Climate policies helped put 54 million Europeans into 'energy poverty.' Canadians are next

The Nanticoke generating station, in Ontario on the shoreline of Lake Erie, was built in 1973 and at one time was the largest coal-fired power generating station in North America. The station, operated by Ontario Power Generation stopped using coal as fuel in 2013, and the station was later closed. Plans are in the works to establish a 40-megawatt solar farm at the site. Brian Thompson/Brantford Expositor/Postmedia Network

It should be noted that climate policies have resulted in at least 54 million Europeans being involved in “energy poverty”.

That being the case, it is well known that Europe has become a continent where families are often asked to pay exorbitant amounts for their basic needs, including energy. Consequently, one could say that “energy poverty” has been established as a trend, which is already affecting many families. And it is that more and more are those who cannot pay household bills, especially in winter. Even so, it should be noted that it is the same during the summer heatwaves.

In this way, it is appropriate to mention the number of Europeans affected by this problem and it can certainly be said that it is really high. And it is that according to the European Union in its 2015 report on the increase in energy costs, 11% of the population of its member states, that is, 54 million people, can no longer pay their energy bills.

Poverty risk

For its part, the EU estimates that a quarter of residents, or 128 million people, are at risk of being poor in energy.

Similarly, the EU blames energy poverty for three factors: the effect of recessions on income; energy inefficient homes; and the increase in energy prices.

Thus, it is considered that of the three factors mentioned above, one of them is less susceptible to additional changes, energy efficiency. This is considered to be due to the fact that houses, apartments and terraced houses in Europe are already very energy efficient compared to homes in North America.

When referring to recessions and revenues, higher energy prices prevent European economies from achieving greater economic growth, since expensive energy restricts the money available for business investment. That slows down overall economic growth, which exacerbates existing slow economies and lower incomes.

Now, what can be even more alarming is that Canadians are considered to be the following.

In this regard, Canada has its own examples of how forced transitions from cheaper energy sources to expensive renewable energies sent rising energy prices, Ontario, where energy rates have doubled in the last decade, is the most remarkable.

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Source: Financial Post