Have I seen this "Green Energy Plan" somewhere else?

The internet is a truly amazing thing!  The time used to be when our politicians could persuade us that they new better and were more worldly wise than us mere mortals and that we should not trouble ourselves with the details of complex issues such as tax policy and energy planniing.  These were best left to government ministers and their staff who had access to information from industry experts to help them make informed decisions.  Wow, I get tired just thinking about it!

We, along comes the internet and all of a sudden we can all access the opinions of experts and also see what is being done by governments around the globe to address similar issues and more importantly we can see what works and what does not.  In ordinary circumstances this should not be a problem for our politicians as it should make it easier for them to promote their agenndas based on the fact that a well informed electorate should be rushing to embrace their ideas, right?

Well, in the case of Ontario that may not be quite true as our illustrious leader Dalton McGuinty is discovering in recent months.  His latest fiasco is the governments "Green Energy Plan" which has been touted as a cornerstone of their platform and a key differentiator between themselves and those old polution hounds the conservatives.  McGuinty and his team have continually paraded around the province extolling the cleverness of this made in Ontario plan that was apparently the output of many years of hard work and much consultation with experts.

The problem is that in recent months the plan has been coming under closer scrutiny and appears to be rather badly flawed in many areas.  Firstly, the plan pushed headlong towards alternative energy sources such as Solar and Wind and in order to short circuit the normal process of allowing industry to lead, the government decided that it new best and dreamt up a feed-in-tarrif program that would highly incentivise potential operators to come to Ontario.  The idea is simple in as much as the operators would be subsidized by Ontario's unlucky taxpayers (and energy consumers) and in return they would create high tech jobs in this new (to Ontario) green industry.  The part that Mr. McGuinty and his friends forgot to mention was that this plan wasn't so much a "made in Ontario" plan as a copy of programs tried elsewhere in the world such as Spain, Denmark, Germany....... and that there were clear indicators that the outcome may not be quite what one might hope.

Here are a couple of links to two very interesting cases: 

Firstly a couple of videos relating to a CEPOS report on the success (and I use that word very loosely) of their wind energy program and its impact on costs to the consumer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgUsun3hIT0&

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpodnV-0LNs

A few background facts for Denmark which are interesting warnings for Ontario are that as a result of its experiment it has ended up with the highest energy costs in Europe and this cost has reportedly had a negative impact on employment and other "non Green" businesses. It shoulld be noted that CEPOS who report in the video did get funding from the Institute for Energy Research which does recieve some funding from conventional energy companies.

The second video relates to Spain's "Green Energy" plan which was supposed to create a booming and high tech economy around its "investment" in green energy.  Once again, the parallels to Mr McGuinty's plan are astounding and the outcome equally disturbing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaqmHOeNmg

Spains experience has clearly been less than a success.  But what amazes me most is that with all the information out there that counsels agaignst the current plan, our leaders still go headlong into it wasting our money as they go.

Once again, this video was created by the IER, so I reiterate that the author may have some negative bias toward green technology but, nonetheless a quick search around Google will find plenty of facts to substantiate the assertions made inn each of the videos.

But enough already! Who wants to talk about problems when there is a new energy policy to announce?  So McGuinty etall steamed ahead with their plans despite mounting evidence that they may be on the wrong path.  In June, they also dismissed moving forward on a nuclear expansion ignoring evidence that showed it to be the greenest and most reliable low cost solution for Ontario's lon term needs.

Fast forward to November 2010 and Mr. McGuinty's world starts to crumble after his government announces that energy costs will skyrocket 46% over 5 years (Remember the number in the Denmark video?) and to offset this he offers a bribe to consumers (we are coming into an election year) of a 10% reduction in rates over the same period.  The next day a poll shows that his government will likely fall at an election and low and behold the energy plan that was so many years in the planning is changed again to now include more incentives on smart meter charging.  Details have not quite been worked out yet, but who needs details when we need votes?

Another 24 hours have passed and unfortunately Mr. McGuinty seems as unpopular as ever so its time to rethink the plan again!  Today its an announcement that we have decided that nuclear is a key part of the plan and we will embark on a major refit program and buy two new reactors as well. 

What next Mr McGuinty?  A repeal of the HST?, Reversal of the HealthCare tax that didn't quite get spent on healthcare?  Free electric for all?

Yes, the internet is a wonderful thiing!  With all this information at our fingertips there really is not a lot of mileage in telling lies when yoou are elected office although it appears that Mr. McGuinty and his team are only just waking up to that fact.