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Going green has its hiccups
Credit: The Chronicle Journal, www.chroniclejournal.com 22 January 2012 ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
Having crafted its Green Energy Act in too much of a hurry, Ontario’s government is making changes on the fly.
Its exclusive and secret development deal with Samsung was so lucrative for the Korean industrial giant and potentially so costly to Ontario’s economy and its power consumers (i.e., everyone) that the government said it would pay less.
It rushed to get solar energy customers signed into power deals that were also lucrative but it failed to measure the ability of Ontario’s power grid to accommodate the feed-in tariff project takers, many of whom had to wait to be hooked in long after they each parted with up to $100,000. They’ll now receive somewhat less money for the power they don’t use if and when they get to return it to the grid they may or may not yet be connected to.
Wind turbines have been all the rage and Ontario is approving acres of them, paying those developers, too, somewhat royal profits, though less than what was first offered the solar people.
Windmills seemed like a good, green idea and who would argue with these majestic monsters whirling silently on the horizon, sending “free” electricity to nearby consumers.
But wind turbines are proving to be the most divisive of all the Liberal government’s green energy projects. Opponents who hated the sight of ones built at offshore locations forced the government to cancel any more such projects. But it remains determined to proceed with land-based wind developments despite mounting opposition and questions about effects on humans that, while not proven, are not entirely disproven, either.
People complain vaguely about weird side-effects from the sound of the rotors whupping through the air or the blur of blades casting giant moving shadows onto homes and schools.
There is nothing vague about how wind farms have polarized some rural Ontario communities. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is calling on the province to suspend further development of wind farms because residents have been pitted against their neighbours over concerns with health impacts and quality of life issues relating to wind turbines.
Opponents need definitive answers to their concerns and Ontarians need to feel secure in green energy, their government’s most aggressive economic policy.
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