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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/Canadian_Flag.jpg Policy barriers that undermine own green objectives (http://www.thestar.com/article/664965)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Ontario_Wind_Power.jpgTyler Hamilton - THESTAR (http://www.thestar.com) - July 13, 2009

Who needs opponents to the government's green policies when you got... the government?! --Ed.

Craig Marshall poses a reasonable question.

If the Ontario government is so intent on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the widespread use of green energy technologies, then why does it keep barriers in place that undermine its own objectives?

Marshall, president of Marshall Homes, has an 88-lot site in Ajax that he wants to begin developing. His vision is to have a district energy system that uses thermal energy stored in the ground to provide hot water and space heating to all homes on the site. It would still require electricity to operate, and maybe some natural gas as backup. But by relying on geothermal energy the community's fuel and power consumption would drop dramatically.

"This is almost the perfect project size to show that it can work and be rolled out in just a couple of years," says Marshall, adding that the Europeans began embracing such district heating models years ago. He wants fellow homebuilders in Canada to learn from and emulate the approach.

Problem is, the company that Marshall wants to partner with – the one most qualified to build and operate such a system – isn't permitted, by regulation, to do anything in the province but distribute and store natural gas. Sure, Enbridge Gas can do the occasional green-energy pilot project, but it's not currently allowed to be a force of change by turning those pilots into commercial ventures.... http://www.thestar.com/article/664965

Well, here is my 2 cents worth.

Whenever you have a non discretionary commodity combined with a company, or a few companies that have been the provider of that product for years, you will notice that that company will:

1. Do everything in its power to keep competitive products away.

2. Fix the price of their product (through collusion if there is more than one company) to maximize their profitability.

3. Fight like a wet cat to preserve their monopoly, regardless of who or what is hurt.

Lets take for example 4 non discretionary commodities, oil, electricity, health insurance and pharmaceuticals. Because they are all something you must have, the few companies that provide these commodities find themselves in a unique position. The usual rules of capitalism are waived for them. Regardless of what they charge, because the commodity they sell is not something we can not do without, we must buy from them. The only thing they have to get around is laws against anti trust and price fixing, the various watch dog agencies responsible for their oversight, and encroachment into their domain by various other products that will dilute their monopoly. Having a friendly media is also highly desired.

They accomplish this with the one thing they have the most of, money. These cartels have immense dollar clout and they pay to have their way. And here in America, one can see that these mammoth cartels have been spectacularly successful. Our country has little defense against it, for in a larger context these cartels are only doing what every good American company should do, grow profits and make it look like we consumers actually have a choice. The problem is that the now, because of our critical need for these products and their greed, we now find that their bottom line is destroying that which has allowed our country to grow and flourish. And the four I mentioned above are not the only four milking this country dry.

So, the question was asked "Who needs opponents to the government's green policies when you got... the government?! --Ed". I would like to expand on that question with;

How can we preserve our wonderful capitalistic democracy and prevent those selling non discretionary commodities from the wretched excesses we now see??

That seems to me to be the $64,000.00 question!