RE: Electricity: Lessons from Germany

 

Dear Editor,

 

In an October 4, 2004 editorial, Herman Scheer’s opinion can be summed up in two short sentences.  1) Ontario is not doing enough with regard to implementing renewable energy sources.  2) Ontario does not need Nuclear Power in a clean air future.

 

He is half right.

 

Ontario should certainly be developing renewable energy sources to their fullest potential and we could be doing much, much more in this regard.  To state, however, that nuclear is not needed turns what could be a feasible renewable energy rollout into little more than a pipe dream.

 

A careful look at Mr. Scheer’s statistics and his vision for the future will show dreams of all-renewable subdivisions and listings of numbers of homes getting electricity from other sources.  This is all well and good and Germany should be congratulated in its progress.  To extrapolate this vision into a nuclear-free, clean air future is dangerous.

 

One reason is that the residential sector, to which most of these accomplishments belong, accounts for only 30 per cent of electricity demand in Ontario.  This leaves a whopping 70 per cent of demand left to generate, the majority of which is unsuited to renewable generation.

 

A second reason is that most renewable energy sources are diffuse and intermittent, and have a limit to how much capacity they can account for while maintaining a stable grid.  We can, for example, look at Denmark, which supplies 18 per cent of its installed capacity with wind power.  They are a shining example to many environmentalists.  For some reason they fail to mention that because of an unstable grid, Denmark is forced to import huge amounts of electricity from neighbouring countries.  This isn’t cheap, and if the import power is produced by fossil fuels, nothing has been accomplished that is environmentally friendly.

 

Nuclear Energy is clean air energy.  Across Canada every month it prevents the release of over six million tonnes of greenhouse gases and air pollution.  It does so reliably as a base load power source with nothing diffuse or intermittent about it.  If we want a clean air future, and not a pipe dream, the key is a diverse grid incorporating many different energy sources.  If we want to keep the lights on, an essential component in this mix will have to be clean, safe, reliable Nuclear Power

 

Andrew Daley

Hamilton, ON