Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, is well-known is U.S. green-job circles. In 2008 he co-authored the reports “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy” and “Green Recovery,” both of which are seen as influencing the Obama administration’s current focus on green-job creation. Pollin was commissioned to write up a study of green-job opportunities in Ontario as a result of the province’s new Green Energy Act. His conclusion is that 90,000 well-paying jobs could be created and sustained over 10 years. In an interview, Pollin commended Ontario for its aggressive action compared to some U.S. states. “In Massachusetts, we’re talking it up all the time but not doing anything,” he said. “By contrast, this measure in Ontario is far more serious than anything people talk about here. Just the fact of having an aggressive policy and explicitly linking it to employment creation is excellent.”

Read the story here. Click here for full study.

Apologies for the low frequency of posts over the past few days. It’s been extremely busy. My grandmother, a dear lady who had the good fortune of living to 96, also passed away Thursday morning so I’ve been assisting on that front.

I do want to point out a few upcoming events, however. Read below for details on the Greening Greater Toronto Marketplace on May 12, an alternative energy panel I’m moderating at the Empire Club of Canada on May 21, and the Net-Zero Energy Home Awards on June 8. (more…)

NOTE: Q&A with Lord Nicholas Stern, author of The Global Deal and of the 2006 Stern Review, follows at the end of this post.

I now know the business strategy for the National Post. Hire a bunch of grumpy libertarian columnists (Peter Foster, Terence Corcoran) who hate Al Gore, David Suzuki and Nicholas Stern, and who don’t believe that man is causing global warming, and hope that the coal and petroleum industry will keep you alive with their advertising. Good luck with that.

Foster’s harsh critique of British economist Lord Nicholas Stern is a case in point (see link above).  Now, I fully admit that they and their supporters can criticize me just the same from the other side because, well, I admire the work and ideas that Lord Stern has offered the world. I agree with Stern that rich countries need to stop playing mathematical games with the developing world when it comes to greenhouse-gas reduction commitments. It’s a message that Stern, a former World Bank chief economist, brought to Toronto on Friday — you can read my story on the visit here.

Here’s an excerpt: (more…)

Solar domestic hot-water systems don’t grab as many headlines, probably because they’re not considered as high-tech as their solar PV cousins, where science is pushing the boundaries of sunlight-to-electricity conversion. I’m always surprised that residential solar thermal systems don’t get much attention in the United States, particularly in the south where many homes have swimming pools (that need heating) and where the sun shines warm all year, making the payback dramatically better than PV. In Canada, where the conditions are less ideal, we seem for some strange reason to have a greater appreciation for rooftop solar thermal systems, and indeed, have many startups, such as EnerWorks, and academics spending considerable time improving on the technology.

Now, it seems, there’s a much bigger push going on to put solar thermal on Canadian rooftops. Just this week, natural gas distribution giant Enbridge announced a partnership with green electricity retailer Bullfrog Power that is targeting the installation of 1,200 residential solar thermal systems in Ontario over the next two years. (more…)