Letter to the Editor
Editor,
TC Energy’s December 12th response to my previous call for ‘Sensibility’ regarding CO2 abatement programs is misleading and erroneous. This project will not “turn a 100% loss into a 75% gain”.
We do not have to spend $3.3 billion to salvage electrical energy sold to the U.S. A sensible solution to energy surplus in Ontario would be to simply reduce the selling price of power to the point where homeowners could justify heating their homes with electric furnaces, eliminating their consumption of fossil fuels. This would render an immediate, low cost and measureable CO2 reduction achievement.
Consider the fact that the proposed Meaford facility will operate at a 70% energy efficiency. This means an operating energy loss of 300 megawatts which is in the form of waste heat into the environment. The average home can be heated with a 15 kilowatt furnace, so the wasted energy alone could heat 20,000 homes. Most homes are equipped with a 200 amp service which is capable of powering an electric furnace, therefore no changes required to our existing power grid.
I respectfully caution Ontario taxpayers not to be deceived by TC Energy’s claims of CO2 reduction. There are many other lower cost initiatives which can be pursued to reduce our CO2 effluent and to manage our electrical energy surplus. Contemplation of pumped energy storage for Ontarians is a blatant misuse of public money.
As mentioned previously… Electrification of the GO commuter trains, Mass plantings of CO2 absorbing trees, No taxation of electrical vehicles, Replacement of fossil fuel furnaces with electric.
Again, “Some Sensibility Please”!
Stephen Carr, Meaford
