businesses and industries more competitive, and avoid the multi-billion dollar cost – and risks – of new nuclear and gas plants. It’s time for Ontario to get serious about energy efficiency by making it the first choice for meeting our needs, whether it's a warm house or a cold beer. Energy efficiency must no longer play second fiddle to expensive and inflexible generation projects like rebuilding aging nuclear reactors or expanding our fleet of gas plants. Places like New York, Vermont and California have proven that efficiency works and that it is the cheapest and most environmentally positive way to meet our energy needs. Ontario needs to get with the program for the health of our environment and our economy. Premier Wynne needs to hear from you that maximizing efficiency – at an average cost of just 3 cents per kilowatt hour – makes much more sense than investing tens of billions of dollars in costly nuclear and gas projects. You can help get the message out by distributing our great new pamphlet to your friends, family and co-workers and by sending a letter to the Premier today. It’s critical that we convince the Premier to move in this new direction: Already, Ontario Power Generation has signed contracts with SNC-Lavalin and others totalling $1 billion to rebuild its aging Darlington Nuclear Station. If this white-elephant project proceeds it will cost up to $35 billion and drive our electricity bills through the roof. Tell the Premier we need a new more economically sound approach – today! You can find out more about how Ontario will benefit by investing in efficiency in our Power of Efficiency website section. Thank you. - Angela Bischoff P.S. Click here now to order multiple copies of our new leaflet: Premier Wynne can lower your energy bills. They're free! And please distribute them to your friends, neighbours and co-workers. Gas Plants? Who needs 'em?Premier Wynne may be literally sitting on the answer to Ontario’s gas plant problems. In the Whitney Block building that contains the Premier’s office, there is a steam plant that heats various buildings around Queen’s Park. It is a perfect example of outdated energy infrastructure that could be made much more efficient. By converting this plant to a combined heat and power (CHP) system, Queen’s Park could make much more efficient use of the natural gas being burned there and reduce the need for gas peaker plants to power its air conditioners in summer. Using CHP systems is just one of 7 ideas we have for how Premier Wynne can remake Ontario’s electricity system as a lean and efficient service machine. These 7 steps are the key to unlocking cost savings, increased productivity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario. We hope the Premier will act on each and every one of them. Seven steps to unlock Ontario’s energy efficiency potential:
Please tell the Premier you support our Seven Point Plan for reducing Ontario’s electricity system costs and keeping your power bills in check. Send her a message here. Thank you... No more "Father Knows Best" reruns pleaseNew Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is promising fresh ideas and new approaches. There are few places that need that more than energy policy in Ontario.
Our smart new Premier should immediately retire the “Father Knows Best” planning approach that has locked Ontario into 1950s-style solutions of high-cost centralized generating plants and token commitments to energy conservation. Premier Wynne should use her mediation skills to help our energy planners break their single-minded focus on nuclear power and insist they start exploring the vast array of cheaper, safer options for keeping our lights on. And she should do it now before Ontario squanders billions on new and rebuilt nuclear plants, high-voltage transmission lines, mega transformer stations (downtown Toronto) and yet another high-cost gas-fired peaker plant, this time in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph area.
Under Premier McGuinty, the government talked a lot about “a culture of conservation” while moving gas plants around like checkerboard pieces. Premier Wynne must turn talk into action and deal with the real underlying issues – reducing extreme peaks in electricity demand on hot summer days and closing the gap with our competitors on energy productivity. In short, our new Premier must demonstrate that she is ready to lead this province out of the 1950s and into a modern energy era.
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Ontario Clean Air Alliance, 160 John Street, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2E5, contact@cleanairalliance.org, phone: 416-260-2080