We welcome your input and your feedback. Comments can be sent to:
EcoAction@erelda.ca

Island Energy News Team:
David Smiley, Bruce Weber, Leida Englar, Ellen Allen, Dorty Neilson, Angela Bischoff
Additional Contributers:
Nancy Wo, Sandra Creighton, Barry Lipton and Baye Hunter

Nukes, coal, or… energy efficiency?
By Angela@cleanairalliance.org

Energy production is big business. But what is the price to our communities, our ecosystem, and to the world around us?

Nukes are potentially disastrous and outrageously expensive; coal kills hundreds in ON each year and sickens tens of thousands; while oil and gas alter the global climate.

Ontario is one of the most wasteful users of electricity in the world – we use 50% more electricity than people in New York State, and we’re not that different economically or environmentally. We just haven’t exploited the potential for reducing our energy demand through efficiency and conservation as New York State has. And reducing consumption is usually more cost-effective than expanding supply. So let’s get to it!

Rather than investing in massive capital expenditures to expand power plant capacity, the ON government can encourage energy efficiency through a standard offer program for energy efficiency as well as for combined heat and power plants. This would reduce the need for new nuclear power plants, just as the Green Energy Act is encouraging the development of solar, wind and hydro energies. How bout a weatherization and a ‘cash for caulkers’ incentive program, as President Obama recently unveiled? We could employ thousands weatherizing homes and buildings across this province while saving energy, meeting our climate reduction commitments, and avoid building the proposed two new Darlington reactors.

Citizens too hold tremendous power to change our patterns of consumption and support sustainable ways of using energy resources. A revolution is happening in making housing ultra energy efficient. Costs for achieving this are remarkably low with significant benefits in minimal heating bills, high comfort, high energy security, very-quiet house, very simple heating system requirements, and much reduced environmental footprint. This newsletter intends to elucidate these opportunities for Islanders.

Energy efficiency simply means reducing energy waste while getting “more bang for your buck.” When a dollar is saved on energy, it can be re-invested in the local economy and circulate several times over. Even local utilities can make profits selling conservation and efficiency. It’s win-win-win.

To find out more check out: http://ontariosgreenfuture.ca/
To send an email to all federal leaders expressing your opposition to subsidies for new nuclear plants go to: http://ontariosgreenfuture.ca/send_a_message.php

EASY WINDOWS
by Bruce Weber
            No doubt, our beloved windows are a major energy loss in our homes.  The process of changing all my (1948) windows with modern low-E/Argon gas windows was an easy process.

            While the telephone canvasser was, no doubt, surprised and confused when I responded to his query, “Yes” I was interested in new windows, he quickly referred me to the window contractor, who had no qualms about coming out to the Island.  Putting out the word via “My Neighbours” for other potential clients helped.  Both I and Kathleen Doody/Alastair Dickson were impressed with the presentation of Jack Royt of Century Windows and Doors 416 215-9090, who described the alternative products; the advantages of the Canadian-made Low E2/Argon window panes, and vinyl frames; the costs; and subsidies available from the Federal and Provincial governments:  EcoENERGY Retrofit – Homes grants, Provincial rebates for energy audits.

            The contractor referred us to The Energuy for pre- and post-retrofit evaluations.  Peter Aquilina of The Energuy 905 824-4922 was happy to come to the Island without a truck and just a little help of an Island cart to move his blower equipment for measuring air leakage.  He was impressed with the tightness of the house, even without the storm windows up (Ron Mazza, did your dad build the whole house himself?)  The Energy Efficiency Evaluation Report was very interesting and confirmed that by far the greatest opportunity for energy saving was modern new windows.  Pre-retrofit Evaluation $351.75 less $150 Ontario rebate.

The contractor completed the windows for me and Kathleen/Alastair in 3 days, including new aluminum flashings.  Total cost for my 6 large windows just under $6000 less rebate of $80 per window and my tax credit.

While I have not had the opportunity to measure the improvement in my heating bill, I’m pleased and comfortable with the upgrade.

Any questions, call me 416 203-0911 or Kathleen/Alaistair 416 203-0829.

The following was originally produced for the parents of the children attending the Waterfront School, located at the foot of Bathurst St. The authors are Nancy Wo, Sandra Creighton, Barry Lipton ans Baye Hunter. It was submitted by Leida Englar because the polutants from the airport are blown by the prevailing westerly winds over the Island school and community.

Leida has identified 25 incidences of cancers and 9 of stroke/heart disease in the Island community.

Toronto Island Airport
Impact on our Children

 “No child’s health and safety is expendable.”
James Hansen – NASA Climatologist

How busy is the airport when our children play in the schoolyard or park?

Currently scheduled departures and arrivals of aircraft

* excludes flying-school flights, personal aircraft, helicopters, personal vehicles,
limos, the airline buses & future growth

Airport Noise Impact
Airport noise exposes communities to serious physical and mental health risks. It interferes with conversations, listening, sleep and education. Departures, arrivals, engine run-ups, taxis, trucks, buses, and helicopters all contribute to airport noise.

Hearing Loss
Constant exposure to airport noise can cause hearing problems that can:

• create problems with volume perception, sound distortion and comprehension  
• affect communication, mental function, behavior, and scholastic performance
• affect children more than adults
• make other health problems worse
• cause high blood pressure and heart disease.
• harm memory and task performance & cause anxiety, anger and irritation.

Airport Traffic and Congestion
Toronto Island Airport creates vast amounts of vehicle traffic from taxis, buses, limousines and service vehicles

• Airports are under little regulation. They need not report most emissions nor adhere to most Clean Air Act standards
• Unlike the Pearson International Airport that has highways that disperse traffic, the Toronto Island Airport traffic uses neighbourhood streets
• The taxi stand at Bathurst & Queen’s Quay holds up to 50 taxis at a time
• Taxis waiting to enter the taxi stand park illegally, & block pedestrian crossing
• Police rarely patrol the area

The Airport and Our Water

• De-icing fluids, fuel spills, oils, greases and other pollutants flow from airports and planes into lakes.
• These chemicals threaten water tables, water treatment plants, fish and the food chain.
• De-icing fluids corrode paint. Imagine what they do to our drinking water.

Air Pollution from Planes and Airports

• Airport air pollution sheds over an enormous area surrounding a busy airport, in a radius of at least 38 kms and from an elevation of 3500 feet.
• Planes combust jet fuel, which is primarily made of kerosene.
• They produce chemicals that cause cancer and respiratory illnesses.*
• Children, seniors and those with chronic illnesses are most vulnerable.
• Cancer rates increase the closer you get to an airport. **
• Data shows that no one should reside or build schools closer than 6 kms to an airport.
• Cancer rates near airports are up 31%.
• Childhood respiratory disease rates near airports are more than twice that of the county overall.***
• Pollution produced by airport/aircraft operations should be weighed as if from one source and it is not.

* The American Federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
** State of Washington Department of Health regarding Seattle-Tacoma Airport
***Seattle-King County Department of Health

Populations living near airports experience:

• 57% higher asthma
• 28% more pneumonia/influenza, 26% greater respiratory disease
• 83% increased pregnancy complications
• 50% higher infant mortality, higher genetic disease rates
• 48% higher mortality rate for all causes of death: 57% higher for heart disease, 36% higher cancer death rate
• a life expectancy of 70.4 yrs versus the average of 76.0*

*King County Dept of Public Health

Want To Do More?

Call, write, email:

Ont Environment Minister John Gerretson (416) 325-4000

Provincial Medical Officer of Health the Hon David Caplan http://www.health.gov.on.ca

Federal Environment Minister the Hon Jim Prentice EnviroInfo.Ontario@ec.gc.ca   416-739-4826
Health Minister the Hon Leona Aglukkaq, Health Canada        http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/home-accueil/contact/minist-eng.php
Toronto Public Health 416-338-7600 publichealth@toronto.ca
Air Quality Concerns: jet fuel, vehicular traffic exhaust
Ministry of the Environment 1-888-663-8477
When flights or engine run-ups intrude your conversation, listening pleasure, sleep or education: the Toronto Port Authority
http://www.torontoport.com/Airport_CForm.asp   or 416 203 8490 note the date and time
Taxi behaviour complaints such as racing red lights, overloading taxi stands, close-calls: Take taxi numbers & car license plate – email to taxiline@toronto.ca, phone 416-392-6700
Parking Enforcement: 416-808-6600
Traffic violations complaint such as running red lights, speeding, not yielding to pedestrians:
Police 14 division 416-808-1500
Concerns about vehicle idling - over 3 minutes
416-392-7873, Fax 416-392-1911

Join the volunteer list at:  www.communityair.org 

Get more info:

CommunityAIR website www.communityair.org  & sign up on the blog

Study re:dangerous levels of toxic gas detected at most major airports:
http://www.csp.org.uk/director/members/newsandanalysis/news.cfm?item_id=E3F37556C22D16546782F69E1B31A33E

Daycare and School Noise Analysis, Greater Tor Airports Authority http://www.wylelabs.com/services/arc/documentlibrary/featuredprojects/saps/dcssgtaa.html

Bullfrog Power

Submitted by Barry Lipton.
There is an easy and positive way to green your life and reduce your carbon footprint.Sign up for Bullfrog Power and have Green Energy power your home.Since joining in Dec 2006 we have reduced our personal CO2 emissions by 8.1 tonnes and a system reduction of 26 tonnes of CO2.

Why you should buy Bullfrog Power
What is Bullfrog Power?
Bullfrog Power is Canada’s 100% green electricity provider.
Bullfrog Power offers a 100% clean, renewable electricity choice to everyone
in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and the Maritimes.
All of Bullfrog Power’s electricity comes from renewable facilities certified as low-impact
under Environment Canada’s EcoLogoM certification program, and do not emit
any CO2, NOx, SOx or produce nuclear waste in their generation of electricity.
Bullfrog Power’s renewable generators injects as much renewable electricity
into the local or regional electricity grid as its customers use.
Bullfrog purchases all the environmental attributes associated with each megawatt hour (MWh)
of renewable electricity that is injected, and retires those environmental attributes on behalf of its customers.

You create a cleaner world for today and tomorrow.
By choosing Bullfrog Power you are actively supporting clean, renewable electricity generation rather than generation from polluting sources like coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear. As more clean generation comes online and smog decreases, the quality of the air we breathe improves. Your action not only has a positive impact today, but it also helps create a cleaner environment for future generations.

You take a stand for clean, renewable electricity.
Bullfrog provides you with the opportunity to choose 100% low-impact renewable electricity.
Your decision to become bullfrogpowered sets an example for friends, neighbours,
business leaders and policy makers, and sends a powerful message that new renewable energy
is important to our environment and our economy.
The more people who demand low-impact renewable power, the stronger the message. Imagine if everyone did it!

You enable more renewable power generation to be built.
The choice of individual consumers is a powerful force for change.
When you choose Bullfrog, you become an active, influential participant
in the growing green electricity market, helping to increase demand for
renewable power and enable new supply.
Bullfrog uses the collective demand of its customers to cause new renewable facilities to be built.
Several new wind turbines have already been commissioned in Canada as a result of the support of Bullfrog Power's customers,
and more will be built as the number of bullfrogpowered homes and businesses grows.

You reduce your personal environmental impact.
Conventional electricity production is among the largest industrial sources of carbon dioxide,
a primary greenhouse gas linked to climate change. Electricity production is also a major source of pollutants
that contribute to poor air quality and smog conditions. Leading environmental groups, including WWF-Canada,
the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute, advocate choosing clean,
low-impact renewable power as a meaningful action that individuals can take to help address the global issue of climate change.
Signing up for green electricity with Bullfrog will reduce your personal electricity-related emissions footprint.

Find out more and/or sign up here: http://www.bullfrogpower.com/

Submitted by Barry Lipton after hearing Raj speak.

http://rajpatel.org/2010/02/05/cheaponomics/

Raj Patel has just published a book called the "Value of Nothing"

Cheaponomics
On 02/5/2010 Rag Patel featureda top ten list of things that aren’t as cheap as you think.

#10 Bottled Water – Bottled water sounds like it should be cheaper – it’s 200 to 10,000 times more expensive than tap water. But in the US, the annual energy wasted on bottled water adds the equivalent to 100,000 cars on roads and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. And the price we pay for water doesn’t begin to address the longer term issues of global shortage for something that everyone needs to survive. Make a start: stop your local government from wasting your money on bottled water, as we did in San Francisco.

#9 Cellphones – We’ve all got them. The trouble is that one of the minerals inside our high tech toys – coltan – is bought very dear indeed. With around three quarters of the world’s reserves of coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo, our demand for gadgets fuels bloody conflict and vast human suffering. The No Blood on My Cellphonecampaign shows how we can stop it.

#8 Double cheeseburger – A value meal is a great way to eat if you’ve neither time nor money but this cheap food turns out to be ‘cheat food’. What if we had to pay the full environmental, labour and health costs of a burger? Some researchers think we’d end up paying over $200, and that doesn’t include the modern day slavery in our North American sandwiches.

#7 Fish fingers – The world’s oceans are being emptied. When I was a kid, our fish fingers were made of cod. Now the species is commercially extinct, and we’re within a generation of killing everything in the seas. Yet the price of fish is still just a few dollars a kilo.

#6 A Free Lunch - Rudyard Kipling came across the free lunch in the nineteenth century in San Francisco, where he “paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt.” But the freebie ends up being a way to reel you in to consume more. And, yes, my own book is being sold this way too, with a free chapter and video . There’s no moral high-ground for me – I’m a moral low-ground sort of person. But that doesn’t stop me from encouraging folk to get the book from a library.

#5 Googling – Would it shock you to know that two Google searches produces the equivalent greenhouse gases of making a cup of tea. The London Telegraph reported this last year , and while Google denies it, it’s certainly true that global information technology is responsible for 2% of all greenhouse gases.

#4 Toxic waste – Larry Summers, President Obama’s chief economic adviser, was once a senior economist at the World Bank. When he was there, he wrote in a confidential but since widely cited memo that “Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]?” He argued that poor people valued a clean environment less than the rich, and so pollution should flow to them. And it has, with rich countries dumping their pollution on poor ones, undervaluing their lives and the damage it causes.

#3 Low income jobs. Part of the reason that food and energy are cheap is so that working peoples’ wage demands are kept in check. In Canada, average real wages have increased by just 1% in two decades – and in the US similar long term trends for working class people (and severe declines in the value of minimum wages.)
But around the world, minimum wages fall far below what families need to survive.

#2 Gas – The way we live to day depends on our not paying the full costs of fossil fuel – with thousands already dying and many billions being lost right now. While figures of $65 trillion a year for the real cost of fossil fuel are almost certainly wrong, with 300 million people affected, it’s already a disaster. We need to bring our governments to heel if we’re to leave a world worth living in to our children.

#1 Women’s work – The world wouldn’t turn without the work of raising children, and caring for family and community. But it’s the work that is most often and quite literally taken for granted. If the work that women did were to be paid, how much would it cost? Researchers put it at $11 trillion in 1995, or half the world’s total output. Movements demanding a basic income grant are laying the foundations for this new way of working and living. Valuing women’s work would, more than any other single thing, transform the way we think about our economy and society.