Energy Probe

When Ontario's new time-of-use electricity pricing starts in Owen Sound in the coming weeks, most residential customers' hydro bills likely won't increase.

In 2012, the incandescent light bulb will be banned in Canada. Which new bulb will win the race to replace it?

Horizon lost $2.8m when U.S. Steel shut.

Hydro bills could be going up across Hamilton and St. Catharines because U.S. Steel isn't using enough electricity.

Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb a century or so ago — with the help of a couple of Canadian patent holders — was not just a bright idea. It was the quintessential bright idea, the very symbol of eureka!

Even such a dimwit as Donald Duck was known to have had a light bulb go on over his head on occasion.

And while the slow-lighting curlicue of a compact fluorescent does not carry nearly the same visual kaboom, it is such an energy-efficient device that even such Kyoto skeptics as the federal Conservatives are turned on by it.

Toronto's plan to mandate green roofs on new buildings could seriously threaten the city's building stock.

The every-little-bit-counts crowd behind Earth Hour doesn’t understand the bigger human picture

Globe and Mail style columnist Janice Lindsay presents an open-eyed review of energy-efficient light bulbs and finds that manufacturers have not solved the 'colour issues' that concern users of CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps) and LEDs (light emitting diodes).

EXCERPT

House Hansard: Session 38:2, February 23, 2006

Orders of the day

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The Acting Speaker: Further debate.

Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer (Kitchener-Waterloo): I'm pleased to join the debate on Bill 21, the Energy Conservation Responsibility Act, 2006, which was introduced by the Minister of Energy and which has been capably responded to by our critic, John Yakabuski.

EXCERPT

House Hansard: Session 38.2, February 20, 2006

Mr. Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka): It's my pleasure to add some comments to the minister's speech this evening and that of the member from Peterborough on Bill 21, which is the Energy Conservation Responsibility Act, 2005.

In the two years since the great blackout of 2003, Ontarians haven't learned the valuable lesson of conservation and energy experts warn that rolling blackouts could become a reality if the province's power supply crunch worsens.

The good news since the blackout is that electricity transmission facilities, their maintenance standards and emergency measures have improved, said Tom Adams, executive director of Energy Probe.

With this summer's persistent high temperatures, the city is sucking up close to 20 per cent more energy than it did last year. Combine that with increases in both the price of electricity and the delivery rate and it will likely add up to financial pain for anyone with an air conditioner.

In April of this year, the Ontario Energy Board raised the price of electricity enough to boost the average Ottawa resident's energy bill by an estimated seven per cent. Also in April, the same bills rose by 3.6 per cent because of the increase in Hydro Ottawa's delivery rate.

Report on the deteriorating state of Ontario's power distribution and transmission infrastructure. The report was originally released in 2005. 

Click here for a PDF. 

Canadian businesses are beginning to experience the energy industry's version of sticker price shock.

Driven by the highest demand in a quarter century, oil prices this year have climbed more than 60 per cent.

The run-up comes amid increases in electricity and an expected seasonal jump in natural gas prices, leaving many Canadian firms facing an uncertain future.

Smart meters the province hopes to put in Ontario homes would encourage people to run their dishwashers in the middle of the night to save on their energy bills, Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday. Though residents have to pay part of the cost to install the meters, they will save money in the long run through a planned revamped billing system that would reward the energy-conscious, McGuinty said.

You did your best to conserve energy after the big blackout in August. But now the power is flowing again, you're running your appliances at full speed.

Maybe it's time to flip the switch back to energy conservation mode.

"Don't assume your future bills will look anything like the present ones," says Tom Adams, executive director of Energy Probe, a Toronto-based consumer group. "You should be thinking about how to save electricity in the future."