Province
TORONTO — Ontario is considering becoming the first province to follow Australia’s lead in banning old-fashioned light bulbs, Environment Minister Laurel Broten said yesterday as the province draws up a plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Opposition parties and environmental groups are urging the government to ban incandescent bulbs in favour of energy-efficient ones, saying it’s the push people need to save electricity and a move that would eliminate some of the province’s dependence on coal-fired power plants.
“There are a lot of great ideas out there and that’s one of them,” Broten said. “Everything is on the table.”
No one in Ontario should underestimate the importance of replacing standard bulbs with more energy-efficient ones, Broten added.
By Premier Dalton McGuinty’s estimate, replacing every old-fashioned bulb with an energy-efficient one would allow the province to shut down one coal-fired power plant.
“It is so important that Ontarians change those light bulbs,” Broten said. “We’re looking at other jurisdictions and the success that they’re having.”
Australia is banning the bulbs and says it will cut the country’s emissions by four million tonnes by 2012. The move will also cut household power bills by up to 66 per cent.
California, which is widely considered to be on the leading edge of energy policy in North America, is debating a similar ban.
Julia McNally, of Ontario’s Conservation Bureau, said many provinces are trying to educate people about switching to energy-efficient bulbs. That’s a good start, she said, but it doesn’t change behaviour permanently.
“You need a ban,” she said.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
