• Stories
• News Digest
• Backgrounders
• Manual
• Resources
• About

• Headline Feeds

Ron Colman, executive director of GPI Atlantic

A group that calculates the social and environmental costs of economic activity delivered some bad news to the province Wednesday concering its energy stategy.

GPI Atlantic said the province needs to better account for the full cost of its energy.

Ronald Colman, executive director of GPI Atlantic said, "there's some bad news here. The conclusion of the report is that the current energy system in Nova Scotia is not sustainable."

In the report GPI Atlantic assessed Nova Scotia's energy system in a new way that not only includes the economic costs of energy, but also the social and environmental costs of energy. Full-cost accounting is putting a value on elements that were previously valued as zero. For example health costs caused by pollution were never included as a energy systems cost. Judith Lipp, author of the GPI Atlantic report on energy said, "zero is the wrong number."

The GPI Atlantic report said costs from greenhouse and air pollutant emissions equals $600 million annually, or $661 a year for every man, woman, and child in Nova Scotia.

Judith Lipp, author of GPI report on NS energy systems out front of Nova Scotia Power's Tuft's Cove plant

The report makes recommendations for the government, the industry and individuals to help the state of the province's energy systems. Most notable were the recommendations for Nova Scotia Power, the provinces power utility.

Ninety per cent of Nova Scotia's energy comes from imported oil and coal. Seth Cain, co-author of the GPI Atlantic report said, "Our reliance on coal and other imported fuels are very serious security issues; there is cost volatility as we currently see with the 15 per cent rate increase request by Nova Scotia Power."

This rate increase is directly linked to the cost of imported fuels. Cain said the rising energy prices are hurting Nova Scotians because the transition to other energy sources is slow.

The GPI report recommended the province make a greater commitment to using renewable sources of energy in Nova Scotia. It said Nova Scotia has many role models for the improvement of energy. It's neighbour, Prince Edward Island aims to produce 100 per cent of its electricity using wind by 2015.

Improving pollution control technology in coal-fired plants and our amount of renewable power, and phasing out coal-fired power were other major recommendations for Nova Scotia Power.

GPI Atlantic said it invited Nova Scotia Power to sit in on the committee that produced the report, they declined that offer and did not attend the release Oct. 19.

Seth Cain, co-author of Nova Scotia energy systems report

Margaret Murphy, spokesperson for Nova Scotia Power, read the report and said all of the recommendations are good. Although Murphy was surprised no one from Nova Scotia Power was present at the media release for the report, she says they follow the work of GPI Atlantic and that Nova Scotia Power did participate in the information gathering for the report.

"We know how our plants run," Murphy said, "but we don't have any full-cost accounting experts on staff."

Although Nova Scotia's energy systems are far from perfect, Murphy says improvements have already been implemented. Nova Scotia Power spent $20 million this year on pollution control technology at the Tuft's Cove plant. This technology reduces the emissions released from the three red and white towers in Dartmouth.

Murphy said that there needs to be more of a push on using renewable energy sources.  The most promising sources for Nova Scotia Power are wind, tidal, biomass, and increasing the efficiency of the hydro sources. Murphy said that consumers request more environmental friendly sources of energy.

If Nova Scotia Power can research the wind tunnels and regimes in Nova Scotia it could create a wind energy production plan. Murphy said if the province can lock into a wind energy deal prices would be stable because wind contracts run on average 15 years.