Long holding the reputation of Canada’s fossil fuel capital, Alberta is finally taking action to reduce their emissions by phasing out electricity generation from coal-fired plants. Pollution attributed to coal factories has been linked to countless health effects, as well as smog and climate change. While other provinces’ greenhouse gas emissions have been plateauing or dropping, Alberta has had steadily increasing emissions since 1990. The phase-out will take effect in 2018, with plans to shut down the final plant by 2030. This policy is an improvement over Alberta’s previous climate plan, which would have shut down 12 of the 18 coal plants currently servicing the province.
Image Source: The National Post
In 2014, Ontario blazed the trail as the first successful coal phase out case in North America – the equivalent of taking 7 million cars off the road, thanks in large part to the introduction of their landmark Green Energy Act.
Although a shutdown of coal plants is expected to increase the overall cost of electricity, officials cite the biggest difference between Ontario and Alberta in this process is the state of technology available to each – Ontario needed to upgrade its grid and nuclear plants, whereas Alberta will have access to much more affordable resources to do the same task, ensuring energy costs remain affordable.
One of the Ontario Green Energy Act’s biggest achievements was its system of Feed-In Tariffs, which has allowed citizens, community groups, and Indigenous communities to sell green energy back to the grid, in addition to larger-scale commercial energy developers. If Alberta were to provide similar incentives, individual Albertans could participate and show their support of the coal phase out, while harnessing the well documented environmental and economic benefits of community power .
Firas Khalifeh is a student of Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto.
Do you think it’s time for the rest of Canada to say no to coal?
The David Suzuki Foundation has a current campaign to encourage the federal government to include a coal phase-out by 2030 in this fall’s national climate strategy.
There are many compelling reasons to phase out coal power and replace it with renewables:
- Health: Coal is responsible for more than 800,000 deaths a year globally and millions more illnesses, including asthma. Ontario saw health benefits estimated at $3 billion a year after it closed coal power plants.
- Air quality: Burning coal is the leading source of mercury emissions in North America, and also releases sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and toxic particulate matter into the air, increasing the frequency and severity of smog. After Ontario closed its last coal power plant in 2014, Toronto had its first summer in 20 years with no smog advisories.
- Climate change: Phasing out coal is one of the fastest, easiest ways to fight climate change. Just one 150-megawatt coal-fired power plant can produce more than a million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. That’s about the same as 200,000 cars produce.
- Renewables: Investment in coal power is delaying the much needed transition to renewable energy, especially solar and wind, which can provide clean electricity and economic and job opportunities.
Phasing out coal is a win-win-win, for our health, the environment and the climate.