London Free Press editorial
June 12, 2006

One hundred years ago this month, Sir Adam Beck of London became chairperson of Ontario Hydro and set in motion his plan for at-cost public electricity to power this province’s businesses, industries and homes.

By 1910, his Niagara Falls hydroelectric power (HEP) vision had become reality.

How things have changed. Our power-generation capacity is stretched as never before and we still await government plans on new generation.

This newspaper supports a broad-based generation system. So it was encouraging to hear from Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton that there is still potential for more hydroelectric power in this province. Quite a lot, in fact, if Hampton is right.

He says it can be expanded on Northern Ontario rivers, including the Abitibi, Mettagami and Missinabi, with a potential gain of 7,000 megawatts. Ontario’s peak daily usage is usually about 25,000 megawatts.

It would require a 600- to 700-kilometre transmission line to power-hungry southern Ontario; some of it is already there.

Of course, the cheapest power is the power we don’t use. The state of California, through conservation, has reduced its power consumption by 12,000 megawatts (15 per cent). That, says Hampton, is equivalent to saving the state the need to build three nuclear plants the size of Ontario’s Darlington at a saving of $10 billion apiece.

California’s aggressive conservation program includes strict building codes that demand high energy efficiency in all new buildings and renovations. There is also a push to replace old energy-guzzling appliances with new, efficient ones. This has turned old appliances into a lucrative recycling business.

London Hydro’s Chill Out London, which provides free pickup and disposal of old refrigerators and freezers, along with $75 toward the cost of new Energy Star units, is a start. Much more could be done if Ontario offered loans at low interest rates to upgrade appliances, windows, insulation, furnaces and air conditioners.

While Hampton opposes nuclear energy because of its cost overruns, delays and shutdowns, it is likely to play a major role in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s plans. Nuclear power could contribute a major portion of Ontario’s electricity. But it is expensive and it produces radiactive waste that is dangerous for thousands of years.

Energy Probe executive director Tom Adams would like to see clean-burning coal plants established. He prefers the latest technology – "super critical combustion" of coal, used in Europe and Japan. It requires very high pressures and temperatures to maximize efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases. In Europe, coal is being used for co-generation of heat and power. A common application is locating the plant in the centre of a city so it can provide large buildings in the core with heat.

Failure to deal with Ontario’s energy demands now would lead to brownouts and devastating blackouts. The dawdling McGuinty government must produce a good plan and soon.