Hacker News Reader

Comment by stygiansonic | Hacker News Reader

Ontario has been coal-free for a few years: http://www.ieso.ca/power-data/supply-overview/transmission-c...

There are many confounding factors (recession in 2008-2009) but generally, the number of days with smog advisories has been on the decline in Ontario as well: http://airqualityontario.com/history/aqi_advisories_stats.ph...

Note that in general, across North America (not sure about the world at large) electricity consumption per capita has also been on the decline, to the extent that overall/absolute electricity consumption is down in large areas like Ontario[1]. I haven't done any research, but I surmise this is due to factors like more energy-efficient devices and time-of-day usage being pushed onto the retail user. (In additional to the aforementioned recession causing loss of manufacturing/factories)

1. http://www.ieso.ca/power-data/demand-overview/historical-dem...

View on HN

Unsure how related it is, but within Canada, Ontario's energy is notoriously expesive [0]

[0] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/why-does-electr...

And yet merely average in the context of the rest of North America.

But you'd never know it from the rantings of people in Ontario, who feel very persecuted.

If my local area had to pay the global average but my local region mostly paid much less I'd be pissed as hell too.

You might as well tell as starving kid in Appalachia to suck it up because people starve in Africa too.

True although Ontario also has a geographical problem.

The majority of the population lives in a very small part of the province, so the electricity for the rest of the province is subsidized.

Most of the ranting from Ontarians is because of how horribly the government has handled our power sector in general.

I agree overall in principle. But then I also look at the fact that Ontario no longer has any coal generation, and only 15 years ago was part of the blackout that wiped out the whole northeastern part of NA for three days, and nothing close to that level of catastrophe has happened since. And there's a huge amount of new solar and wind. The system has evolved rapidly. The pricing has to reflect that. But I don't agree with the way it has been privatized in bits and pieces with all sorts of private and public bureaucracies incompetently managing things.

I live rural and I've seen the ugly side of Hydro One... local area class action lawsuit over some really nasty brownouts that wiped out people's appliances a few years ago.

Can anyone please explain why electricity is called hydro?

If a waterway is used to make it i.e. a dam.

Google can:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=why%20is%20electricity%20call...

Because a large amount of Ontario/Quebec electricity came from hydroelectric sources, and because the energy utility company in Ontario is Hydro One and in Quebec Hydro Quebec, "hydro" has sorta become synonymous.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com