Incentives work to cut peak power use

Incentives work! Thirty per cent of residential customers and 24 per cent of businesses in Toronto cut their year-over-year electricity use by more than 10 per cent this summer, the Toronto Star reports. All received rebates from a special Toronto Hydro program. Click here to read the Star article.

Sun-loving Germans show how it’s done

While the Ontario Power Authority’s current plan for increasing the use of solar panels to generate electricity is to add 80 megawatts (MW) of power by the year 2027, Germany is adding that amount of solar capacity every six weeks.

After working on the problem for 10 years, the Germans now generate 2,600 MW of power per year from solar. That’s enough juice to shut down three of their nuclear reactors during the summer months.

Germany is a northern country, like Canada. Sunny enough, but it ain’t Arizona. Click here to learn more about how Germany leads the world in soaking up the sun.