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. Sign up for our email list or manage your subscription
Recent Posts
Hot and not-so-smoggy summer a winnerSubmitted by OCAA on Thu, 08/12/2010 - 04:00.August 12, 2010 Hot and not-so-smoggy summer a winner Hot weather continues to blanket Southern Ontario, but thanks in part to conservation programs like peaksaver®, the need to burn dirty coal to produce power has been kept in check. So a big thank you to everyone who has enrolled in the peaksaver program or taken other actions to reduce electricity use – your actions are paying off with cleaner air. Now, reward yourself and your friends by making sure you (and they) are entered in our PeakBusters contest. We’ve already given away our first $1,000 luxury getaway and we’re just weeks away from giving away our final prizes, including a second $1,000 getaway and six $200 gift cards for Future Shop electronics, MEC outdoor gear and Chapters books and music. Meanwhile, we will continue to hold snap draws for $50 gift cards on any day when an air quality alert is issued. We had quite a run in early July with five snap draw winners – you could be next! Already entered? You can increase your odds of winning by getting your friends, neighbours and family to enter too. Just send them an email from the PeakBusters website to invite them to enter as well. Participating in peaksaver is as easy as calling your local utility or signing up on its website. Your central air conditioner will then be part of a province-wide conservation program that helps to curb electricity demand on hot smoggy days. Your home won’t feel much different, but you’ll be giving our environment a big break. Do it today! Special bulletin: Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peakbusters where we will be announcing special snap draws on air quality alert days for $50 gift cards! Thanks to our sponsors:
Thank you. Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director P.S. Interested in volunteering for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance? Please contact me at Angela@cleanairalliance.org. St. Catharines says end coal use now!Submitted by OCAA on Tue, 08/10/2010 - 04:00.August 10, 2010 St. Catharines says end coal use now! In response to a flurry of calls and letters from concerned residents, St. Catharines’ city council has unanimously supported the OCAA’s call for an early end to burning coal. St. Catharines has now joined the cities of Hamilton, Kitchener and Guelph and Toronto's Board of Health in calling on the province to only use its coal plants in the event of a true power emergency. This was a real victory for the people of St. Catharines and area who called and emailed the Mayor and Councillors urging them to support our resolution. Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak out on this important issue. Let’s keep the pressure on for cleaner air, a healthier climate and fewer illnesses and asthma attacks through an early coal phase out! Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director angela@cleanairalliance.org P.S. Can you help us distribute ourleaflets in your community? They’re free! They include postcards to politicians to phase out coal and oppose tax-payer subsidies for new nuclear reactors in Ontario. St. Catharines staff oppose coal phase-outSubmitted by OCAA on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 16:00.August 9, 2010 St. Catharines staff oppose coal phase-out A City of St. Catharines staff report is recommending that the Mayor and City Councillors not support the Ontario Clean Air Alliance’s motion calling for Ontario’s dirty coal plants to be put on standby reserve and only be operated if there are no cleaner options to keep the lights on. Council will consider this report on the evening of Mon. Aug. 9th. According to the OCAA, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, a virtually complete coal phase-out now can prevent up to 1,100 deaths and up to 550,000 asthma attacks. The OCAA motion has been endorsed by the Cities of Hamilton, Kitchener and Guelph and the City of Toronto’s Board of Health. Please email Mayor McMullan of St. Catharines today (and bcc me) and ask him to vote in favour of putting our dirty coal plants on standby reserve, only operating them if they are absolutely needed to keep the lights on. Please remind him that St. Catharines is downwind of the Nanticoke Generating Station – the largest coal plant in North America. Thank you, your emails make a difference! Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director Clean Air Alliance P.S. Can you help us distribute our leaflets in your community? They’re free! They include postcards to Harper and Ignatieff to oppose tax-payer subsidies for new nuclear reactors in Ontario. Order them from me: Angela@cleanairalliance.org. Conservation still low priority in OntarioSubmitted by OCAA on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 04:00.July 22, 2010 Conservation still low priority in Ontario As of December 2009, for every dollar that the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) has spent on energy conservation, it has contracted for $44 of new electricity supply. Yet the OPA's payments to large industrial consumers to save a kilowatt-hour (kWh) are as much as 89% lower than the cost of producing a kWh from a new nuclear reactor, making investing in efficiency a terrific bargain for Ontario. Conservation is the cleanest form of energy generation. It makes our industries more efficient and reduces energy bills for homeowners. For more information, please download our up-dated fact sheet: Conservation vs. Electricity Supply: A summary of the Ontario Power Authority's procurement efforts. Please email Ontario's Energy Minister Brad Duguid and ask him to tell the OPA to make investments in energy efficiency a top priority (and please cc me). Thank you for making the time to push for conservation! Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director Clean Air Alliance P.S. Can you help us distribute our leaflets in your community? They’re free! They include postcards to Harper and Ignatieff to oppose tax-payer subsidies for new nuclear reactors in Ontario. Order them from me: angela@cleanairalliance.org Thanks! Conservation and cooperation a winning formulaSubmitted by OCAA on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 11:07.July 16, 2010 Conservation and cooperation a winning formula By working together, Ontario and Quebec can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their electricity systems while also keeping rates in check for businesses and consumers. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance and Quebec environmental leader Equiterre today released a report that demonstrates that a key to this approach is a greater emphasis on electricity conservation in Quebec. With the highest electricity consumption per person in the world, now is the time for a new approach in Quebec that uses deeper and stronger conservation efforts to free up existing hydro power for export to Ontario and the U.S. Northeast. Ontario and Quebec are ideal electricity partners: Quebec’s power demand peaks in winter while Ontario demand peaks in summer when air conditioners are running full out. Ontario can send Quebec power from its wind turbines in winter, while Quebec can send Ontario hydro power in spring and summer. This saves Quebec from having to pursue costly new mega-dams and Ontario from having to build more expensive natural gas peaking plants. The result is less pressure on electricity rates and our environment. Read the full report, Higher Profits and Lower Bills: A New Electricity Strategy for Hydro Quebec, at http://www.cleanairalliance.org Thank you. Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director Clean Air Alliance P.S. Interested in volunteering for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance? Please contact me at Angela@cleanairalliance.org. Smog is in the airSubmitted by OCAA on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 08:02.July 8, 2010 Smog is in the air We’re now on the sixth day of a Southern Ontario-wide smog alert. The bad news is that even with air quality at its worst, we are still running highly polluting coal plants. The good news is that there is something you can do to reduce the need for dirty coal fired electricity during these hard-to-breathe days – enroll in your utility’s peaksaver® program and keep your air conditioner’s electricity appetite under control. At 5 p.m. today, we’ll draw a name for our SIXTH snap draw winner in our PeakBusters contest. We hold a snap draw on any day when an air quality alert is in place, and it looks like there will be at least one more snap draws this week alone. (Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peakbusters to know when we are holding a snap draw.) Do your part for cleaner air and a stable climate. Reduce your use of electricity and enter the PeakBusters contest today. Then challenge your friends and family to enter as well. Thanks, and good luck! Thanks to our sponsors:
Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director P.S. Interested in volunteering for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance? Please contact me at Angela@cleanairalliance.org. |
