Air Pollution – Ontario Energy Policy
ONTARIO's GREEN ENERGY ACT: In 2011 I published a column in the Financial Post on why Ontario should roll back its Green Energy Act. The Environment Canada emissions inventory data I referred to can be obtained here (box 2A). Unfortunately I made an error in the column. I pointed out that coal-fired power plants emit 699 tonnes of PM2.5, and I said that wood-burning fireplaces emit 65% more, or 1,150 tonnes. That is not correct. Residential fuel-burning fireplaces emit 1,150 tonnes of PM2.5. Residential wood-burning fireplaces emit 23,303 tonnes, or 33 times the amount from the power generating plants.
WIND ENERGY CONFERENCE: In October 2010 I made a presentation to the Society for Wind Vigilance conference on wind energy and social justice. My presentation was called
WIND ENERGY CONFERENCE: In October 2010 I made a presentation to the Society for Wind Vigilance conference on wind energy and social justice. My presentation was called
THERMAL POWER PLANTS: Here in Ontario the government has adopted the regrettable idea of shutting down our thermal power plants. I have presented counter-arguments in a few places. The most comprehensive is:
- *McKitrick, Ross R., Kenneth Green and Joel Schwartz (2005) Pain Without Gain: Shutting Down Coal-Fired Power Plants Would Hurt Ontario". Fraser Institute, January 2005.
A 2007 presentation, to a conference organized by the Queen’s Institute of Energy and the Environment, made the same case very briefly:
- McKitrick, Ross R. (2007) “The Case for Keeping Ontario’s Coal-Fired Power Plants.” Invited presentation to Queen’s University Institute of Energy and Environmental Policy conference “The Future of Coal in Ontario.” Toronto, May 10 2007.
I also did a review of the Ontario Cost-Benefit Analysis for the Power Workers’ Union in 2004. These two papers emerged from that work.
- McKitrick, Ross R. (2004). "Power Plants, Air Quality and Health: The Case for Re-examining Ontario's Coal Policy" Prepared for the Power Workers Union, May 2004.
- McKitrick, Ross R. (2005) "Analytic Review of Cost-Benefit Analysis of Replacing Ontario's Coal-Fired Power Generators." Prepared for the Power Workers Union, June 2005.
A related paper is my 2004 paper on particulates and affluence, published in the Fraser Forum.
- McKitrick, Ross R. (2004). "Particulates, Energy Consumption and Affluence" Fraser Forum April 2004
