Doctors and nurses back wind, solar power

Ontario's family physicians and nurses are launching an advertising campaign to defend wind and solar power.

The ads, to run in western Ontario and Niagara newspapers, will be sponsored by the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, and by the Asthma Society of Canada and Ontario Lung Association.

Ontario's Liberal government has pledged to shut the coal plants by 2014.

But an election is looming in this fall, campaign spokesman Gideon Forman said in an interview.

"We don't know who's going to be in government in October 2011," said Forman, who is executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

"It's quite possible that we could have another government that would not embrace the coal phase-out and we're quite concerned about that."

"We want whoever's in power to know that doctors and nurses support this."

The Conservatives have been highly critical of the Green Energy Act, which seeks to replace coal with renewables and conservation.

The ads back renewable power.

"Ontario doctors, nurses and other health professionals support energy conservation combined with wind and solar power, to help us move away from coal," the ads say.

Critics of wind power have said that wind turbines can damage the health of those who live nearby.

Forman questions the evidence for that. But even if true, he said, pollution from coal plants causes much worse damage, leading to 150,000 illnesses and 300 deaths each year in Ontario.

Wind power critics have also said that gas-fired plants must be built to offset the variability of wind. Forman said that a mature renewable power sector with solar, wind and geothermal power can provide stability.

Forman says the exact cost isn't yet tallied, but the ads will cost in the "tens of thousands of dollars."

The groups running the ads would like to see the coal plants phased out even earlier than 2014, Forman said.

The college of family physicians has 10,000 members and the nurses' association has 31,000 members.

"All the research we've done shows that coal has to go."

Related News

global-c02-emissions

Global CO2 emissions 'flatlined' in 2019, says IEA

LONDON - Despite widespread expectations of another increase, global energy-related CO2 emissions stopped growing in 2019, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) data released today. After two years of growth, global emissions were unchanged at 33 gigatonnes in 2019 even as the world economy expanded by 2.9%.

This was primarily due to declining emissions from electricity generation in advanced economies, thanks to the expanding role of renewable sources (mainly wind and solar), fuel switching from coal to natural gas, and higher nuclear power generation, the Paris-based organisation says in the report.

"We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019…

READ MORE
heating-and-electricity-costs-in-germany-set-to-rise

Heating and Electricity Costs in Germany Set to Rise

READ MORE

solar panel on roof of home

High Natural Gas Prices Make This The Time To Build Back Better - With Clean Electricity

READ MORE

texas snow storm

"It's freakishly cold": Deep freeze slams American energy sector

READ MORE

texas utility worker

Texas utility companies waiving fees; city has yet to act

READ MORE