Promoting renewable electricity in Ontario, Canada: Policies and politics

Speaker:  Ian Rowlands, Professor, University of Waterloo

Free and open to the public.
(Pizza lunch available at 11:30am, lecture begins at 11:40am)

Sponsored by: Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP)

Co-Sponsors: MEnergy, Michigan’s Energy Law Association; University of Michigan Program in the Environment (PitE); LSA Political Science; Climate Center; Energy Institute

Description: This lecture will examine the ways in which electricity generated by renewable resources (like solar and wind) have been encouraged in the province of Ontario (Canada) during the past 20 years. The focus will be upon both policies and politics. With respect to the former, the use of both price-based measures (using financial incentives) and quantity-based measures (reserving parts of the broader market for renewables) will be examined. And with respect to the latter, the impact of political context, entrepreneurs and ideas will be investigated. Finally, the importance of multi-level governance – that is, the impact of local communities’ desires to be empowered, the influence of the Canadian federal government and the consequences of international trade law – will also be explored.

Ian Rowlands is a Professor in the Department of Environment and Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). He is also the Associate Dean, Strategic Initiatives in the University’s Faculty of Environment. Professor Rowlands has research interests in areas associated with sustainable energy policy, with a particular interest in grid modernization. His research and consulting activities during the past two decades have led to collaborations with many community, governmental and private sector partners, including Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator, Natural Resources Canada, the International Energy Agency, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and Sustainable Waterloo Region. Before joining the University of Waterloo in 1998, Prof. Rowlands held positions with the United Nations Collaborating Centre on Energy and Environment in Denmark and the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Engineering and International Relations from the Universities of Toronto and London, respectively.

For more information contact Bonnie Roberts at  [email protected] or 734-647-4091,   or visit our website at www.closup.umich.edu.

• energy and environment
• Ian Rowlands
• MEnergy
• Climate Center