At a glance
Major green efforts
• Recent construction and use of provincially owned wind farms.
• First place in North America to offer a guaranteed price for electricity from wind energy.
• About 18 per cent of electricity comes from renewable wind energy.
• Recycling and composting are mandated.
• Almost all residents have access to at least one recycling program.
• Multiple small-scale community green initiatives, such as the Enviro Church Conservation Project and increased organic farming.
Future goals/plans
• Become a major exporter of wind power by 2015.
• Develop an updated energy strategy, involving the public, that will include reducing dependence on imported petroleum products.
• Finish building Canada's first wind-hydrogen village to demonstrate how wind energy and hydrogen technologies offer clean and sustainable energy.
Canada's tiniest province is an island, and its total population is about 136,000 – smaller than many cities in this country. Call it a community? Absolutely. "People in small communities look out for each other, and you get a sense of that on the Island," says Sandy Nicholson, who lives in Desable, P.E.I., and built a home with her husband "off the grid" in the middle of 50 acres of woodland.
As P.E.I.'s minister of environment, energy and forestry, George Webster, points out, "Because this is an island, our province is very susceptible to environmental challenges such as climate change." Challenges, yes, but nothing the community can't handle. Islanders are not only working to green-up their fair isle, they are leading the way for other provinces.
A green province
Take renewable energy, for example. P.E.I. is the only province in Canada without substantial sources of petroleum, hydro-electricity or nuclear energy, and at one time could not produce any of its own electricity. Now the licence plates on Islanders' vehicles proudly display the claim "Canada's Green Province" along with an image of a wind turbine. In 2004, after consultation with Maritime Electric, the province legally mandated that its electric utilities acquire 15 per cent of their power from renewable sources by 2010. And to support its initiative, P.E.I. became the first place in North America to offer a guaranteed price to anyone producing electricity from wind energy, including community wind farms, farmers or small business operators – even homeowners.
The aggressive push toward wind energy is a success. P.E.I. now produces approximately 18 per cent of its electricity from wind farms owned by the province and a private developer. And it's still picking up momentum. The private developer is currently exporting wind energy to the U.S. Northeast, and it expects to develop significantly more in the next 10 years, which could make the province a major exporter in this field. In addition, a wind-hydrogen village is being built at North Cape to demonstrate how hydrogen is split from water using wind energy, then stored for use on windless days. "It's tremendous," says Darcy Flynn, a high school teacher who lives in the community of Emyvale. "The more we can do with regards to renewable energy, the better."
Page 5 of 6 -- On page 6, learn how just about everyone in Prince Edward Island jumped on the recycling bandwagon... and what it's meant for the province.
