Media responses to the Energy Plan

B.C. utility green levy to total $25 million annually
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun, 28-Feb-2007

B.C.'s new energy plan is green and ambitious and it won't be cheap
Editorial, Vancouver Sun, 28-Feb-2007

Victoria demands big energy cuts
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun, 28-Feb-2007

Province explores building of third hydroelectric dam
On Peace River, near Hudson's Hope
Jeff Rud, Times Colonist, 28-Feb-2007

'Smart' hydro meters eyed for all homes
Jeff Rud, Times Colonist, 28-Feb-2007

Sustainability is the key
Editorial, Times-Colonist, 28-Feb-2007

Energy self-sufficiency plan means Site C to get new look-see
Ian Bailey, The Province, 28-Feb-2007

B.C. energy plan set to hit consumers in the pocketbook
Editorial, The Province, 28-Feb-2007

Peace River dam back in favour
Wendy Stueck, Globe and Mail, 28-Feb-2007

Electronic devices drive our energy use
Glenn Bohn, Vancouver Sun, 28-Feb-2007

2007 BC Energy Plan - "A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership"
http://www.energyplan.gov.bc.ca/

British Columbia's abundance of clean energy resources will provide a soft landing for the provincial government's bold leap into a green future, experts said on Tuesday.

The energy plan unveiled by Energy Minister Richard Neufeld heaps equal responsibility for keeping the lights burning in B.C. on private sector electricity producers, residents, industries and business operators who rely on the BC Hydro grid.

The plan calls for B.C. to use conservation to curtail half the estimated 30,000 gigawatt hours of new electricity demand that will emerge by 2020, and to meet the remainder of that new demand through development of a potentially wide array of green power enterprises.

Neufeld also confirmed earlier government commitments to make the province independent of electricity imports -- and thus in a position to market surplus power at a profit to the United States -- by 2016.

Neufeld's plan, several parts of which were presaged in the throne speech and provincial budget, includes a $25-million annual levy on utility customers in support of innovative clean energy projects. Those could include tidal, solar and geo-thermal power, the minister said.

BC Hydro president and chairman Bob Elton acknowledged that for the near future, the run-of-river and small hydro projects will continue to dominate Hydro's calls for new power sources.

"But again, like anything else there is a cost curve. People will find the best projects right now and gradually they will be looking for harder and harder projects. It's like any other industry."

The government also loosened some of the regulatory shackles on so-called micro-hydro projects by announcing that they can proceed on the basis of a standard contract, on their own schedules rather than waiting for Hydro to issue a formal call.

"The price they're offering may not be attractive to people but the fact there isn't the bureaucracy or process of having to go through a tender call creates a lot of opportunity and certainty for people, and that's a really good thing," said Donald McInnes, president and director of Plutonic Power.

Steve Davis, president of the Independent Power Producers of B.C. (IPPBC), described the plan as "balanced."

Davis said it guarantees Hydro will continue as a Crown corporation with the ability to add power through upgrades to existing facilities and with long-term mega-projects, such as the Site C dam proposed for the Peace River.

But he added that B.C. "has also opened the door to the green and small power sector.

"This is an additional signal that newer and more novel technologies have got a place.

"From the IPPBC side of things, there are 300 member companies who are ready, willing and able to deliver on many of the things that are laid out in a long menu of activities."

David Austin, an energy lawyer who has acted for independent power producers and other clients in hearings before the B.C. Utilities Commission, said "It's a good plan but it may need some fine tuning."

"You want to make sure you don't cause construction inflation by pushing to reach energy independence in 2016," Austin said.

Austin added that it would be a mistake to jump to the conclusion that Hydro is pushing ahead with the Site C dam project, which Neufeld mentioned briefly. Site C costs remain uncertain -- around $5 billion back in 2004 -- and it would take a decade to develop, he said.

"BC Hydro doesn't have a hard number on the project. Look at the tiny little Aberfeldie [dam rebuilding] project. It went from $51 million in October 2004 to $94 million in November 2006."

Guy Dauncey, president of the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, said there is ample reason for B.C. to embark immediately on development of tidal power.

"The tidal industry is really ramping up worldwide. Britain is putting big money into it and so is the United States.

"We've got great tidal resources and if we don't get on board, we are going to be ending up buying up someone else's technology instead of selling them abroad."

Dauncey was particularly pleased that the plan included a commitment to review the mandate of the B.C. Utilities Commission, which tends to focus exclusively on the price of new power.

"We've been saying the public interest includes social and environmental considerations and that might effect the way you consider price. "

ssimpson@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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The site of Site C: Plans revived for a third dam on the Peace River.
Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun, files

The provincial government's new energy plan displays an intention to change -- the colour of the document's cover is now the politically correct green from the cool blue of the 2002 version -- but not by much.

The central emphasis is still on the goals contained in the previous plan for developing and maintaining home-grown reliable and affordable energy for British Columbia.

The 2007 plan looks at energy production through the government's recently adopted global warming lens, which sheds a new light on a number of issues.

The most ambitious green targets are for electricity. As outlined two weeks ago in the throne speech, the plan calls for the province to be energy self-sufficient by 2016, with 90 per cent of the power coming from clean or renewable resources.

Since 90 per cent of the electricity produced in the province already comes from hydro, that means concentrating on making up the 12-15 per cent of the electricity that we consume in B.C. that has to be imported each year and providing for the anticipated growth in demand.

The most visible effect of this is the related decision to dust off plans for a new dam at Site C on the Peace River in northeastern B.C. Site C was last shelved in the early 1990s, in part because of opposition from environmentalists.

The government now reasonably calculates that the new math required to compute the effect of our actions on global warming will mean that the development of a large hydroelectric dam will be judged as an environmentally friendly act rather than devastation of the landscape.

For consumers, the plan is to convince you to pay more and use less, through a combination of moral suasion, higher prices, a new surtax on utilities and conservation incentives.

Consumers are vital to the success of the plan because the goal is a kilowatt from conservation for every kilowatt in new generation by 2020.

That won't be achieved without cost. The conversion to smart meters, for example, now being considered by BC Hydro to allow differential rates for peak demand periods, could cost $500 million. But if they work as hoped, such meters would eliminate the need for new generation that would cost far more.

None of that new generation will be allowed to come from coal because of a somewhat inconsistent decision not to allow any greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired generating plants even though other thermal plants will be allowed if they are attached to offsets, such as tree planting.

This means the government will not allow coal to be burned in B.C. in what could be relatively clean plants, while continuing to ship millions of tonnes to Asia where it will be burned in plants outside of our control that will nonetheless pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The main caveat with the new plan is that this is not the first energy plan this government has produced and its record for political management of BC Hydro has not been stellar, as seen most recently in the decision by the B.C. Public Utilities Commission to disallow Hydro's deal to buy power from Alcan Inc., a deal the commission said was bad for consumers.

If implemented smartly, however, this plan should allow energy to remain a significant economic advantage to B.C. while starting to address an emerging set of environmental concerns.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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CREDIT: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
Peace River Valley islands and farm lands would be covered with water if BC Hydro builds the site C dam near Fort St. John.

VICTORIA -- British Columbians are being asked to conserve power as never before in a new energy plan unveiled Tuesday, as the provincial government seeks to fight climate change and make the province self-sufficient in electricity by 2016.

The energy plan stipulates that over the next 13 years consumers must cut their future demands in electrical usage, above what they currently consume, in half -- the biggest conservation move ever made by BC Hydro. The government is also hoping to end the common misconception that B.C. is awash in cheap, clean electrical power when, in fact, it needs to build new power sources.

While it rejected building nuclear power plants to meet future electricity needs, it stipulates that major new power sources are needed, and opened the door for construction of the controversial Site C hydro dam on the Peace River, saying it will start talks with Alberta and first nations to look at the project's feasibility.

"We have a province where people have never had to think about electricity," said Bob Elton, president of BC Hydro. "We need to change that view."

Current projections are that B.C. will need an extra 30,000 gigawatts of electrical power [gigawatt is a measure of electric capacity equal to one billion watts] by 2020. But the energy plan, which offers only a taste of the government's broader "climate change action plan" to be presented in coming weeks, wants consumers and businesses to reduce their future annual electrical consumption by half -- a whopping 15,000 gigawatts -- by 2020.

That's about one-quarter of the province's total current energy usage. In everyday terms, assuming the average household consumes about 10,000 kw/h per year, that means saving enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1.5 million homes.

"Climate change is real," said Energy Minister Richard Neufeld as he announced the plan. "And what effect human activity is having [on climate change] is in part real."

Still, even with new conservation targets that bring the province more in line with other jurisdictions such as California, an energy crunch still looms. Elton expects the province will need another 15,000 gigawatts of new electricity annually by 2020 -- the equivalent of three Site C dams. And to keep that new energy from adding to B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions, the government is setting some strict rules:

- All new electrical power plants in the province must have "zero-net greenhouse gas emissions." That means projects would have to be powered by clean energy sources or must offset any greenhouse gas emissions through such measures as tree planting or investing in other clean-energy projects.

- All current power generation plants must "reach zero net greenhouse gas" emission targets by 2016. That again offers the possibility of old power stations investing in new technology or even carbon trading, where companies buy tax credits from cleaner industries to continue polluting.

- 90 per cent of all the province's electrical power must be from clean or renewable energy sources, the current ratio.

- A new building code must be completed by 2010 that will require the latest in energy-saving construction techniques, including such things as green roofs and energy-efficient boilers and generators.

- The energy industry must cut by 50 per cent the number of incidents of flaring oil and gas wells within the next four years. The government wants all flaring, a major source of greenhouse gases, eliminated by 2016.

- Power generators can make use of pine-beetle infested trees to generate power. As expected, no coal-fired power plant will be allowed unless it pumps its greenhouse gases into the ground, an unproven technology.

The backbone of the energy plan is voluntary conservation. Yet the government is offering individuals few new incentives to encourage the energy savings it is seeking.

"How do you change public behaviour, if you're going keep electrical prices low?" said James Horgan, the New Democratic Party's energy critic. "What's the incentive to move to more efficient appliances, for people to power smart their windows? There's nothing new to encourage people to meet these goals."

Environmental groups also warned the government may lose all the benefits of its conservation strategy because of its continuing support for the oil and gas industry. They also wondered about the province's continued support for scientific studies to see if offshore oil and gas could be developed, a move that would put it at odds with California's moratorium on such developments.

"It is inconsistent to promote energy conservation measures if, at the same time, we are busy increasing our emissions from the heavily-subsidized oil and gas sector," said the Sierra Club's Kathryn Molloy.

The government is continuing existing programs to encourage the switch to more efficient heaters, refrigerators and windows. It is also continuing its $2,000 provincial sales tax rebate on hybrid cars until 2011, though it did not set out emission targets for automobiles. That is expected to be part of the upcoming transportation plan, another key to the climate change agenda.

B.C. Hydro is optimistic, however, that consumers can be educated to reduce energy through its pilot program to install "smart meters" in households. Elton said those devices, allowing consumers to see directly how much energy they are using, can help reduce energy consumption by as much as 10 per cent once people see how they are using their electricity.

Elton said smart meters -- now in about 2,000 homes for testing and still not approved for use --could be put in all of the province's homes over a three-to-four-year period. He predicted the program would cost about $500 million.

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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B.C. CEO Hydro Bob Elton talks to reporters about the province's new energy plan. Building of a dam is unlikely before 2016, he said.
Photograph by : Ray Smith, Times Colonist

The provincial government has served notice that it will take a hard look at building B.C.'s first massive hydro-electric project in nearly a quarter-century.

Yesterday's B.C. Energy Plan confirmed that B.C. Hydro and the government will "enter into initial discussions with First Nations, the province of Alberta and communities to discuss Site C," the name given a controversial proposal for a third dam on the Peace River, near Hudson's Hope.

Energy Minister Richard Neufeld was careful to say that the mention of Site C doesn't mean the dam is going ahead.

"This does not commit the province to building the project -- only to explore further the possibility of it,'' Neufeld said. "There are a number of stages that we'll go through in looking at the possibility of developing Site C.''

Neufeld said there is no set time frame, because it could require "an awful lot of consultation."

The public needs to be made aware of the project and consultation with groups or communities that could be affected must take place, he said.

B.C. has been a net importer of electricity for five years. A key goal of the new energy plan is to be electrically self-sufficient by 2016.

But B.C. Hydro president Bob Elton said that goal must be accomplished without counting on Site C, because "It would be very unlikely to build Site C before 2016.''

Hydro has estimated the Site C price tag at between $2.3 billion and $3.2 billion, but that doesn't include inflation during construction and other costs, which could bring the total to $5 billion.

The dam would produce about 5,000 gigawatt hours of electricity a year. That would represent only about one-sixth of the projected rise in demand in B.C. by then.

Site C would be the third dam on the Peace after the Bennett and Peace Canyon dams. It would be one-third the size of the Bennett, the largest in B.C. It would have a major impact on the Peace River Valley, flooding thousands of hectares.

NDP energy critic John Horgan called the Site C proposal a "hornet's nest.''

"There are First Nations issues, there are agricultural land issues, there are cross-border issues with Alberta. So as we proceed with discussions around Site C, I think the minister will be very cautious.''

The NDP has opposed Site C because it was initially proposed as an export plant, Horgan said. But now it would be used to generate power for B.C. use, and the NDP is reviewing its policy on the project.

Kathryn Molloy, executive director of the B.C. chapter of the Sierra Club, said her organization is against Site C.

"We're never pleased to see that they're going to take what would already be considered to be a sensitive area and destroy it, especially if it's not necessary,'' Molloy said. "And we believe with conservation measures we will never have to develop Site C.''

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New "smart" hydro meters could be installed in all homes within the next five years as part of the B.C. Energy Plan unveiled yesterday.

Energy Minister Richard Neufeld's ambitious strategy calls for B.C. Hydro to meet 50 per cent of the province's new power needs over the next 13 years through conservation measures.

Hydro president Bob Elton said this means using new meter technology now being piloted in 2,000 homes that tells consumers how they're using power and how much it costs.

The meters will allow Hydro to reward customers for using electricity outside peak periods.

Once the technology is finalized, Elton said installing meters will cost $400 million to $500 million and take between three and five years.

Another key conservation tactic will be a new B.C. building code by 2010 to mandate energy efficient construction.

The energy plan also calls for B.C. Hydro and the government to "enter into initial discussions" with First Nations groups, the Alberta government and other stakeholders about potential construction of the controversial Site C dam on the Peace River.

"This plan sets the foundation for energy leadership," Neufeld said. "It takes the province into the future, with made-in-B.C. solutions and ensures we have a secure, reliable supply of energy at affordable rates, produced in an environmentally responsible way."

B.C. now consumes 55,000 gigawatt hours of power a year. That is projected to rise by 30,000 gigawatt hours over 20 years. The plan counts heavily on voluntary conservation to cut that increase in half.

"The goal is, instead of [consumption] going up from 55,000 to 85,000, can you go up from 55,000 to 70,000?," Elton said.

B.C. has been a net importer of electricity for five years. The plan calls for self-sufficiency by 2016.

"We have a province where people have never had to worry about electricity," Elton said.

"People are starting to think: 'What can I do?' Each of us can reduce our consumption by 10 per cent, just by deciding to do it."

Highlights of the new energy plan:

- All new electricity projects to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, which means they will have to be powered by clean energy sources or must offset emissions through such measures as tree planting or investing in other clean-energy projects.

- All coal-fired generation projects to have zero emissions.

- 90 per cent of total hydro generation to remain clean or renewable.

- Hydro to request proposals for using sawmill waste, forest wastewood and pine beetle wood for power generation.

- A new standing-offer program to allow independent companies to sell up to 10 megawatts of power to Hydro.

- Government to develop a B.C. biodiesel and ethanol industry by requiring five per cent minimum mix of both by 2010.

- No nuclear power generation.

Environmentalists praised the plan for setting tough conservation targets and committing to sustainable energy. Even NDP critic John Horgan was optimistic.

"I was pleased with the conservation targets," Horgan said. "The challenge as we go from here is how do we meet those targets, what incentives are there for the public to buy energy efficient appliances, are there going to be tax credits and tax savings?"

Kathryn Molloy of the Sierra Club raised concerns that subsidies for the oil and gas industry remain higher than for conservation or alternative energy.

She was also disappointed the plan didn't deal with transportation.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007

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Editorial
Times-Colonist
28-Feb-2007

A lot of questions remain, but the province's new energy plan, unveiled yesterday at Caramanah Technologies, signals a positive shift. The government has grasped both the urgency of the challenge ahead and the public's interest in real change in the way we produce and use energy. The plan, presented by Energy Minister Richard Neufeld, sets some broad targets.

snip

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The B.C. government wants a new look at an old proposal for a controversial $3.5-billion dam near Fort St. John as part of a new energy plan announced yesterday.

But Energy Minister Richard Neufeld went to great lengths to say the province was not necessarily intent on proceeding with the so-called Site C project, only considering its options.

"This does not commit the province to building the project, only to explore further the possibility," he told reporters.

Site C has been criticized since it was proposed in the 1970s by residents where it would be built, environmentalists, natives and others concerned about its cost and negative environmental impacts.

Among other things, the project, that would follow two other major dams in the Peace area, would require the flooding of an area of the Peace Valley about a dozen times as large as Stanley Park.

But it would yield enough energy to meet the needs of 500,000 households.

Neufeld yesterday called for "second-stage" talks with various stakeholders, including and Alberta and aboriginal groups.

The actual text of the 40-page energy plan, the first since 2002, lumps Site C into a section on energy security, describing the project as part of an effort to ensure B.C.'s energy needs are met.

Other pillars include maintaining public ownership of B.C. Hydro, and energy self-sufficiency for the province by 2016.

NDP Energy Critic John Horgan said he doubted the project will ever be built.

"Even if you got the approval of the community, and addressed the loss of agricultural land, you still would have to find numerous skilled tradespeople to build the thing, and they're not there," he said.

"[The energy plan] suggests any development at Site C is some distance into the future."

Kathryn Molloy of the Sierra Club said she expected the conservation commitments of the energy plan would rule out the need for Site C.

ibailey@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Province 2007

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The B.C. Energy Plan presented yesterday by the provincial government is an ambitious document that, for the first time, hints at the sacrifices that will be required as we embark on a new era of climate-change consciousness.

For homeowners, it will mean extra taxes and levies on utility bills to pay for an "innovative green energy fund" -- a burden fraught with risk, since those making the payments will have no say in how they are put to use.

For businesses, the new preoccupation with the environment means welcome controls on polluters (such as eventually eliminating flaring at petroleum-producing wells), but at what price it is too early to tell.

Stricter building codes intended to conserve energy are also an obvious measure. But again, the pressure on already soaring construction costs will inevitably be upward.

Some parts of the plan are open to debate. It's all very well to burn pine-beetle-infested wood to help us become energy self-sufficient. But what happens when the wood is gone?

And while the government has arbitrarily ruled out nuclear power (the cleanest of all energy generators), it has dusted off 20-year-old plans to build a hydro-electric dam on the Peace River that would flood thousands of hectares near Fort St. John.

A key to the goal of becoming self-sufficient in electricity by 2016 is that we will all be expected to consume less -- or pay more.

But going green, without getting into the red, will mean more than just remembering to turn down the lights.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

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WENDY STUECK
Globe and Mail
28-Feb-2007

VANCOUVER -- A multibillion-dollar dam shelved for decades over cost and environmental concerns is back on the front burner in British Columbia, part of an ambitious energy plan that features sweeping conservation targets, the use of beetle-killed timber as fuel, and fuel-cell buses to shuttle sports fans to Olympic events.

The controversial Site C dam, first proposed back in the 1970s and in and out of favour several times since, was resurrected in B.C.'s new energy plan. Unveiled yesterday in Victoria, the plan followed a Throne Speech earlier in the month that set out B.C.'s plan to slash greenhouse-gas emissions and become energy sufficient by 2016.

"We will begin second-stage discussion with first nations, Alberta and stakeholders on the advancement of Site C, a third dam on the Peace River," provincial Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said at a press conference in Victoria.

"This does not commit the province to building a project, only to explore further the possibility of [building it]."

Provincial utility BC Hydro has already held some preliminary consultations on the project, which previous cost estimates have pegged at $3.5-billion and that would involve flooding part of the Peace Valley.

In a question-and-answer session after his formal remarks, Mr. Neufeld refused to speculate on when a decision might be made on the project. "That doesn't have a definitive time frame, because that could involve an awful lot of consultation," Mr. Neufeld said.

BC Hydro had previously flagged Site C as a potential part of its long-term energy supply, so it's not surprising to see the project in the province's new energy plan, said Lenore Harwood, mayor of Hudson's Hope. The town is on the banks of the Peace River and the river's W. A. C. Bennett and Peace Canyon dams are within its municipal boundaries.

Hudson's Hope has many concerns about Site C, Ms. Harwood said, including the impact of flooding on fish and wildlife, potential erosion and the effect on travel to the bigger centre of Fort St. John, currently about a one-hour drive from Hudson's Hope.

Previous presentations have indicated that parts of that route would be flooded, so residents want to know what the revised route would be, she said.

Mayor for 14 years and a council member for 21, Ms. Harwood said she is not against hydro power. But new energy projects such as wind farms, dams and coal plants tend to have a disproportionate effect on rural communities that may not reap the benefits of development.

"We have people in our municipality that don't have power," she said.

And the 30-year uncertainty over Site C has made it tough to maintain roads and bridges that might some day wind up under water.

She even joked that recent news that a one-lane bridge in the community was in line for an upgrade was a sure sign that Site C talks were about to kick back into high gear.

But she welcomed Mr. Neufeld's emphasis on consultation, saying residents want a voice in any potential development in the region.

While Site C may remain a theoretical possibility, the new energy plan featured a slew of other projects, programs and policies expected to have a more immediate effect.

Conservation is a key theme. The plan calls for Crown-owned BC Hydro to acquire half of its incremental resource needs through conservation by 2020.

Conservation targets won praise from several observers, including Dan Paris, director of development and acting CEO of Vancity Enterprises Ltd., the development arm of Vancity Credit Union.

Vancity Enterprises is currently putting the finishing touches on Verdant, a 60-unit townhouse complex at Simon Fraser University.

By incorporating elements such as geothermal heating, increased insulation and specially coated windows, Vancity has decreased average energy consumption by between 55 per cent and 60 per cent from national standards.

"Being green doesn't mean being expensive; it just means being smarter in what you select," Mr. Paris said.

Another key theme in the energy plan is bioenergy. With millions of hectares of trees under attack by voracious pine beetles, the province hopes to use some beetle-killed wood as fuel. BC Hydro will issue a request for proposals for electricity generated by sawmill waste, logging debris and beetle-killed wood.

The province's most recent bulletin said that the bug affects an area nearly three times the size of Vancouver Island.

At the moment, B.C. companies that make pellets from beetle-killed wood are finding the readiest market for their wares in Europe, where customers can get green energy credits for using the fuel, said Warren Mabee, a research associate at the University of British Columbia.

The energy plan also includes a 5-per-cent average renewable fuel standard for diesel by 2010 to help cut emissions and support a "domestic renewable fuel industry."

Low, but not for long

Vancouver residents and those in other B.C. cities pay less for electricity than most others in Canada and United States. But most new sources of energy are far more expensive -- meaning those low rates will have to rise in the long term.

2006 average residential electricity price

In Canadian cents per kilowatt hour

Boston 23.82¢
San Francisco 21.1¢
New York 19.23¢
Detroit 13.04¢
Charlottetown 12.15¢
Halifax 11.21¢
Toronto 11.14¢
Regina 10.43¢
Edmonton 10.22¢
Ottawa 10.09¢
St. John's 9.88¢
Chicago 9.17¢
Montreal 6.6¢
Vancouver 6.41¢
Winnipeg 6.3¢

Estimated cost of resource options

In Canadian cents per kilowatt hour

Energy conservation/efficiency 3.2¢ -- 7.6¢
Large hydroelectric 4.3¢ -- 6.2¢
Natural gas 4.8¢ -- 10¢
Coal 6.7¢ -- 8.2¢
Biomass 7.5¢ -- 9.1¢
Geothermal 4.4¢ -- 6¢
Wind 7.1¢ -- 7.4¢
Run-of-river small hydro 6¢ -- 9.5¢
Ocean (wave and tidal) 10¢ -- 36¢
Solar 70¢ -- $1.70

SOURCE: MINISTRY OF ENERGY, MINES AND PETROLEUM RESOURCES

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Beefed-up building codes for new homes and stricter energy-efficiency standards for appliances are some of measures the B.C. government could use to trim per capita household energy consumption by 10 per cent.

It sounds like an achievable goal -- something as easy as replacing one kind of light bulb with another -- but there is a consumer demand for wide-screen televisions and fridges that don't carry the highest energy star rating.

"What we're battling is increased plug load," said Gary Hamer, an energy management engineer with BC Hydro.

"Things are flying off the shelf [at electronic equipment stores] and they all plug into our electrical outlets."

According to the new B.C. Energy Plan unveiled Tuesday by B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld, the current household electricity consumption for BC Hydro customers is about 10,000 kW-h per year.

The B.C. government wants electricity use per household to drop to about 9,000 kW-h per year by 2020, but hasn't spelled out exactly how that will happen or what standards will become mandatory.

The energy plan also calls for energy efficiency standards for new buildings by 2010, developed in consultation with industry and communities, without outlining any new requirements.

BC Sustainable Energy Association president Guy Dauncey advocates a new building code that is "twice as energy efficient" for new houses, with higher standards for windows, mandatory requirements for heat recovery ventilators that recapture heat that is now going out windows and mandatory requirements for all new houses to have solar hot-water systems.

"I think the building code is going to be a very important part of this," BC Hydro president Bob Elton said. "They are going to have new building codes in place by 2010. Having more energy efficient buildings . . . will make it much easier to achieve the PowerSmart targets."

Hydro's long-running energy conservation program currently includes incentives such as a $30 rebate for old fridges and a $25 rebate for old floor lamps.

According to a statement released by Hydro on Tuesday, future energy initiatives include steps to:

- "Build upon efforts to educate customers about the choices they can make today with respect to the amount of electricity they consume."

- "Explore new rate structures to identify opportunities to use rates as a mechanism to motivate customers either to use less electricity or use less at specific times."

- "Advance ongoing efforts to develop energy-efficient products and practices through regulations, codes and standards."

gbohn@png.canwest.com

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