Dear ladies and sirs,   a…

Dear ladies and sirs,

 

a green future is possible. Canada has all the ressources for this challenging task.

 

It is time for Ontario to join the global movement toward 100 % renewable energy:

 

More than 1,000 cities around the world, including Vancouver and Oxford County in Ontario,

 

have already committed to transition their communities to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

 

We want the Ontario government’s next energy plan to ensure citizens and communities are empowered to make the shift to 100% renewables.

 

Meeting Ontario’s electricity, heating, and transportation energy needs with sustainable renewable energy is achievable. We currently produce more than a quarter of our electricity with renewable sources like water, wind, solar and biogas, and with costs falling and technologies improving we can quickly add more.

 

A 100% renewable future will eliminate the damage being done by our current dirty energy

 

system. Ontario’s fossil plants contribute to climate change and air and water pollution at a time when the province is committed to reducing carbon pollution and showing leadership on climate change. Our nuclear plants produce long-lived radioactive waste and put our communities and

 

the Great Lakes – the source of drinking water for tens of millions of people - at risk of a nuclear

 

accident. Nuclear is expensive and dangerous – which is why plans for nuclear power are being mothballed around the globe.

 

The Ontario government needs to remove barriers to the fast adoption of renewable energy

 

while also helping us make the best use of this clean green energy, through enhanced efforts to increase efficiency, conservation, storage, district heating and electric mobility.

 

PUTTING CONSERVATION FIRST - Efficiency and conservation are the cheapest source of

 

energy and have the lowest impact on the environment. They also help to ensure the green

 

energy we produce goes further. According to government studies, we have the technical

 

potential to cut our electricity demand by half before 2040.

 

Switching to 100% renewables means:

 

EMPOWERING ONTARIANS – A switch to renewable energy will also mean a switch to

 

a more decentralized energy system where everyone from citizens, co-ops and schools to municipalities, small businesses and Indigenous communities can become energy producers.

 

A more localized system, with opportunities for community-ownership and participation, will

 

also increase public support for renewables, and provide more jobs — and more importantly, local jobs in communities across Ontario.

 

BUILDING RESILIENT COMMUNITIES - Climate scientists predict increasingly erratic weather

 

in the coming decades – everything from ice storms and flooding to severe heat. We need

 

to strengthen our local power production and distribution systems and rely less on a small

 

handful of giant power plants in order to reliably keep the lights on. To do that, we need to give communities the tools they need to go 100% renewable.

 

SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES - The cost of renewable energy and smart grid technologies

 

is declining rapidly. Ontario’s energy plan needs to ensure we are ready to take advantage

 

of innovation in the clean energy sector to lower our energy bills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen system resilience and increase the number of Ontario citizens, businesses and communities who benefit from generating zero emissions energy.

 

KEEPING THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR RISKS AND COSTS – The biggest

 

barrier to making the switch to 100% renewable energy is the government’s plan to spend billions to keep Ontario’s aging nuclear reactors operating. To ensure Ontario can make the switch to safer 100% renewables and take advantage of innovation in the clean-tech sector, we

 

need to replace reactors with renewable energy. To do that, we need a full and fair comparison

 

of the total costs of nuclear with alternatives and an opportunity for the public to have a say about which approach they prefer.

 

LESS POLLUTION: Communities fought big gas plants for good reason – they pollute. We need cleaner air in our communities, and renewable power can provide it.

 

CUTTING CARBON: Ontario has shown leadership by getting rid of coal – and we’re all better off because of it. Now - as the province gets serious about climate change - is no time to turn back, and increase our reliance on natural gas instead. Gas is better than coal, but no matter

 

how you slice it, gas is a fossil fuel and it contributes to climate change. Renewables don’t.

 

[Original Comment ID: 207018]