(A Brief Note from NAL – Shortly after being sworn in as Ontario’s premier this winter, Kathleen said one of the things she wants to make more of a priority in the province is energy conservation and efficiency. On that note, the following post from the Toronto-based public interest group, Ontario Clean Air Alliance, is timely.)
A Submission from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance
A New Leaflet from OCAA
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.
For more information on the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, visit its website at http://www.cleanairalliance.org/ .
(Niagara At Large invites you to join in the conversation by sharing your views on the content of this post below. For reasons of transparency and promoting civil dialogue, NAL only posts comments from individuals who share their first and last name with their views.)
Niagara At Large 
Do you really think the Liberals care about how much energy costs people and business? If they did, they wouldn’t have embarked on a flawed green energy strategy, wasted 100’s of millions on cancelled plant projects, given our energy to Quebec and the US (sometimes paying them to take it).
Sorry Angela, but an exercise of futility.
Just sayin……
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According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, New York State is 50th in the US in per capita energy consumption at 56,270 kWh.
According to Ontario’s OPA, and reported by the Canadian Geographic Magazine, Ontario’s per capita energy consumption is 50,514 kWh.
It appears that Ontario in fact uses 12% less ENERGY per capita than New York State.
It appears that Ontario uses more ELECTRICITY per capita than New York, mostly attributed to home heating. According to current Stats-Can data, 30% of Ontario households heat with electricity, while US EIA data for New York shows only 17% use electricity. SO – we use 43% more electricty for home heating, while 55.8% in New York use fuel oil.
But energy is energy, and while not denying that using energy in a more efficient manner is a good thing, perhaps the folks at OCAA should have another look at their figures.
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They should have another look at their arguments, too. That’s the problems with NGO’s — they don’t like to bite the hand that feeds them.
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