Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Coal Bad, Wind Good....Or Not!

An excellent article about Ontario's Green plan. Or the failure of the juvenile green strategy to put us all back into caves. Why do politicians listen to green activists who have never actually held a job? In this case we can hope that it is the death of the McGuinty government. How can a have province become a have not province in one easy step....embrace a job killing green plan that will cost billions and will do nothing about real pollution.

An industry that depends on subsidies for its survival is not a net source of jobs. The funds for the subsidies have to be raised through taxation, and the burden of taxes kills more jobs than the subsidies create. This is as true for wind power as it is for greenhouse cucumbers, and it doesn’t matter if the taxes are visible or are hidden in the form of feed-in tariffs and artificially inflated electricity bills.
In countries like Spain and the U.K., which launched their own versions of the GEA a decade ago, the job losses are now being confirmed by independent analyses. In the U.K., a report by Verso Economics used the Scottish government’s own macroeconomic model to show that, despite receiving net transfers of about £330-million ($521-million) from the rest of the U.K. for its renewables sector, Scotland still experienced a net job loss from wind power, and for the U.K. as a whole, 3.7 jobs were lost for every job created in renewable energy.
In Spain, researchers at King Carlos University found that, on average, each job in the wind sector cost the country more than £1-million, implying a loss of 2.2 private sector jobs for every new job created in the renewables sector.
There is no magic Ontario fairy dust that will spare Ontarians from the same fate. The Green Energy Act will raise electricity costs and decrease employment. If the goal was to promote industry and create jobs, it is guaranteed to fail.

Guaranteed to fail.  There is more, read it all and wake up Ontario. You are being taken for suckers by green behind the ears eco-nuts. Name me one green initiative that does not require huge subsidies and actually reduces pollution. Real pollution, not this pie in the sky C02 is pollution junk.

The Ontario Clean Air Alliance has published claims that Ontario’s coal-fired power plants cause 316 deaths, 440 hospital admissions, 522 emergency room visits and 158,000 minor illnesses each year. Its numbers are based on a 2005 simulation study for the provincial government that focused almost entirely on the effects of PM2.5. (It also considered ground-level ozone, but emphasized that most of the ozone precursors originated in the United States).
How plausible are these claims? If correct, they imply that wood-burning fireplaces cause 520 deaths per year, etc. But that is nothing compared with the implied effects from people driving on unpaved roads. According to Environment Canada, dust from unpaved roads in Ontario puts a whopping 90,116 tonnes of PM2.5 into our air each year, nearly 130 times the amount from coal-fired power generation. Using the Clean Air Alliance method for computing deaths, particulates from country-road usage kills 40,739 people per year, quite the massacre considering there are only about 90,000 deaths from all causes in Ontario each year. Who knew? That quiet drive up back country roads to the cottage for a weekend of barbecues, cozy fires and marshmallow roasts is a form of genocide.

If you believe that billions of taxpayers dollars should be used to shut down cheap and reliable power, I have some ocean front property in Alberta to sell you!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are witnessing the final death throes of the enviro-weenie movement. Expect green subsidies to go the way of the dodo bird. In tough economic times politicians keen on remaining employed will have to heed the electorates' desire to cut all the fluff policies which only exist because of optics.

This includes hidden environmental taxes by corporations who have jumped on the bandwagon of the feel good platitudes of having an "environmental stewardship" policy in their mission statements, passing along these extra costs onto their customers.

As more reports come out showing the futility of the green movement and as more countries teeter on insolvency, Al Gore and David Suzuki are about to become footnotes in history.

Eventually the public wises up and the snake oil purveyors are quickly run out of town.

I sense that the good people of Ontario are sharpening their pitch forks right now! (And hopefully Alberta with all this carbon capture and windmill claptrap).

Coal said...

The use of sophisticated software systems for coal mining (thermal coal, steam coal and metallurgical coal) that is mostly burnt for power generation and steel production and adds to the greenhouse effect is valid for western countries who may allocate resources and funds to alternative and more greener sources of power. Some of the alternatives may be "safer" than the traditional mines. Unfortunately, coal reports and coal statistics show developing economies are more likely to increase their use of thermal coal & metallurgical coal in coming years because of its affordability and to meet increasing demands for electricity and steel. Whether they will embrace and utilise sophisticated software systems that no doubt add to the cost of production is yet to be seen. Cherry of www.coalportal.com