The sun is nowhere to be seen on a rainy fall evening in Aubrey Spring’s damp backyard, but its power is certainly top of mind. Spring, a teacher, is banking on solar energy to put his home and his Toronto neighbourhood on a more sustainable footing. On the garage roof, 12 new photovoltaic panels generate a flow of electrons when exposed to the sun. The panels are wired to a gadget the size of a medicine cabinet attached to an inside wall that converts those stimulated electrons into enough electricity to illuminate twenty 100-watt light bulbs. But the energy isn’t being used inside Spring’s home. Rather, the power flows through a cable out to the hydro lines on the street, where it is pooled with the electricity supplied by Toronto Hydro. The gadgetry, though remarkable, is designed to be simple, unobtrusive and green. “It’s self-producing,” he says with a shrug. “No switches to flip, no meters to check.”

To run efficiently, all the panels need is some sun plus an enlightened energy policy. Spring and his wife, Beverley Jackson, went solar to take advantage of Ontario’s new “standard offer” program, which promotes small renewable-energy projects using preferential guaranteed rates. They earn about $840 a year selling their garage-top power to Toronto Hydro for 42 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), an inversion of the time-honoured utility-consumer relationship. It’s by no means a home-run investment, but the return on their $20,000 outlay is equivalent to what they’d earn from a savings bond. And the profits are clean.

Germany approved the tariff almost as an afterthought, says Keith Stewart, an energy analyst for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). But solar power caught on quickly in a country with a long tradition of green politics and soon became a pillar of Germany’s energy policies. “It proved to be hugely popular because everyone wanted green power,” he says. “By the time the conventional-power sector realized this and tried to squash it, it couldn’t.” Indeed, the tariff has turned Germany into a green-energy superpower. Today, there are 1.3 million grid-connected solar “plants” in Germany — mostly rooftop installations or community-run solar farms — generating almost 2,500 MW of electricity, an output equivalent to one reactor at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, east of Toronto. The solar industry, in turn, employs 50,000 people and generates almost $7 billion in annual revenues. By contrast, in 2006, Canada produced a measly 20.5 MW of electricity from photovoltaic cells.

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/apr08/feature_sun_power.asp

Nelly Furtado helps turn out the lights in Toronto!

Canada's own Nelly Furtado, multi-platinum Grammy and Juno Award-winner, will perform a free concert at Nathan Phillips Square on March 29 to celebrate Earth Hour. People across the GTA are invited to attend Toronto's community event which will run from 6:45 pm to 9 pm.

See hundreds of buildings --- including City Hall — in the downtown core turn off their lights, and show your support for action on climate change.

http://www.toronto.ca/teo/earth-hour.htm

Be one of the million!

Toronto's goal is to have at least one million people participate by turning off their lights and making the city as dark as possible for one hour. Everyone is encouraged to participate - residents and businesses alike. Show your commitment to fight climate change, and see the difference we can make when we all work together.

Turn off your lights, spread the word and help make a difference!

To register & for more information and downloadable materials to help you spread the word, please visit: www.wwf.ca/EarthHour.

Fast facts

• About 25% of Toronto's greenhouse gas emissions come from the residential sector. The energy we use to light, heat and cool our homes generates greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
  
• Other major contributors of greenhouse gases are the commercial sector at 28%, and transportation at 35%.
  
• More than 2 million people and businesses participated in Earth Hour in Sydney, Australia last year. Electrical demand was reduced by a whopping 10 per cent and 25,000 fewer tonnes of CO2 were released into the atmosphere - in a single hour!

We can make a world of difference if we all do it together!

To learn more about what Toronto is doing to fight climate change and what you can do to help, please visit:
http://www.toronto.ca/changeisintheair/index.htm


Related Links:
March 28 Episode: "You Want Me to Give Up What?"
-- On the eve of Earth Hour, The Agenda asks: What would you be willing to give up to help the environment?
http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=43

The Ontario Liberal Government is committed to wasting $40 billion of taxpayers dollars on nuclear power.  Nuclear power is horrifically expensive, irresponsible and unnecessary.

The world’s leading expert on energy efficiency agrees with the GPO. Amory Lovins recently (March 12, 2008) testified to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to the US Congress.  His presentation was entitled Why expanding nuclear power would reduce and retard climate protection and energy security...but can’t survive free-market capitalism.  You may download it from:

http://globalwarming.house.gov/tools/assets/files/0401.pdf

It is well worth the read.  No private investors will sink money into nuclear -- without government backing, guarantees, and without putting all the liability on taxpayers.  That tells the whole story.

For full article, please visit:
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/4218


Related Press Releases:
Citizen's Inquiry on Uranium Mining http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/14.03.2008
March 30 Event: Discussion Panel in Moncton, NB http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/4228
Online Petition to Stop Nuclear Expansion in Ontario http://www.gopetition.com/online/17871.html