Renewable energy is our only option

“Renewable (energy) is just not a viable option at this time,” said Dr. John Luxat, professor and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Industrial Research Chair in nuclear safety analysis at McMaster (Nuclear crisis in Japan will have an effect on us, too, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday, March 19, 2011).

Actually, renewables are already a viable option and are also a major part of Ontario’s energy plans for the foreseeable future. The Energy Mix Directive of 2006, building on recommendations from the OPA, laid out a plan to responsibly meet Ontario’s future (increased) energy needs. It is a policy document that will lead to the phasing out of our remaining coal-fired plants, caps our nuclear capacity at 14GW (which will require significant resources just to refurbish existing nuclear plants that were built in the 1970s and 1980s), has aggressive targets for demand management and yes, anticipates the development of 15 per cent of our energy needs by renewables — solar, wind, biofuels and geothermal. Hydro is generally also considered a renewable resource. Ontario has provided incentives to help to grow the renewable part of the energy mix to meet these aggressive and necessary targets.

For the full story visit thespec.com

How does Solar PV work?