The Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB) has ideas for about how to deliver affordable, reliable and renewable electricity to New Brunswickers:
Task the Legislative Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship to hold hearings across the province. These hearings should ask citizens and stakeholders to share their ideas for cleaning up our electricity system, and electrifying our economy. The Legislative Committee’s task is to develop a 30-year Electricity Vision for New Brunswick.
The hearings should consider options for setting legislated government targets to increase the supply of electricity from least-cost energy efficiency and renewable energy. The province and legislative committee could consider:
a) Options for setting annual energy-efficiency improvement targets. Best practices across Canada and New England show there is potential to cut electricity use two to three per cent a year, making our homes, businesses and institutions cheaper to operate and more comfortable.
b) Options for setting a renewable energy target, not just a clean energy target. We have the potential to prioritize investment in least-cost renewable energy and storage technologies so that up to 40 per cent of our electricity is generated from wind and solar within 30 years, and almost 100 percent is non-emitting in that time (taking into account interprovincial and provincial hydro).
c) Setting a timeline for phasing out fossil fuel power plants: Coal within 10 years and other fossil fuel sources of power soon after.
d) Creating a long-term transmission plan to integrate regional electricity systems to maximize reliability, affordability, and the use of power from renewable sources like hydro, wind and solar.
e) Reforming the Electricity Act and the Energy Utilities Board Act to make it easier for regulatory agencies to approve energy efficiency and renewable energy investments, and prioritize investments with the greatest social, economic and environmental benefit to ratepayers.
Read more of CCNB’s ideas on their webpage, For the Love of NB.