It was primarily a symbolic gesture. Way back in 1979, in the midst of an energy crisis, Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. They were used to heat water for some White House staffers.

“A generation from now,” said Mr. Carter, “this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people, harnessing the power of the sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil.”

Ronald Reagan had the panels taken down.

Excerpted from the February 13, 2010 op-ed in the New York Times.

Here are a few facts that are staggering in relation to this issue:

Canada is America’s largest supplier of oil.

America reached its peak oil production in 1970 and has been in steady decline ever since.

America’s consumption of oil reached its peaked during the energy crisis of 1979 at over 21,000 barrels per day.  It exceeded this level beginning in 2006.  The current economic recession has had a big impact on consumption, now hovering just over 19,000 barrels per day.

The US ranks 7th in energy consumption per capita after Canada and a number of small countries.

Well, the devil is always in the details, but it’s sure a good start. Ontario’s proposed new Green Energy Act is hoping to make a few key changes in the way that we manage energy in the province:

• It sets strict conservation targets. Conservation is always the most cost-effective to start, so this is a good angle.
• It introduces real cost pricing of energy. Right now we’re subsidizing consumption – which is NOT an effective way to foster conservation.
• It weans us off of coal once and for all by 2014. Coal is neither clean nor renewable, so this is an absolutely necessary step.
• Incentives for clean and green technology development, not status quo. We’ve been subsidizing the wrong technologies in past, so this makes amends.
• Streamlined approvals for renewable projects so that we don’t create additional costs for already expensive development projects.
• It creates mandatory requirements and priority spots for renewable energy on Ontario’s Electricity Grid. This means guaranteed consumers for energy projects and that will lower the risk for new development.
• New technology for energy storage. One of the challenges of renewable energy is that it’s not always windy or sunny when you need energy. Better storage means that we don’t need to fire up the coal plant as backup.

You’ve probably also heard a lot about the green jobs that the new Act will create. This part is a little harder to judge, given that we really haven’t seen a plan that details how the proposed 50,000 jobs will be created. Canada is not exactly a hub of green manufacturing – so we’re not likely to be building many large-scale turbine or solar panel plants to compete with Europe. Sustainability includes being able to meet our own needs locally, though, so we’ll need to get started.

Clearly Ontario doesn’t have a long track record of environmental success, but on paper, this is a very strong leadership move. In the words of the Premier, Dalton McGuinty, “Because of our Green Energy Act, our province would be greener, stronger, and in a better position to compete and win against the rest of the world. We’re going to seize this opportunity to build a better Ontario — better for jobs, better for our children, better for our planet.”

Here’s hoping that’s the case…

Check out the details of the act  http://www.greenenergyact.ca/

[written by Katie Altoft]

Editor’s Note:    At Green Cricket we are keen to raise awareness to environmental issues. We want to help our customers make intelligent choices with products they can purchase, that make best use of the earth’s precious resources. Our “Green Quality Criteria” designation is an easy way to access product specific information about how items are made and sourced, as well as their distance to market.

If you get a professional energy audit done and make subsequent changes to your home, you could be eligible for a grant of up to $5,000 from the federal government, which may also be matched by your provincial government.

Proposed new legislation in Ontario may soon require a home energy audit prior to sale. If you are wondering if your house wastes energy, get a professional home energy audit now to locate your home’s leaks and inefficiencies. It’ll help you make choices about home upgrades and will save you money over time.

Looking ahead, energy efficient homes are attractive on the real estate market and sell for as much as $8,000 more. A more energy-efficient home is warmer in winter, cooler in summer and has cleaner air. Apart from the benefit to the bottom-line pricing of your home upon resale, you can also recoup the cost of the audit and the retrofits you make by saving as much as 35% on your heating and cooling costs.  Using less energy in your home will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy production by as much as 4 tonnes a year.

At Green Cricket we are concerned about energy saving too and we highlight to our customers the products that are produced within 100 miles of our warehouse. Seeing the distance-to-market criteria symbol on our website will help you in your purchasing decisions along with our other Quality Criteria.

[written by Kate Holloway, Trevor Smith]