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Canada's Coolest Cities  

"What are Canada's large cities doing to encourage low-carbon choices for personal transportation?" A new report by the Pembina Institute, Canada's Coolest Cities, set out to answer this question through case studies of Canada's six largest urban areas: Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver. 

The study found that the City of Ottawa's transit service has added 177 hybrid buses to its fleet, accounting for almost 20% of its full-size buses. Each hybrid bus is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 38% compared to a conventional diesel bus. Challenges for the Ottawa-Gatineau region include a relatively low percentage of people living in neighbourhoods with at least medium density. For detailed findings, read the Ottawa Case Study. 

Toronto already has the highest percentage of people taking transit in the country and has strategies to increase this number. The Toronto area also contains the highest concentration of high-rise buildings in Canada (the second-highest in North America). However, the report found that in 2006 Toronto commuters were travelling further than commuters in any other major urban area. In addition, the City of Toronto has the fewest bike paths per capita of the cities studied. For detailed findings, read the Toronto Case Study.

For more information, visit the Coolest Cities web page.

June 2009

There Has Never Been a Better Time Not to Buy a Reactor

Groups ask McGuinty to delay buying new reactor and instead replace aging reactors with green power

Conditions have changed and the McGuinty government should support its own Green Energy Act by deciding against buying new nuclear reactors this summer, say thirteen prominent environmental organizations in an open letter to the Premier.  

The groups say there has never been a better time not to buy a nuclear reactor, and they urge the Premier to forgo spending billions on new nuclear and instead put his Green Energy Act to work by replacing the aging Pickering B nuclear station with green energy.  

Read the media release.

Download the backgrounder.

Read the letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty.

 

March 2009

Green Energy Act: A Renewable Is Doable Perspective

Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, George Smitherman announced
Ontario’s forward-looking Green Energy Act (GEA) in February. A major concern with
the Ontario GEA is that it stands in sharp contrast to the province’s
current electricity plan, which foresees only eight per cent of all of
the power produced by 2027 coming from new green power sources like
wind and solar.  

More...

Plugging Ontario Into A Green Future: A Renewable Is Doable Action Plan

Plugging Ontario Into A Green Future lays out an action plan for achieving Minister Smitherman's goal of enhancing the contributions of renewable energy,conservation and distributed generation and shows how doing so will assist Ontario in meeting its climate targets and create new green jobs.

Report Summary

Full Report

CBC's Newsworld links Plugging Ontario Into A Green Future with a documentary on a booming renewable energy industry in Germany. Ontario's abundance of renewable energy makes it a prime province for developing this resource. Will it take this golden opportunity to revolutionize our energy systems or repeat mistakes of the past?

 

 

The 5th Estate documents Germany's rise to become the renewable energy powerhouse of the industrialized world.

 

 

The Basics on Base Load

How do we produce clean electricity yet ensure our needs will be met?

The Basics on Base Load addresses the misconception that large-scale nuclear or coal generation is required to meet Ontario's base load demand for electricity. The report argues that the right technical, regulatory and policy tools will allow Ontario to meet its base load electricity requirements using renewable power and energy efficiency measures.

Read The Basics on Base Load

The Pembina Institute also works on national renewable energy issues: Find out more.

Getting Tough on Urban Sprawl

There are untapped opportunities for better integration between Ontario’s climate change objectives and its planning policy to ensure the potential for enormous energy savings is realized. This can be achieved by changing the way that communities are designed and developed.

Getting Tough on Urban Sprawl, the sixth report in the Smart Growth series, stresses the need for Ontario to integrate its fairly ambitious climate change targets into planning policy.

Read Getting Tough on Urban Sprawl

More on Smart Growth and Urban Sprawl.