Ontario’s Liberal government introduced a Green Energy Act yesterday that they are hoping will help generate about 50,000 jobs, which would be great news for this struggling economy.
George Smitherman, Ontario’s Energy Minister feels that this Green Energy Act will be able to push through renewable energy projects and and help put Ontario on the map when it comes to green energy policy.
Smitherman also said Ontario would keep Energy Star standards for appliances to help reduce people’s electricity use – and their bills – and within months will introduce time-of-day pricing so people can save money by using washers and dryers at off-peak periods.
“We’re going to . . . put pressure on manufacturers and suppliers of appliances to make sure that their products are achieving energy efficient standards as strong as anywhere else in North America,” he said.
“I can’t promise whether the tax break regimes will always look as they do now, but people should anticipate that we will continue to find ways to assist them . . . lower overall electricity use.”
To read the rest of the Rogers/Yahoo! article, please click on the link below.
Ontario to introduce green energy bill Monday in hopes of creating 50,000 new jobs
According to the article many environmentalists feel that is a great start, but could stand to be improved. This reluctance is mainly caused by the Ontario government’s insistence to continue power generation using nuclear sources.
“What we haven’t heard from the government yet is an actual willingness to expand the deployment of renewables and conservation,” said Greenpeace’s Shawn-Patrick Stensil.
“That’ll be the litmus test of whether this government is committed to going green; Whether it’s willing to reduce the commitment to rebuild all of our old (nuclear) stations and build new ones, or whether it’s willing to give some space to renewables.”
The Ontario Clean Air Alliance also wants the government to use the Act to signal a move away from nuclear power.
The Green Energy Act certainly does have a lot of expectations to meet from various groups and the general public as well. While I know it’s probably not going to please everyone, it’s a good start.
