My Letter to Ontario Power Authority
Today I read a brochure from the government of Ontario requesting feedback regarding ways to respond to the predictions of future power shortages in Ontario. I decided to go ahead and respond to their website. Below is what I sent:
Good Day,
I believe that there is very much that we can do in the area of conservation, particularly in the form of market control.
I think that if the government would be more aggressive in banning wasteful types of light bulbs (for example). The resulting savings in energy consumption would be great.
Also, aggressive promotion of gas-saving (hybrid) or alternatively fueled (like Hydrogen cell) cars would greatly reduce fuel consumtion. A typical hybrid car consumes less than half the gas a regular car uses per average kilometer. Increasing pressure on car manufacturers to reduce prices and/or providing government assistance to individuals interested in purchasing such vehicles would create a strong effect.
Enforcing the use of certain technologies in the home/office can help greately as well. I can think of a simple device that detects the absence of people in a certain room and automatically turns off lights in the room can also create huge savings (and this was just one example).
Yet another possible area of improvement is working on traffic conditions (widening highways, possibly merging parts of collector/express lanes together, etc.) can also play a major role in gas consumption. Cars stuck in traffic use alot of fuel without helping anyone reach their destination!
Finally I would like to comment about public transportation. At the current rates in a city like Toronto, a typical family of 4 would not be very interested in switching to it than using cars simply because the savings (if any) would never come close to outweighing the convenience of using your own vehicle. This is even more pronounced in the case of those who live in the suburbs surrounding Toronto who would have to pay TWO fares to reach their destination in the GTA. Also, (and once again this is more pertinent to the city of Toronto) expanding the bloor subway line farther East and West, the Yonge line farther North, and possibly giving somekind of a discount to those connecting from lines other than the TTC will create much more demand for the public transportation system.
Regards
Good Day,
I believe that there is very much that we can do in the area of conservation, particularly in the form of market control.
I think that if the government would be more aggressive in banning wasteful types of light bulbs (for example). The resulting savings in energy consumption would be great.
Also, aggressive promotion of gas-saving (hybrid) or alternatively fueled (like Hydrogen cell) cars would greatly reduce fuel consumtion. A typical hybrid car consumes less than half the gas a regular car uses per average kilometer. Increasing pressure on car manufacturers to reduce prices and/or providing government assistance to individuals interested in purchasing such vehicles would create a strong effect.
Enforcing the use of certain technologies in the home/office can help greately as well. I can think of a simple device that detects the absence of people in a certain room and automatically turns off lights in the room can also create huge savings (and this was just one example).
Yet another possible area of improvement is working on traffic conditions (widening highways, possibly merging parts of collector/express lanes together, etc.) can also play a major role in gas consumption. Cars stuck in traffic use alot of fuel without helping anyone reach their destination!
Finally I would like to comment about public transportation. At the current rates in a city like Toronto, a typical family of 4 would not be very interested in switching to it than using cars simply because the savings (if any) would never come close to outweighing the convenience of using your own vehicle. This is even more pronounced in the case of those who live in the suburbs surrounding Toronto who would have to pay TWO fares to reach their destination in the GTA. Also, (and once again this is more pertinent to the city of Toronto) expanding the bloor subway line farther East and West, the Yonge line farther North, and possibly giving somekind of a discount to those connecting from lines other than the TTC will create much more demand for the public transportation system.
Regards
posted by The One at 11:43 AM
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