Ontario Green Power "Brand Management"

October 2009

• The Ontario Government is changing the green energy landscape in the province.
• It is pursuing broad green power goals on behalf of all Ontarians whereas before, individual consumers interested in supporting green power could do so on their own by paying a premium to a green power producer or reseller.
• This shift parallels the evolution of the thinking of Stewart Brand, a long-time environmentalist who now espouses government scale, top-down actions rather than grass roots, independent efforts.

Ideological Shift

The Ontario Government is changing the green energy landscape in the province; first with its phase out of coal-fired generation, then with the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program of the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), and now with the OPA's Feed-In Tariff program.

This whole sea change is an ideological shift - just not the kind you might be expecting. Sure, we're going to "green" our grid - get rid of coal, and add wind, solar and other forms of renewable generation. This demonstrates the application of an ideology.

Also at work here is the shift from voluntary, individual action to mandatory, socialized central action.

Before, individual consumers interested in supporting green power could do so on their own, by paying a premium to a green power producer or most often, a green power re-seller. Market forces were behind the incremental adoption of green power. Now, the government is pursuing broad green power goals, and doing it on behalf of all Ontarians.

"Brand Management"

One parallel to Ontario's green energy shift is the evolution of Stewart Brand's thinking. Brand is a long-time environmentalist and one of the drivers behind the Whole Earth Catalog, a cornerstone document for the early environmental movement.

Originally, Brand espoused grass roots, independent actions. Now, Brand argues that individual actions can't come close to generating the scale required to deal with environmental issues. In his new book, Whole Earth Discipline, he now espouses government scale, top-down action.

How far Brand feels this should go is hard to say. In a recent interview with Cathal Kelly of the Toronto Star, Brand didn't disagree with Kelly's suggestion that Brand was "advocating some sort of environmental dictatorship". Brand then went on to say that "China's headed in that direction".

Things to Ponder

Individuals have and will continue to be able to make personal choices concerning green power purchases. With the provincial government's actions on everyone's behalf though, there are many questions related to how these actions for all could affect the effectiveness of individual actions.

Individuals would do well to ask themselves a few key questions when considering a green power purchase:

• Has the government cornered the market on truly incremental green power?

• What does my individual green purchase help to achieve on a true, incremental basis?

• Has the green power related to my purchase already been accounted for when describing the "greenness" of Ontario's electricity supply mix?

• As the government retires coal and adds more green power to the supply mix, how much "dirty" power is displaced when I make a green power purchase? Is this a case of diminishing returns?

These are all things to ponder, and in our view make transparent, when assessing a potential green power purchase.

In future articles, look for discussions on green power math, how the OPA could help break its own green electricity monopoly, and how the carbon intensity of the Ontario electricity supply mix will evolve over the next year.