The number of nuclear power stations it would take to provide the amount of energy being brought online by the Green Energy Act and the province’s $8 billion worth of eco power contracts. Ontario’s feed-in tariff (FIT), adopted in May 2009, rewards eco energy producers big and small with a 20-year payout of 44.3 to 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. All power to all the upstarts in biomass, biogas, landfill gas, wind, solar and water.
Number of tons of carbon emissions nixed yearly when Canada’s 2012 ban on incandescent bulbs comes into force. In a few years, we will finally move past Edison-era lighting, though plenty of us have already switched to compact fluorescents (CFLs) or LEDs. And – bonus – they save the average household $60 a year. Not much, but enough to keep you in organic broccoli for a couple of months.
What the feds are spending over three years to research the leaching of bisphenol A. In 2008, the feds turned BPA into a four-letter word, banning it from baby bottles. Less than a year later, Sunoco, a producer of BPA, said it was halting sales of the additive to makers of plastics for kids under three, and now it’s retail suicide for companies like Nalgene to sell products containing any amount of the stuff. We’re watching the ongoing research. C’mon, feds, we’re all babies inside – ban it outright.
Number of dump trucks per year Ontario’s Environment Ministry hopes to fill with our unwanted electronics. The latest phase of the province’s gizmo recycling program is encouraging people to haul 44 different types of devices, from MP3 players to cellphones, functioning or not, to collection sites that will ensure we don’t add the poisons buried deep in circuit boards and monitors to our already bursting landfills. It’ll make you feel better about shelling out for that iPad, too.
Square kilometres of the northern boreal forest that will, enviros expect, be protected when the province’s Far North Planning And Protection Act is passed this summer. It’s set to become the largest conservation move in Canadian history and should pass in June. Ring of Fire mining issues notwithstanding, this will help the boreal keep doing its carbon-catching work.
Number of harmful substances like lead, mercury and formaldehyde now being monitored by Toronto’s ChemTRAC initiative, which got rolling in January. Next phase in 2011: food/drink manufacturers, printing, chemical, wood industries and others have to report on chems used. Further phases incorporate tracking and reporting for industries like automotive repair, dry cleaners and (a relief for those who fear deadly dead-people fumes) funeral services.
The gross floor area set by the Green Roofs Bylaw for new industrial buildings above which a green roof is required (six storeys or higher for residences). New regs, the first in North America, came into force in January. Nice way to chill out the metropolis.
