Climate change is happening…

Climate change is happening faster than predicted, with positive feed-backs accelerating warming. Methane levels made a startling jump in the past few years and evidence indicates that warming soils will be a major source of carbon dioxide.  The urgency of investments in conservation and renewable energy is becoming ever more obvious.

Wind, solar, and energy storage technologies continue to decrease in cost.  Feed-in-tariffs under the Green Energy Act contributed to these cost decreases but have been incorrectly identified as the main contributor to high hydro rates.  A renewed emphasis on renewable technologies is needed, and particularly smaller-scale, locally owned, cooperative ventures rather than contracts with large off-shore companies.

Nuclear technologies show increasing cost trends and have been a larger contributor to high hydro rates than renewables.  Costs and risks of nuclear power make refurbishment projects unwise. The statement in the discussion guide that "Nuclear generation is important because it is reliable, cost-effective and GHG-free" is post-truth rather than factual.  This ignores the unsolved, risky and extremely expensive issue of dealing with the huge amounts of nuclear wastes.  Use of unenriched uranium in Ontario's CANDU heavy water reactors means that they generate roughly five times more high-level nuclear waste than light water reactors.

Large crown corporations and unions have had far too much influence in terms of promotion of nuclear power. Hydro power should be imported from neighboring jurisdictions in preference to continued investment in nuclear plants.

In the longer term, Ontario (and other jurisdictions) should make a transition to a much more distributed electricity system with local generation and less grid maintenance costs.

Heating buildings without burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases is a challenge that must be tackled immediately.  This can be done with a combination of geothermal energy, wood-based systems (including electricity cogeneration and district heating), and much more progressive r building codes which take building orientation and passive solar energy into account, not just insulation. Biomass fuels - particularly in the forestry sector - are extremely underutilized and undervalued in Ontario, perhaps because of the province's over-emphasis on large-scale engineering projects rather than smaller, distributed, diversified energy sources.  It is discouraging to see (in Figure 2) an actual decline in the share of biomass fuels between 2005 and 2015, even as the share of fossil fuels in the fuel supply mix has grown.

Energy use in the agriculture sector warrants particular attention.  Agricultural biofuels should be dedicated to on-farm use rather than put into the general transportation fuel stream.  Biodiesel is better suited to rural than urban use because of pollution concerns, and is also good a powering equipment such as tractors which require high torque.  There is merit in pursuing a sector-by-sector approach (agriculture,forestry,transportation, urban bukldings, etc.) to energy sustainability.

Given the political clout of the auto sector in Ontario, it is politically difficult to argue for taking cars off the road, but this is exactly what needs to happen.  The electric car market will grow but the fossil fuel car market must decline at a much faster rate.  Development of active transportation infrastructure - cycling and walking - is an encouraging trend but should be given even higher priority.

[Original Comment ID: 206792]