Energy Democracy Action for Nova Scotia

In the online discussion of the role of residential solar power in the transition to reduce GHG emissions in energy generation in Nova Scotia the idea of organizing around the concept of Energy Democracy has been suggested.

Consider Energy Democracy

 

The International Energy Democracy alliance hopes different groups over the world can be connected in the fight for energy democracy. They have created an open knowledge platform (Energy-democracy.net) maintained by the International Energy Democracy Alliance.

Over 300 groups and persons from across the world exchange via the energy democracy mailing list key developments and materials to advance the struggle for a just transition towards energy democracy. The website and mailing list are open spaces in which we welcome your contributions and participation. Let us know your stories on (fights for) energy democracy and relevant resources.1

Image source: https://energy-democracy.net/ 

The Climate Justice Alliance addresses the question of “What is Energy Democracy?” 

Energy Democracy represents a shift from the corporate, centralized fossil fuel economy to one that is governed by communities, is designed on the principle of no harm to the environment, supports local economies, and contributes to the health and well-being for all peoples. CJA is committed to the goal of maintaining global temperatures at a 1.5 Celsius increase above pre-industrial levels. At the same time, we are committed to the principles that protect workers, communities, the rights of nature, and the rights of future generations.2

Scientists, economists, and scholars in public policy and community development report on the challenges and opportunities of operationalizing Energy Democracy in Vermont.

The transition away from fossil fuels toward more renewable-based energy systems is underway taking shape differently in different communities, states, and countries throughout the world (Brown et al., 2015; Princen et al., 2015). Although there is a common tendency to view the renewable transition in technical and economic terms, current energy system changes involve much more than a technical substitution from fossil fuels to renewable electricity generation; this transition also involves social, institutional, and cultural innovations (Stephens et al., 2015). Energy democracy is an emergent social movement focused on advancing renewable energy transitions by resisting the dominant energy agenda while reclaiming and democratically restructuring energy regimes (Burke and Stephens, 2017; Van Veelen and Van Der Horst, 2018). By integrating technological change with the potential for socioeconomic and political change, the movement links social justice and equity with all kinds of innovation in energy (both social and technical innovations). The energy democracy movement seeks to create opportunities for destabilizing power relations (Angel, 2016a), reversing histories of dispossession, marginalization (Duda, 2015; Farrell, 2016) and social and environmental injustices (EDANY, 2016), and replacing monopolized fossil fuel energy systems with democratic and renewable structures (Kunze, 2014). Above all, energy democracy offers a set of visionary organizing principles that provide guidance for democratically restructuring the energy and electricity sectors through the processes of shifting from fossil fuel-based systems to renewable energy systems (Sweeney, 2014; Angel, 2016b).3

Review and analysis of energy innovations in the state of Vermont provides valuable insights on operationalizing energy democracy principles and policies as part of the renewable energy transition. Vermont is one of the smallest states in the United States with a total population of only 626,560 people. It has integrated social and technical innovation in its efforts to move toward the climate-justified goal of achieving 90% renewable energy by 2050. The unique innovative environment in Vermont with respect to energy transitions and energy democracy may be a model that fits well with the demographics and tradition of cooperation in Nova Scotia.

 

References

1	(n.d.). ENERGY DEMOCRACY. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://energy-democracy.net/
2	(n.d.). Energy Democracy - Climate Justice Alliance. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://climatejusticealliance.org/workgroup/energy-democracy/
3	(2018, October 3). Operationalizing Energy Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities .... Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00043/full

 

Ponder People Power and Profit

Two of the transitions that Nova Scotia must make in the near future involve action to reduce the GHG in power generation and provide affordable housing for many of our citizens. Recent media coverage points to market forces that are apparently acting against these transitions.

 

Transition needed in Energy Generation

 

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association calls on the Nova Scotia Government to restore consumer confidence by challenging recent actions taken by Nova Scotia Power Inc. in proposing a significant system access fee for solar energy installations.

Solar Energy Installation

 

“We are calling on the Government of Nova Scotia to intervene to ensure that Nova Scotians can continue to pursue rooftop solar installations and make significant climate-friendly investments in the province,” said Brandy Giannetta, CanREA’s Vice-President of Policy, Regulatory and Government Affairs. NSPI’s proposed system access charge, of $8 per kilowatt of solar PV capacity per month, or nearly $800 per year for the average solar home in Nova Scotia, would erase approximately 60% of the economic value of solar net-metering.1

A Media Release from the Sierra Club of Canada declares it is time to break up with Nova Scotia Power. NSPI’s announcement that it wants to charge a premium on homeowners with solar panel installations is a huge step backward for renewable energy in the province.

“The company is gaslighting homeowners who want to be part of the climate solution,” says National Program Director Gretchen Fitzgerald.. “It’s giving the public the false impression that homeowners with solar panels are cashing in on low electricity at the expense of other customers. That’s simply not true. It takes most solar customers at least ten years just to pay off the loans for their solar panel installation.”2

The Sierra Club suggests NSPI’s proposed 10 percent rate hike over three years, while maintaining its 9 percent guaranteed profit rate underscores the problem of a private energy monopoly.

“Nova Scotians are waking up to the reality that there is no way forward with Nova Scotia Power. If we want affordable, reliable, and clean renewable energy in this province, it can’t be controlled by a private multinational and a rubber stamp review board,” says Deveaux. “We need to recognize that electricity is an essential service. We shouldn’t have to tell Nova Scotia Power that reducing greenhouse gas emissions isn’t a luxury; it’s essential too.”2

Taryn Grant, of CBC News, reports that investors make a fifth of home purchases in Halifax where real estate prices continue to soar.

CBC and Bank Of Canada Chart

 

The report provides context, although it does not directly answer the question of how much investors are responsible for driving up real estate prices.

In Halifax, the average home sale was 26 per cent higher in 2021 than the year before, and 14 per cent higher in 2020 than the year before that, according to statistics reported by the Nova Scotia Real Estate Association. Most major Canadian cities have seen investor activity grow in recent years, but Halifax has seen one of the biggest jumps. Since 2014, investor purchases rose more than four per cent in Halifax, second only to Ottawa's five per cent growth.3 

Providing power to Nova Scotia through publicly owned, community or province wide utilities would recognize the public interest in providing a high standard of electrical service while at the same time leading the transition to reduce the GHG emissions without the need to maintain shareholder dividends. Social action groups are increasingly making the case that in the often severe and constantly changing climate of Nova Scotia, adequate housing is a right and a necessity for health and welfare. When housing is bought and sold as a commodity, the cost of shelter becomes subject to the laws of supply and demand. Unfortunately, demand drives the price up and investors seem to have little interest in increasing the supply of affordable accommodations.

 

References

1	(2022, January 28). Nova Scotia Power's proposed “system access charge” would .... Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://renewablesassociation.ca/nspi-proposal-would-devastate/
2	(2022, January 28). Media Release: Time to Break Up With Nova Scotia Power. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://www.sierraclub.ca/en/media/2022-01-28/media-release-time-break-nova-scotia-power
3	(2022, January 29). Investors make a fifth of home purchases in Halifax, where real .... Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-real-estate-home-prices-investors-bank-of-canada-1.6330903

 

Conflict As Ends Justify Means

A recent segment of the Current on CBC radio included an interview with Jon Ronson who has produced a podcast that explores the history of the development of the culture wars in areas such as abortion and sex education.

PHOTO BY ROB GURDEBEKE/THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILE

 

Some scenarios he relates reveal how the fury of these debates may have evolved because of decisions and desires not related to the values currently driving heated conflicts.

In his new podcast Things Fell Apart: Strange Tales From The Culture Wars, Jon Ronson traces the history of culture wars over issues like religion, gender, and sexuality — and finds some very weird stories along the way.1

Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, asks the related question “Do the Ends Justify the Means?” He cites Niccolo Machiavelli for an early explanation of the ends justifying the means, expressed in Chapter XVIII of The Prince. The statement that “the ends justify the means” can be traced back to Niccolo Machiavelli. The closest he came to it was when he expressed his view in Chapter XVIII of The Prince:

“There is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality (appearing to be religious), inasmuch as men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, because it belongs to everybody to see you, to few to come in touch withyou.”Machiavel_Offices_Florence2

Mintz explains that in this quote from Chapter 18 of The Prince about keeping faith, or being true to your word, Machiavelli is instructing a Prince on how to behave and how to keep up appearances. He says it’s very important to appear merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious. He also says that one must be prepared to act in a manner contrary to the appearance to keep up the appearance. This is because everyone can see what you appear to be, and only a few will get close enough to touch you and actually find out what happened. 

These people (each with slightly different reasons and motivations) are all about appearing as they wish people to see them. Even if it is nothing like what they really are, even if they are saying the exact opposite of what they will eventually do, they know that few will see through their appearances. So, for Machiavelli, to appear to be doing something is good enough even if the actor has no intention of doing so, or achieving an end result far outweighs how we got there; what road we took; and whether our behavior was ethical or not.2

Max Fawcett shares his opinion, in the National Observer, that the anti-vaxxer truck convoy signals an insidious spread of Trumpism in Canada where Conservatives are misrepresenting reality and promoting false information and fake controversies to their base.

Take former leader Andrew Scheer’s recent tweet, in which he declared his affinity for the convoy of truckers making their way to Ottawa to protest the government’s policy. “Trudeau is attacking personal liberty and threatening everyone's ability to get groceries because of his overreach on vaccine mandates,” Scheer wrote. “He is the biggest threat to freedom in Canada.”3

The fusion of hyperbole, hatred and fear-mongering is, to Fawcett, exactly the sort of thing the Republican Party has traded in ever since Donald Trump stepped onto that Trump Tower escalator in 2015. Since then, both he and the Republican Party he controls have routinely treated the truth and those who tried to defend it with open contempt.

There’s no question supply chains are stretched right now due to a combination of factors (recent floods in B.C. and droughts on the Prairies, for example, not to mention the growing percentage of truck drivers and other key employees who are sick with the Omicron variant), and that this is showing up in the form of shortages of certain products in our grocery stores. But to pretend, as the Conservative Party of Canada has for days now, this is entirely because of the federal government’s vaccine mandate for cross-border truck drivers (a similar mandate already exists in the United States) is dishonest in the extreme.3

Fawcett finds that they have gone further than just garden variety dishonesty, too.

Reverse the mandate 🚛🚛
Sign the petition and SHARE 👇https://t.co/noPa1ZRX8e pic.twitter.com/iMF1Dhc5sX

— Melissa Lantsman (@MelissaLantsman) January 21, 2022

In a recent tweet, Thornhill MP Melissa Lantsman (who was once heralded as a bright, new moderate voice in the party) used a stock image of empty shelves in a British grocery store in a post that suggested “empty Canadian grocery store shevles [sic] could become a larger problem.” When people pointed out the obvious error — and deceit — she simply doubled down and directed people to her petition against the federal government’s vaccine mandate. These sorts of blatant lies and deliberate attempts to mislead Canadians are a threat to our democracy. But what makes the CPC’s recent conduct even more dangerous is the obvious desire on the part of its key members, including former leader Scheer and potential leadership front-runner Pierre Poilievre, to provoke a portion of the Canadian public that’s already inclined towards anti-social behaviour — and direct their fury towards the prime minister.3

The truckers, who are over 80% vaccinated, have gathered support for their freedom convoy. Unfortunately, it is likely that this demonstration has become the means for others to use misinformation, and populist demagoguery to promote ends that threaten the truth needed in a well functioning democracy.

 

References

1	(2022, January 25). The Current for Jan. 25, 2022 | CBC Radio. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-jan-25-2022-1.6326525
2	(2018, April 3). Do the Ends Justify the Means? - Ethics Sage. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.ethicssage.com/2018/04/do-the-ends-justify-the-means.html
3	(2022, January 27). Anti-vaxxer truck convoy signals insidious spread of Trumpism in .... Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/01/27/opinion/anti-vaxxer-truck-convoy-signals-insidious-spread-trumpism-canada

 

Finding the best mix of public and private care

As the Federal and Provincial governments embark on a program to reduce daycare costs to parents in Nova Scotia we need to develop the policy to obtain the best mix of public and private organizations to deliver the early childhood care that provides the most benefit for our children.

Childhood care resources

The decision of Michael Godsey, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and an English teacher based in San Luis Obispo, California, to work as a Public-School Teacher but send his daughter to a Private School has parallels to decisions that parents make about placing children in daycare. The large number of students in the public high school seems to reduce the likelihood of teaching a love of learning in contrast to the private school where it can be observed in the attitude of the students.

Public schools have my tax money, my lifelong employment, and almost anything else they need of me; pulling my daughter—one student—out of the system is probably the least of its worries. And on a more abstract level, the above criticisms fail to acknowledge the cumbersome, almost fixed nature of the dominant culture I’ve seen at public schools—one that occasionally isolates students who love learning, are teased by the "cool" kids and even bullied into joining the masses. No matter how much she voluntarily recites Shakespeare, the student I envision my daughter becoming would never be able to single-handedly transform a public school into an environment that is cool to learning.1 

The important learning of preschoolers is in their play. The Arrive web site provides information to newcomers about daily life in Canada. Regulated family child care (home child care – provided in caregiver’s home) in several provinces, is “approved” rather than regulated. Most family child care is not regulated, monitored or approved. No province/territory requires all family child care homes to be regulated, so long as they don’t exceed the maximum number of children.

Type of child care service	Regulatory overview
Full-day child care centres	Unlicensed centres are illegal in Canada. However, in some regions, private schools, religious schools or others that include very young children may be exempt from licensing.
Part-day child care programs (includes nursery and preschools)	Unlicensed programs are permitted in Saskatchewan and Yukon.
School-age child care programs	Some before and after-school programs, summer and holiday programs/camps for young school-aged children are not required to be licensed (including some that operate in school premises).
Kindergarten – offered by provinces/territories	In most provinces, kindergarten is part of the public school system and therefore, regulated by the provincial government.
Regulated family child care (home child care – provided in caregiver’s home)	In several provinces, regulated family child care is “approved” rather than regulated. Most family child care is not regulated, monitored or approved. No province/territory requires all family child care homes to be regulated, so long as they don’t exceed the maximum number of children.
Unregulated family child care (home child care – provided in caregiver’s or child’s home and includes “nannies” or “sitters”)	Unregulated family child care providers do not need a license, aren’t inspected or monitored, and are not required to meet specified regulations for training, physical space or other features.2

 

Helen Ward, President of Kids First Parents Association, advocates that If we want to help families afford child care, then we should fund families and not certain types of child care.

Is the federal $10-a-day child-care system the only valid option for Ontario? No, says Helen Ward, President of Kids First Parents Association. If you want to help families afford child care, then fund families, not certain types of child care. #childcare https://t.co/yYBW7MJX27

— Cardus (@cardusca) January 20, 2022

 

Preston Mulligan, of CBC News, reports that some daycare owners say they feel bullied and backed into a corner by the province.

Adam Axworthy of Axworthy and Associates provides accounting services to two daycares in the Yarmouth region and two more in Cape Breton. He said they've all reached out to him for some kind of guidance about how to respond to the governments' demands. "We are in a time where we should be embracing equality and pushing female entrepreneurship," he said. "We shouldn't be restricting it, and we certainly should give them the decency of adequate answers to form an opinion. We haven't done that here. "There is so much of a push federally, at the moment, for female entrepreneurship and equality. I find this to be quite … an affront to that." Marcia Nickerson, who started Allegro child-care centre in Halifax 25 years ago, said she has other concerns about the proposal. While she supports a more generous subsidy for child care, she said this approach "institutionalizes" child care.3

 

In research published by Dani Filc, Alon Rasooly, and Nadav Davidovitch in the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, looks at lessons to be learned from public vs. private to public/private mix in Israeli and Spain.

In support of private provision of healthcare, some researchers [13] claim that private provision allows for a more efficient utilization of resources. For example, operating room utilization in the private healthcare system is perceived as more efficient compared to such in the public healthcare system. However, numerous studies have shown that the patient composition in those two systems is entirely different [14,15,16,17]. Compared with their counterparts in the public sector, patients receiving private elective surgeries are younger, have less comorbidities, and are from a higher socioeconomic class. This widespread difference has led researchers to claim that the apparent efficiency advantage of private provision is related to “cream skimming” patients according to their risk [17,18,19,20]. Beyond the adverse outcomes concerning equity and the doubtful gains in efficiency, private provision and finance of healthcare can result in unnecessary, and sometimes harmful, cases of overtreatment. A systematic review of 21 studies [21] found that the odds of a Caesarean section (C-section) being performed was significantly higher in relation to women with private health insurance compared with women using public health insurance. In Chile, for example, three out of four publicly insured women who opt to give birth in a private hospital will have a C-section, while in public hospitals only one out of four women will undergo this procedure [22, 23]. Mixed-methods studies suggest that private obstetricians have women undergo non-medical C-sections since this procedure is more lucrative for the private practitioner and allows the “programing” (scheduling) of births [23, 24]. Evidence from Spain and Israel indicates that mixed provision of private and public services does not necessary lead to better performance, while harming equitable access and provision of health services.4 

Stella Creasy,  Labour MP for Walthamstow UK, offers the opinion that waiting lists must not be a pretext for privatising the National Health Service.

Patients need to have confidence that if they are referred to a private provider, it is in their interests, not their consultant’s. So, too, that any delay does not reflect the cost of treatment. A constituent who was booked in for urgent NHS cancer surgery at a hospital run by a major healthcare firm just before Christmas had the surgery cancelled at the last minute. They were told that this was because the facilities were needed for private – and so likely more lucrative – patients. This incident, and the pressures behind it, should concern anyone who understands that the NHS will only thrive if it is medical urgency, and not money, that drives decisions. Ministers may argue that more than 300,000 people left waiting more than a year for surgery is a side-effect of the pandemic, but lists have been creeping up for years. Rather than invest in NHS capacity, recent years have seen a conscious decision to divert funding to profit-making private healthcare companies. Without more scrutiny, this could see healthcare outcomes shaped not by need but whether you have the money to jump the queue, with taxpayers and patients alike paying the price.5 

The struggle to provide the highest quality health care and early childhood education by publicly funded organizations is to equip the public institutions with more highly qualified personnel to deliver the services. Continued neglect to properly fund public education and health by neoliberal governments not only establishes two tier care but ultimately increases the cost to society in poorer educational development and more serious illness treatment.

 

References

1	(2015, March 4). Why I'm a Public-School Teacher but a Private-School Parent. Retrieved January 20, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-im-a-public-school-teacher-but-a-private-school-parent/386797/
2	(2021, December 17). Child Care in Canada: Types, Cost & Tips for Newcomers | Arrive. Retrieved January 20, 2022, from https://arrivein.com/daily-life-in-canada/child-care-in-canada-types-cost-and-tips-for-newcomers/
3	(2022, January 19). Female entrepreneurs in NS vow not to 'cave' in child-care showdown. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/daycare-owners-guidance-government-demands-nova-scotia-1.6319440
4	(2020, June 24). From public vs. private to public/private mix in healthcare: lessons .... Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://ijhpr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13584-020-00391-4
5	(2022, January 23). Waiting lists must not be a pretext for privatising the NHS. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/23/waiting-lists-privatising-nhs-pandemic-private-healthcare