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Bitter-sweet day for Ontario
by Bruce Haire

Premier Dalton McGuinty was expected to announce the province's commitment Tuesday to nuclear power to keep the lights on in Ontario.

With a minimalist commitment to conservation, renewable energy, energy efficient designs, we head down the road of more nuclear.

McGuinty says there is no other choice, but what is disturbing is that we have still not found a solution to nuclear wastes.

Unfortunately, the government has seen nothing but huge cost overruns on its nuclear facilities. They have left a bad taste in all our mouths.

We take uranium, use 5% of its energy, and then have to store the rest for eons in the hope that some day it might be usable.

It's not a pretty picture and shouldn't be minimized by the nuclear energy industry. We have no idea how to close down and clean up a moth-balled nuclear plant.

McGuinty may be right that there is no other choice but it is still nothing to celebrate.

Maybe we should even applaud him for finally making a decision (unlike the miserable Caledonia situation).

But let's hope there is a real commitment to conservation with some serious money to help us all to increase our energy effort reductions.

It seems that on conservation we have just begun. We may have installed fluorescent bulbs, added insulation, even installed the setback thermostat but really we have just plucked "the low hanging fruit" as one energy expert puts it.

Meanwhile we seem to be caught between well financed lobby groups that argue that their solution is the cleanest.

Yes, nuclear can reduce greenhouse gases but it also has dangers and the disaster of Chernobyl is still with us.

It seems we have hardly begun to tap the energy of solar, the stored heat in the ground and water and energy alternatives.

The Americans are pushing hard on alternative energy sources leaving us far behind. President Bush has stated his goal of no longer being dependent on Middle East oil.

Canada is the most energy guzzling nation in the world. Can we curb our power use?

Hydro One is giving away 30,000 power use meters in Northern Ontario with an internal household display that shows your active energy consumption. Average consumption reduction is 7 to 10 per cent with some reductions up to 15%. The $150 price of each monitor seems small compared to the billions and the unknowns of new generating capacity. And it is such a simple idea.

So while we applaud that a decision has been made, we also recognize that it is a bitter-sweet announcement that will leave Ontarians without a real conservation drive.