The energy for your air conditioning

Are you dreaming of solar-powered air conditioning right now,  just like I am? If you live in Ontario you might be dreading the heat by now, at least I do. I long have had enough of summer. Ontario as it turns out has made efforts to produce more solar and wind power and reduce their coal power plants contribution. That's nice, but unfortunately, the government seems to be hesitant to switch the coal plants off completely. Besides, they are way too much into nuclear power plants which have already had a massive impact on the provincial debt and power rates for consumers. I'm not a fan of nuke power either. Japan has shown more than impressively what can happen when nature's forces strike and don't stop at man-made obstacles such as power plants. 

A brochure of the Clean Air Alliance states that "According to the Ontario Energy Board, rising nuclear costs are responsible for 45% of the increase in Ontario's electricity generation prices over the past five years. Renewable energy, by comparison, has contributed just 6% to the increase." On their website the Clean Air Alliance runs some interesting articles on both coal and nuclear power, for example:           


"Ontario now has a significant surplus of coal-free electricity. We do not need to wait until December 2014 to finish the coal phase out. ...  Meanwhile, Ontario Power Generation has been paid close to a billion dollars to keep unneeded coal plants open. Send a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty asking him to shutdown unnecessary coal units today!"

We recently spent a few days around Point Pelee and noticed there the co-existence of oil wells and large solar panels and wind turbines. It was surprising to be honest. Definitely good to see the solar panels and wind turbines. I get angry when I see road signs urging people to fight wind turbines. It's total BS to me. They cause a lot less noise than the average Canadian city during its day-to-day operations of people driving everywhere, construction sites and so on. Those most be Conservatives that for any price and environmental destruction want to stick to traditional ways of energy production. Why else would the federal government investigates the effects of wind turbines but isn't very rigorous about the shortfalls of the oil and gas industry which is still operating and expanding despite more oil spills and gas leaks.