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GOOD NEWS...AT LEAST FOR SOME OF OUR MEMBERS! THE POWERHOUSE IS HERE! If you are serviced by Enersource Hydro Mississauga, Hydro One Networks or Hydro One Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon, or the following parts of York Region : King Township, East Gwillimbury, Georgina or Whitchurch-Stouffville, Then you are eligible for Zero-Interest loans or rebates for SOLAR, WIND or GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS!! The PowerHouse pilot program provides tools to help choose and finance your renewable energy installation. For those in the selected regions to qualify for the loans or rebates the following conditions apply:
Zero-interest loans are available to qualified customers from a major financial institution selected by the participating utilities.
These are the Systems eligible and their estimated cost:
In order to qualify for government rebates you must complete a home energy audit before you install, Talk to several installers on the approved vendor list, and consult our list of questions to ask them get a site inspection and a written report from you installer – there may be issues with your home or landscaping that must be addressed before you begin Make sure your installer obtains the appropriate municipal permits. There are links on the PowerHouse website to zoning by-laws and permit information Consider timing – you may be able to take advantage of PowerHouse bulk buying groups if you can time your installation with others in your community. CONSULT the web site www.powerhouseprogram.ca Hydro One Networks 1-888-664-9376 This is your chance to join the Renewable Energy Leaders – take advantage of it!!
THE RENEWABLE REVOLUTION: WORLD'S BIGGEST SOLAR FARM IS ABOUT TO OPEN? IS THE END OF OIL NEAR?
The world’s largest solar photovoltaic farm is strangely beautiful. Fields lined with solar panels tilting sunward seem almost like a massive environmental art project -one with an empowering message to the world. We can find ways to run the world predominantly on clean energy if we choose to. It’s already beginning. By 2020, Portugal plans to generate over a third of its energy from renewables, with that percentage increasing every year. The farm, located high on the Alantejo Plain near the small town of Mouro, will be twice as large as any other project of its kind. The farm is comprised of 2520 giant solar panels, positioned at a 45 degrees angle to track the sun as it moves across the sky.  Portugal has already made its mark as a world leader in switching to clean energy. Why? Partly because unlike other developed countries, Portugal doesn't have an economy dominated by coal, gas and uranium extraction industries. The world's biggest wind farm also lies in Northern Portugal, with more than 130 turbines. Portugal’s plans for wave power are sparking interest around the globe, as well. Currently, the world's first commercial wave farm is being assembled near Porto. These "sea snakes", developed by the Edinburgh-based company Pelamis, will shortly be towed out to sea and will start pumping electricity into the grid later this year. Portugal is leading the European clean-tech revolution, and economics minister Manuel Pinho hopes that this is just a start. He recently told UK's Guardian that Portugal looks forward to a potentially giant global investment into clean energy tech. According to Pinho, “We have to reduce our dependence on oil and gas. What seemed extravagant in 2004 when we decided to go for renewables now seems to have been a very good decision.” Pinho says Portugal is not interested in nuclear power. "When you have a program like this there is no need for nuclear power. Wind and water are our nuclear power. The relative price of renewables is now much lower, so the incentives are there to invest. My advice to countries like the UK is to move as fast as they can to renewables. With climate change and the increase in oil prices, renewables will become more and more important. He adds, "Countries that do not invest in renewables will pay a high price in future. The cost of inaction is very high indeed. The perception that renewable energy is very expensive is changing every day as the oil price goes up." Not only that, but experts say that renewable energy has many intangible benefits to human health and the environment. Renewable energy means cleaner skies, waterways and soil, which over time could make all the difference in the world when it comes to the future of humankind. As far as economics are concerned, advancements in the solar industry have led experts to believe that it will reach grid parity with coal in less than 5 years. If this happens, we'll be seeing a huge shift towards renewable energy. Recently Ray Kurzweil, who has been remarkably accurate with his tech predictions in the past, said he believes that in 20 years 100% of the world’s energy will be from clean and renewable sources. While that seems almost absurdly optimistic at the present, Kurzweil explained at the recent World Science Festival in New York, that technology is often deceptively exponential. What seems unlikely today will seem completely obvious only a few years from now. Kurzweil backed up his claims at the conference with charts and graphs that showed some of the exponential advancements of the past. One graph showed how computing power started with the first electromechanical machines over a century ago. Initially they doubled every three years. At mid-century, they began to double every two years, which was the rate that inspired Moore’s Law. It now takes only a year. Kurzweil believes that renewable energy will follow the same exponential upward trend. While it may seem deceptively slow in the beginning, once the world is behind clean energy in earnest, things will start to happen very, very quickly. Lets hope he’s right.
SPOTLIGHT ON...
Vision: To foster community investment in sustainable resources to reduce our environmental footprint. Mission: The L.I.F.E. co-op is a progressive local initiative built on environmental and quality of life principles, which was formed to find ways to reduce our dependency on non-renewable resources. Our co-op is a for-profit business venture that is an attractive investment vehicle for members of the community. Goals:
Contact:
![[LIFE]](news50life.jpg) Ontario ratepayers and taxpayers will be on the hook for at least another $26 Billion ,on top of the $20 Billion debt from the Darlington boondoggle, since Energy Minister Gerry Phillips announced more nuclear reactors to be built at the Darlington site, approx. 75 km east of Metro Toronto. While the design of those reactors, supposedly able to produce 4,000 MegaWatts of electricity, has not been chosen, the date of the first kiloWatts of production has been set for July 1st, 2018. It would be a miracle if that timeline could be met, after all no reactors on this continent have ever been finished on schedule or within budget. A new reactor in Finland, being built by AREVA, one of the competing bidders for the Darlington reactors, is already 2 years behind schedule and well over budget. Bruce Power, who was also vying for the government’s nod, and was not chosen because the transmission capacity is lacking, has been assured by the government that they’ll be looked after financially by subsidies for refurbishment of their aging reactors. In a letter signed by Cedric Jobe, Director of the Energy Ministry’s Nuclear Supply Branch, received by the coordinator in April, he is given assurance of a ‘significant shift in the generating capacity mix by 2025’. While last year’s installed capacity for nuclear was 11,419 MW or 36%, by 2025 it will be 14,000 MW, hydroelectric was 7,788 or 26% and is bunched in with wind solar and biomass under Renewables to be 15,700 MW by 2025 , oil and gas was 5,103 (16%) will then be gas and co-gen at 9,400 MW and coal last year at 6,434 MW(21%), will then have disappeared and be replaced by 6,300MW of CONSERVATION. While that tabulation looks pretty good at first glance large existing hydroelectric will still be the biggest chunk of renewables with the new natural fuel technologies making up less than 40% of that category. In summation, large centralized polluting steampower generating plants will out-number renewables by almost 8,000 MW. That can’t really be called a ‘significant shift’! Our children and grandchildren better have well-paying jobs to be able to afford ‘to keep the lights on’!
NOTABLES...
A German study has found that children under 5 are at 60% greater risk of contracting leukemia (a form of blood cancer) if they live within 5 kilometres of a nuclear power station. The case study covers the 16 locations over a 24-year period. The study was initiated by the German branch of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and carried out by the Office of Radiation Protection (BfS), which reports to the country's Minister of the Environment. The study shows that the closer the children live to a nuclear power station the more they are at risk contracting leukemia. Researchers from the University of Mainz found that 37 children living within a radius of 5 km from reactors developed leukemia, whereas only 17 new cases were anticipated on the basis of the statistical average of the study period from 1980 to 2003. "Our study confirms that in Germany a relationship is observable between the proximity of the home to the nearest nuclear plant at the time of diagnosis and the risk of contracting leukemia before the child's fifth birthday," the researchers report. It took prolonged lobbying by the local IPPNW section and more than 10,000 protest letters to pressure the BfS to commission the study. One member of the research team that oversaw the study even considers the conclusion to be understated. According to him, the data indicate an increased risk of cancer for children living within a radius of 50 km from a nuclear reactor.
DARLINGTON "WINS"
The Provincial government announced today that Darlington, the location of a 4000 MW nuclear station, will be the host of the new nuclear plant for Ontario. The Friends of Bruce C, a “grassroots” organization that was trying to get the plant located at the Bruce plant on Lake Huron must be disappointed. But since Lake Huron is the source of my drinking water, I am not disappointed. Let the folks on Lake Ontario worry about it. Congratulations on your “win”. The Energy Minister said the plant will be operational on July 1, 2018. I plan to host a party to celebrate. Canada Day 2018. That’s when it will be producing power. Mark it down. We can count on it. The plant will be built for Ontario Power Generation, the provincially owned utility. It is of course presumptuous of me, but I would propose that there should be some rules put in place for the contract to buy the plant, in order to ensure that electricity consumers don’t get the short end of the stick. Again. Rule 1. Like renewable energy contracts, the supplier of the plant should not be paid anything until it is producing power. Delays in past projects have cost us a bundle in interest. Rule 2. Like renewable energy contracts, the power should be purchased based on the kilowatt hours produced. If the plant is down, the supplier of the plant should not be paid. If past nuclear contracts had that clause, it would have saved us a bundle. Rule 3. Like renewable energy contracts, responsibility for decommissioning the plant should remain with the supplier. Why should ratepayers or taxpayers be on the hook for that? Of course with nuclear, we should have those commitments backed up by letters of credit. Decommissioning the plants we already have will cost us a bundle. Rule 4. Like renewable energy contracts, the price paid per kWh should escalate only at 20% of the rate of increase in the consumer price index. This escalation of price based on the price of uranium, like the Bruce refurbishment contract, has to stop. It will cost us a bundle. Rule 5. Like renewable energy, the project should buy its own insurance. The Federal “Nuclear Liability Act” has to go. Much as I like having residents of British Columbia, Alberta, and Newfoundland, that don’t have nuclear plants, help pay for insurance claims above a certain limit if we have a Chernobyl in Ontario, it just doesn’t seem right. Let the winning bidder provide their own unlimited insurance coverage - unlimited, because that would be the cost of a Chernobyl on the Great Lakes. It could cost us a bundle. Rule 6. Like renewable energy contracts, set fixed delivery timeframes that the power will be available. Make sure the contract expires if the power isn’t produced by July 1, 2018. After all, we need the power. The Ontario Power Authority said so. But the electricity consumer in Ontario deserves certainty over when the power is available, and if it isn’t available, we should reserve the right to cancel the contract. Maybe we will, and maybe we won’t. But the choice should be ours. We need a supplier that lives up to their commitments. This rule could save us a bundle, if it turns out we don’t need the power. Rule 7. If no bidder will accept the risks in rules 1-6, then we shouldn’t buy the plant. Hmmm. How about that for an idea?
They say that nuclear energy is green! Supplied by skye faris With a big sigh of relief, this guy finally emerged from days on end working to compile informed comments on the four draft Environmental Assessment documents on the Bruce Power New Build, and the OPG Deep Geological Repository for Low and Intermediate Level Nuclear Waste proposals. Deadline for submissions was June 18. CFRE has registered as intervenor with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, and this first stage of the review panel assessment. We also had committed to hold public information sessions, which we did in Lion’s Head in May and in Port Elgin in June. We distributed info-material at the Windfall Eco-Festival in Newmarket, where the Co-ordinator and our Past President spent two hot days, and also at the Wiarton Farmers Market. So with all this activity, you might forgive the unusually prominent focus on nuclear issues in this newsletter - after all, nuclear has been quite a bit in the news lately. In April, we had an offer of free display space at the Earth Day event in Downsview. Annette, Peter Bursztyn, and the Co-ordinator were on hand to answer many questions. The next two days, the Co-ordinator spent in Toronto at the Energy 2100 - Making the Lakes Great conference. Events like these are always a good venue to connect with ministers and high-profile presenters. To cut down on the Co-ordinator’s travel a bit, we had help from J.P. Warren, a member from East York, who volunteered to present the CFRE submission on the Pickering Licence Renewal at the hearing in Ajax. And then came the yearly highlight - it was our 12th Annual General Meeting, which was celebrated with a Go Solar workshop, where five of our members gave glowing reports of their powerful solar systems. Three of them off grid, and one selling power under the Standard Offer Contract, and one on net metering. We also had Jen Gaudette, from the Clean Air Foundation, telling us about government programs and incentives. At our business meeting, reports were tabled on the previous year’s activities and our finances, which are in reasonably good shape, thanks to some generous donations. Two of the Board members, Peter Bursztyn, from Barrie, and Alex Doukas, presently working for Pembina in Calgary, who were appointed to fill vacancies in the Board, let their names stand, and a third candidate, Dorothy Remmer, from Guelph, all were elected by acclamation to serve a two year term. We welcome their help and expertise to guide our efforts through those years. We also have four committees now, chaired by Board members, to cut down on the Co-ordinator’s load. They are Newsletter / Web site, Fundraising, Membership, and Workshops / Display committee. After discussing strategies for the upcoming issues, most of us carried on the debate in a lighter mood at the Heidelberg Inn. Three days later, the Co-ordinator had to travel to Ottawa to join representatives from other environmental organizations at a Non-Government Organization Regulatory Advisory Committee meeting, convened by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. We were introduced to the new president, who replaced Linda Keen, fired by the Minister of Natural Resources for being too strict in regulating the industry. From Ottawa, the next stop was Toronto, for a meeting with other people working on the Bruce Nuclear Expansion Assessments. And now, the next destination is Kingston, where a number of our members are planning to attend the World Wind Energy Conference, taking in the three days of community-power workshops, sponsored by OSEA. We’ll give a report in our September newsletter. Have an enjoyable summer! the present energy system's free ride on our water resources." Ole von Uexkuell, Energy and Water, 2004
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