What went wrong with Ontario’s energy policy? Comparing spin and reality
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By referring to the economic experience of those European countries that have vigorously promoted wind energy over the last two decades, this report demonstrates that the decisions of the Ontario government did not take into consideration the reality of introducing large scale industrial wind energy onto the grid. In fact, the government’s enthusiasm to embrace what it claimed to be cheap, “clean”, environmentally benign electricity at the same time as diminishing CO2 emissions appears to have ignored all the realistic information that was available, leaving an energy policy based on little more than a leap of faith. Wind energy is neither cheap nor environmentally benign, as this report will demonstrate.
This compilation of recently published information demonstrates that Ontario’s energy policy is seriously flawed. It is based upon assumptions that never have and never will be substantiated in practice. Using European reports, it shows that industrial wind turbine and solar panel complexes do not lower CO2 emissions when added in any quantity to the grid. In some instances, in fact, it may even increase CO2 emissions because of the fossil fuel back-up required to compensate for the inconsistencies of these renewables.
Claims by the government that costs associated with the Green Energy Act are insignificant are shown to be incorrect. “Green” job creation statistics from other countries indicate that government estimates are wildly exaggerated and that subsidizing renewables has a negative effect on the economy. Shifting the cost of renewables subsidies to consumers despite handsome profits for developers (predominantly multinationals) is unacceptable to taxpayers and detrimental to the economy. This report calls for an immediate public review of the government’s energy policy; a judicial enquiry into the inconsistencies, inaccurate assumptions, and long-term detrimental effect on the environment by the Green Energy Act; and an investigation of the cost/benefit implications of the government’s energy policy by the Auditor General.
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