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Energy dilemma in USA and Canada
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/08/22 09:44  上海英文星报

  TORONTO - Environmentalists in the United States and Canada fear last week's blackout will provide potent ammunition for the politicians and business groups seeking massive investments in new power plants and transmission lines.

  A better legacy of Thursday's outage, which affected about 50 million people in the northwestern United States and parts of Canada, would be a bold push for renewable energy and effective conservation measures, activists say.

  They hope that the post-blackout scene in Ontario will be replicated elsewhere - a pro-business Conservative government preaching conservation to industry and householders alike, to the point of suggesting clothes-washing in cold water.

  "Building more plants and transmission lines - for consumers and people uneducated about the issues, it's an argument that will seem to make sense," said Steve Clemmer, energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts "Those are the obvious responses, but it's more complicated than that."

  The immediate push - if the blackout indeed is blamed on problems with the distribution grid - is likely to be for improved transmission lines. Many environmentalists agree that transmission systems need improvement, but say existing lines can be upgraded to improve capacity and efficiency.

  "Nobody wants a new transmission line in their backyard," Clemmer said.

  Long term, environmentalists fear the blackout will provide impetus for a component of the Bush administration energy policy envisioning widespread construction of new power plants.

  "There's a better way," said Debbie Boger, a Sierra Club energy expert in Washington. "The best way to prevent energy bottlenecks and grid overload is to increase the efficiency of our buildings, homes, factories and appliances, in addition to our transmission lines."

  Among the specific proposals being touted are tighter efficiency standards for lighting fixtures and major appliances, including air conditioners.

  Environmentalists also are calling for speedier development of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.

  "They're cleaner, and if they go off line, there won't be a ripple effect," said Clemmer, whose organization has proposed that 20 per cent of US electricity be supplied by renewable energy by 2020.

  However, Gavin Donohue, executive director of the Independent Power Producers of New York, said environmentalists should accept the fact that expanded transmission and generating facilities also are needed.

  "This blackout covered 9,300 square miles (23,810 square kilometres) and affected 50 million people," Donohue said. "Renewable energy and conservation are an important part of the solution, but it's laughable to say they could have made up the difference of what occurred here."

  Jack Gibbons, chairman of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, said any new power plants constructed in the province should be fueled by natural gas or other relatively clean energy.

  "The people of North America are going to demand a more reliable supply, and also cleaner air," he said. "Wind power, natural gas, water power - people in those businesses will seize the opportunity. The coal-burning power industry will try to do that also, but ultimately they will fail, because their competitors have the better option."

  Air pollution is likely to be a pivotal issue as policy-makers and lobbyists debate post-blackout alternatives.

  The US Government and several Northeastern states have taken legal action against some coal-burning power companies in the Midwest, accusing them of violating pollution-control laws and thus causing acid rain and health problems in downwind regions. Three Northeastern states also are trying force coal-fired power plants in Ontario to reduce pollution emissions.

  If large numbers of new power plants are built, one result could be a substantial increase in emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The United States has rejected an international protocol requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; Canada, by contrast, has signed the Kyoto Protocol and is proposing an array of efficiency measures for consumers and industry.

  Tom Adams of the Toronto-based watchdog group Energy Probe said the blackout will likely provide ammunition to both sides in the debate over power and conservation.

  "Those within the power industry who have been saying for a long time that we haven't been making appropriate investments in our grid systems - they have an audience now," Adams said. "But the pro-conservation forces have received also substantial vindication - you hear the political leadership in Ontario crying from rooftops, begging people to be careful with their electricity consumption."




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