Clueless In Toronto

Wind versus nuclear - the debate - thestar.com

It's not very complicated.

Nuclear is purchased by the system operator at less than Ontarians pay to consume it.
Wind, solar and natural gas are purchased by the system operator at far more than Ontarians pay to consume them.

Mr. Spears' deliberate obfuscation adds nothing to Bruce Sharp's calculations.

More Monbiot - With More Notable Quotes

"The problem we face is not that we have too little fossil fuel, but too much."
 One interesting point made in, "Let's face it: none of our environmental fixes break the planet-wrecking project."

The excellent column was followed closely by an excellent post at his blog; "The green problem: how do we fight without losing what we're fighting for?"


1. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions means increasing electricity production. It is hard to see a way around this. Because low-carbon electricity is the best means of replacing the fossil fuels used for heating and transport, electricity generation will rise, even if we manage to engineer a massive reduction in overall energy consumption. The Zero Carbon Britain report published by the Centre for Alternative Technology envisages a 55% cut in overall energy demand by 2030 – and a near-doubling of electricity production.

Mallick - didn't she use to be somebody?

Canada's cold new dawn | Heather Mallick | Comment is free | The Guardian

I particularly enjoyed the description of Prime Minister Harper as, "a Canadian version of George W Bush, minus the warmth and intellect, is now prime minister."

To steal from Prime Minister Trudeau, I'm sure Harper has been called far worse things by far better people.

Publish Post

one fish, two fish, true-ish ...

Scientists Spar Over Fish Populations - NYTimes.com

It's a little obscure - but I found it interesting:

“I have no argument with the point that with stocks that are well managed you can have sustainable fisheries ...”

Study Forecasts Economic Harm to Ohio from Energy Mandates

Study: Ohio’s Alternative Energy Mandates Will Keep Its Economy in a Slump

A quote from the full study:
"Not unlike taxes, higher electricity prices produce negative effects on economic activity, since one is paying a higher price for electricity without an increase in the value of that electricity."

NY Times Blog notes EIA isn't calling for emissions to increase

A blog entry at the New York Times today reviewed the revised US Energy Information Administration (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook.

They emphasized the part where emissions, which the EIA had forecast to grow 37% by 2030 in 2006, they now forecast emissions to remain below 2005's level until 2027 -- and that's planning on no major legislative programs, and coal remaining the workhorse of American electricity generation.

I note the bullet on the IESO site on revisions to the preliminary report from a few months ago:

• Revised amount of wind builds in 2012 (7 rather than 10 gigawatts) 

Figure 3 in the Executive Summary indicates that 2012 is also the year wind ceases to grow (and solar follows it into holding at a steady level in 2015).  The longer-term non-hydroelectric renewable bets are on biomass and geothermal.

Donald Jones: “An alternative Long Term Energy Plan for Ontario—an 80/20 nuclear/hydro generation mix by 2045”

Guest post by Donald Jones: “An alternative Long Term Energy Plan for Ontario—an 80/20 nuclear/hydro generation mix by 2045”

Donald Jones had contributed some of the most popular posts on this blog, and now provides an alternative LTEP at the excellent Canadian Energy Issues blog.

Ontario to Phase Out Coal by 2007, or 2014, or ...

How about 2018.
 From the Hansard for April 17th, 2011:

Ms. Helena Jaczek: My question is for the Minister of Energy. There’s no doubt that Ontario’s electricity system is turning the corner. Eight years ago, our power system was, by all accounts, an ugly, unreliable mess from top to bottom. Our system lost generating capacity the equivalent of Niagara Falls running dry; the PC government of the day was trying to privatize Ontario’s transmission grid; the use of coal had increased by 127%; and the province was on life support from temporary leased generators and imported electricity that cost Ontarians $1 billion in less than two years.

What progress is the government making in cleaning up our electricity system to build a healthier future for our kids and grandkids?

Hon. Brad Duguid: I want to thank the member for Oak Ridges–Markham for her question and assure her indeed that tremendous progress is being made to clean up the dirty, unreliable mess the PC Party called an electricity system.

The member, and other members who are heckling right now, may be interested to know that, compared to the first quarter of 2003, the first quarter of 2011 saw a reduction of 90% in coal use, probably for the first time ever.

We’ve permanently shut down eight coal-burning units so far. That’s like taking 2.5 million cars off Ontario roads. We’ve announced the conversions of the Atikokan and Thunder Bay generating stations. Ontario will be completely coal-free by 2018—not an easy thing to do, but we have a plan and we have the leadership, unlike the opposition—

................

CORRECTION OF RECORD

Hon. Brad Duguid: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker: In a response to a question earlier today, I think I said that we’d be out of coal by 2018. The actual time is 2014. I don’t know if I said that, but I got a note that said that, so I just wanted to correct the record.----

ahh, that makes more sense now.

That's when the horrible dirty PC government of 2003 planned to exit coal, before losing to an election promise to do it by 2007.

Roadmap for Fukushima Daiichi restoration

Roadmap for Fukushima Daiichi restoration

Ontario Government notes 90% reduction in coal use

Use Of Coal Power Down 90 Per Cent
Over the first 3 months of 2011.

This is the key strategy of bringing Ontario cleaner air and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Here's something to ponder during the 1.5 hour commute ... how much is the ground-level ozone, the VOCs, and overall air quality in Toronto faring compared to the first 3 months of 2010?