February 23rd, 2009
Green Energy Act + Nuclear = Greenwash
Shawn Patrick Stensil
The McGuinty government will unveil its Green Energy Act today. Word is the act will be a good vehicle for developing green power. While congratulations are in order, the government’s genuine commitment to green energy has yet to be tested. What’s the test? Is the government willing to lower its commitment to nuclear power to allow green power to grow? If the answer is no, the Green Energy Act is a greenwash to cover the billions the McGuinty government wants to put into nuclear.
The government’s 2006 electricity plan caps the development of green energy, so the government could meet its self-imposed target of maintaining nuclear at 50% of supply. The government’s commitment to keep Ontario’s electricity grid dominated by nuclear, imposes a “nuclear ceiling” on renewables. Take wind power, for example. Because of its commitment to building nuclear stations, the McGuinty government plans to stop wind development after new nuclear stations come online after 2018!
Despite saying he wants to green Ontario’s electricity system, Energy Minister Smitherman has maintained the party line, saying “be no change in the plan to maintain Ontario’s installed nuclear capacity at 14,000 megawatts.” So while the Green Energy Act is the right vehicle for building a green economy in Ontario, the government is not yet ready to allow it to take us there. Great vehicle, but no place to go.
It’s not too late. Now that the Green Energy Act is out attention should be put to an imminent decision that could allow Ontario to get on the road to a green energy future: whether the government rebuilds the Pickering B nuclear station or replaces it with a new expensive nuclear station.
If Smitherman is committed to green power, he’ll allow Pickering to shut down in 2014 and replace it with green energy. Such a decision would forgo the need to buy expensive new reactors, give green energy space to grow and create green jobs.
It would also show the Green Energy Act is more than a greenwash. It would also show Smithermen is sincere about green energy.
Green Energy Act + Nuclear = Greenwash
Categories: Greenpeace, Nuclear
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February 27th, 2009 at 4:22 am
Hi,
Maybe SomeOne you Know there can do a Similar YouTube Video to combat
those stupid TV ads about NuClear being Clear, of course it’s not,
along the lines of the stupid phrase Clean Coal
http://action.thisisreality.org/page/s/coenbrothers
Thank You
FW: The Coen brothers’ newest release
We’re very excited about the Reality Coalition’s latest ad, which was directed by Academy Award-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Please check it out and join Reality today. -Cathy
http://www.wecansolveit.org
February 27th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I cannot understand why the Premier of Ontario and the minister of environment would choose to spend millions of dollars to upgrade Pickering nuclear power instead of spending to erect wind turbines and solar energy …must be all politics.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Well irony seems to be ruling my life these days. Twenty years ago I lived in Tiverton, Ontario, in the shadow of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, and witnessed firsthand the incredible greed and corruption that guides Ontario Hydro. A fact of life was having pamphlets delivered to our door telling us what to do in case of a nuclear emergency. At the time my children were just babies and it certainly snapped me into awareness.
Flash forward over 20 years and I’m now living in Fenelon Falls, Ontario, about 25 miles from Lindsay where Mr. Cox was speaking at the college last Friday. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend, because at that exact time I was dealing with the 2 technicians who had come to service my Geo Thermal heating, cooling and water heating system. I’ve been having an on-going issue with Hydro One Networks for over a year now - bills ranging from $20 or $30 to over $1,000 for the month of November 2008. Requests to Hydro that they need to come out and inspect their lines are dismissed out of hand, but the last straw was this last Tuesday when I made one more attempt to get them to do something and I was told that the cause of the $1,000 bill in November was my Water Furnace. Despite repeatedly attempting to tell them that this was impossible, according to the electricians who just worked on it 5 days before, they continue to insist there’s no problem with their lines, and I need to hire an electrician to climb the pole and inspect the outside equipment. I hope this hasn’t become standard propaganda for Hydro to tell customers that alternative energy will drive their hydro bills out of control.
March 11th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
You can check out the official government website for bill 150 the green energy act at http://www.ontariogreenenergyact.ca
March 12th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I noticed Greenpeace is promoting Germany as an example of a nation using wind as a viable alternative to conventional (nuclear) electricity supplies. I have a few questions.
1. How much would electricity cost per Kwh in Germany without government subsidies (that come out of their citizens pockets in taxes anyway)?
2. How much electricity does Germany import from France’s 80% nuclear electrical surplus?
3. Why is the German government talking about going back to nuclear plant construction?