FUTURE-FRIENDLY: Efficiency and conservation are ways of meeting our energy needs with no environmental impacts, while well-designed wind, solar, bio-fuels and micro-hydro have much lower environmental impacts than fossil- or nuclear-based energy. So we won't leave a legacy of global warming or nuclear waste for our kids, and we'll be ahead of the pack as the world moves from the energy equivalent of typewriters and mainframe computers into the information age of laptop power plants and smart grids that use internet age information management to reduce energy use.

PROTECTION AGAINST RISING FUEL COSTS: Conventional fuel costs - for oil, gas, coal and uranium - are rising. By contrast, energy efficiency, waste energy recycling, and renewable technologies have virtually zero fuel costs or exposure to future supply shortages. Capital costs for wind and solar technologies have decreased in the past decade, and still lower costs are predicted in the decade ahead.

FLEXIBILITY: Unlike large nuclear reactors or fossil fuel fired stations, efficiency and renewable energy solutions are geographically dispersed around the province, use diverse, low- or no-cost fuels like the wind, water and wood or agricultural waste, and can be added quickly in modular increments to match future demand. Energy produced close to where it is used also reduces the stress on the transmission system and reduces energy losses in sending power over long distances.

RESILIENCE: Diversity and dispersal also add system security. If one wind turbine fails, the lights won't flicker. If an entire windfarm gets knocked out by a storm, only 40,000 people will lose power. If a single Darlington reactor goes down, 400,000 homes, or key industries, could face instant blackouts. To hedge this extra risk, high premiums have to be paid for decades to ensure large blocks of standby generation.