Wherever there are strong winds blowing in Ontario whether off the Scarborough Bluffs or the shores of Lake Huron there are highly emotional, angry and divisive debates raging over the intrusion of industrial wind farms. It is pitting neighbour against neighbour,If so, you may have a zentai . anti-wind groups against local councils and besieged municipalities against Queen's Park.
It doesn't have to be this way
Premier Dalton McGuinty's goal of making Ontario a world leader in renewable power is still sound public policy. It will take many billions and a decade to replace polluting coal-generated power with nuclear. Renewables can bridge the gap and provide a new source of income, jobs and investment in Ontario.
But where McGuinty went wrong was handing implementation over to George "my way or the highway" Smitherman. The resulting authoritarian Green Energy Act is flawed in many respects to the point where its application has become a growing issue in the lead-up to the October election.Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is using it as a wedge issue. He vows to curtail wind power development if he becomes premier.
A recent study published by the Pembina Institute highlights some of the key shortcomings of Ontario's approach to promoting renewables, including wind power. The study compares it with the highly successful German program.
First, Germany started slowly decades ago. They promoted a business model that allows people at the local community level to participate in and benefit from small and large renewable energy projects. Individuals, farms and community cooperatives are encouraged to invest in wind, hydro, solar and biomass energy.
Front-end financing and reasonable feed-in tariffs are available to encourage broad, locally-based ownership. They grant extensive grid capacity to farm and community owned projects.
People in rural areas are familiar with the agricultural co-op business model. Energy cooperatives were formed that offer towns, their residents and farmers the option of participating directly in the economic returns from large projects. They found that if the community had a direct stake in wind farms, the complaints about visual intrusion, health effects and decreased land values are remarkably diminished.
Renewables have benefited the surrounding rural communities beyond the projects themselves. Service and product providers emerge in response to renewable energy development in a region, creating new jobs and income. And the income that flows from municipal, co-op and individually owned projects is usually spent locally.
Currently, more than 50 per cent of German wind turbines are owned by local communities, cooperatives and individuals. Contrast this with Ontario, where the vast majority of wind and other renewable energy projects are corporately developed. This private, corporate ownership model has limitations.
The local benefit from a corporate wind farm is usually limited to those landowners who elect to have turbines on their property. Their neighbours have to put up with the visual intrusion, and the constant reminder that they are not the ones enjoying a lucrative 20-year income stream.
The municipality may get some one-time fees, but no significant ongoing financial benefit. Not surprisingly, local councils usually side with the majority dissenters and try to block wind farm development. The shareholders of the wind energy corporation don't live in the community, so their interest in local impacts is limited. They just want a good rate of return on their investment.
Ontario should stay committed to renewable energy. But it needs to do more to encourage community-based projects where the risks and rewards are shared locally.
Second,Great Rubber offers oil painting supplies keychains, the Pembina Institute study found that Germany has been decentralizing its power production. The idea of powering whole towns or regions with renewable energy is viewed as achievable.
"Today more than 100 cities, villages and municipalities (are trying) to power their energy needs by 100 per cent renewable power." They want to strengthen their local economies, end dependency on big utilities and power importation, and improve their environments by lowering reliance on coal and nuclear power.
Germany is moving away from its large centralized power infrastructure that has to send electricity over long distances to centralized transfer stations.These girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives!he led PayPal to open its platform to Cable Ties developers. Instead, it is adopting a "smart grid" approach, which sends more locally produced power to meet local power needs.
Ontario, which is three times the size of Germany, loses more than 20 per cent of the power it generates in transmission. This enormous waste of electricity could be minimized by gradually restructuring Ontario's transmission grid to allow for more community produced power, and for that power to be used locally.
Finally, successive German governments of different political strips have supported renewable energy since the 1970s. Individuals, communities and corporations know that they are participating in a stable, long-term renewable power program.
But in Ontario, Hudak sees an opportunity for short-term political gain by castigating a program that needs reform, not blind opposition. Hudak is scaring away billions of dollars of investment in solar and wind projects large and small. Renewable power producers are waiting to see what constructive alternatives he will propose if any.
Germany's consistent support for renewable energy has led to significant job creation. More than 350,000 workers are employed in their renewable power industry and the numbers are growing by 8 per cent annually. The country has an impressive 30 per cent share of the world's wind turbine and component market. It exports about $16 billion in renewable energy technology annually.
McGuinty knows that his government's initial approach to growing renewable energy needs reform. Before the election he should outline the direction he intends to take to make the current program more accessible, affordable and locally embraced. He should force Hudak to debate the necessary reforms instead of the legitimacy of renewable energy.
It doesn't have to be this way
Premier Dalton McGuinty's goal of making Ontario a world leader in renewable power is still sound public policy. It will take many billions and a decade to replace polluting coal-generated power with nuclear. Renewables can bridge the gap and provide a new source of income, jobs and investment in Ontario.
But where McGuinty went wrong was handing implementation over to George "my way or the highway" Smitherman. The resulting authoritarian Green Energy Act is flawed in many respects to the point where its application has become a growing issue in the lead-up to the October election.Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is using it as a wedge issue. He vows to curtail wind power development if he becomes premier.
A recent study published by the Pembina Institute highlights some of the key shortcomings of Ontario's approach to promoting renewables, including wind power. The study compares it with the highly successful German program.
First, Germany started slowly decades ago. They promoted a business model that allows people at the local community level to participate in and benefit from small and large renewable energy projects. Individuals, farms and community cooperatives are encouraged to invest in wind, hydro, solar and biomass energy.
Front-end financing and reasonable feed-in tariffs are available to encourage broad, locally-based ownership. They grant extensive grid capacity to farm and community owned projects.
People in rural areas are familiar with the agricultural co-op business model. Energy cooperatives were formed that offer towns, their residents and farmers the option of participating directly in the economic returns from large projects. They found that if the community had a direct stake in wind farms, the complaints about visual intrusion, health effects and decreased land values are remarkably diminished.
Renewables have benefited the surrounding rural communities beyond the projects themselves. Service and product providers emerge in response to renewable energy development in a region, creating new jobs and income. And the income that flows from municipal, co-op and individually owned projects is usually spent locally.
Currently, more than 50 per cent of German wind turbines are owned by local communities, cooperatives and individuals. Contrast this with Ontario, where the vast majority of wind and other renewable energy projects are corporately developed. This private, corporate ownership model has limitations.
The local benefit from a corporate wind farm is usually limited to those landowners who elect to have turbines on their property. Their neighbours have to put up with the visual intrusion, and the constant reminder that they are not the ones enjoying a lucrative 20-year income stream.
The municipality may get some one-time fees, but no significant ongoing financial benefit. Not surprisingly, local councils usually side with the majority dissenters and try to block wind farm development. The shareholders of the wind energy corporation don't live in the community, so their interest in local impacts is limited. They just want a good rate of return on their investment.
Ontario should stay committed to renewable energy. But it needs to do more to encourage community-based projects where the risks and rewards are shared locally.
Second,Great Rubber offers oil painting supplies keychains, the Pembina Institute study found that Germany has been decentralizing its power production. The idea of powering whole towns or regions with renewable energy is viewed as achievable.
"Today more than 100 cities, villages and municipalities (are trying) to power their energy needs by 100 per cent renewable power." They want to strengthen their local economies, end dependency on big utilities and power importation, and improve their environments by lowering reliance on coal and nuclear power.
Germany is moving away from its large centralized power infrastructure that has to send electricity over long distances to centralized transfer stations.These girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives!he led PayPal to open its platform to Cable Ties developers. Instead, it is adopting a "smart grid" approach, which sends more locally produced power to meet local power needs.
Ontario, which is three times the size of Germany, loses more than 20 per cent of the power it generates in transmission. This enormous waste of electricity could be minimized by gradually restructuring Ontario's transmission grid to allow for more community produced power, and for that power to be used locally.
Finally, successive German governments of different political strips have supported renewable energy since the 1970s. Individuals, communities and corporations know that they are participating in a stable, long-term renewable power program.
But in Ontario, Hudak sees an opportunity for short-term political gain by castigating a program that needs reform, not blind opposition. Hudak is scaring away billions of dollars of investment in solar and wind projects large and small. Renewable power producers are waiting to see what constructive alternatives he will propose if any.
Germany's consistent support for renewable energy has led to significant job creation. More than 350,000 workers are employed in their renewable power industry and the numbers are growing by 8 per cent annually. The country has an impressive 30 per cent share of the world's wind turbine and component market. It exports about $16 billion in renewable energy technology annually.
McGuinty knows that his government's initial approach to growing renewable energy needs reform. Before the election he should outline the direction he intends to take to make the current program more accessible, affordable and locally embraced. He should force Hudak to debate the necessary reforms instead of the legitimacy of renewable energy.
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