Recently our household decided we would up the ante in our efforts to live a green and environmentally conscious life by switching to 100 per cent green electricity with Bullfrog Power.

Bullfrog sources power exclusively from generators who meet or exceed the federal government’s Environmental Choice Program EcoLogo standard for renewable electricity. Bullfrog’s power comes from clean, emissions-free sources like wind power and low-impact water power instead of carbon-intensive sources like coal and oil.

The choice was not one without compromise.  The cost of green electricity is higher than our previous mostly coal and nuclear based supplier Toronto Hydro Corporation.  The increased cost amounts to just over $300 a year or about one dollar a day.

The statement we are making is important to us – it sends a message to regulators and most importantly means our electricity dollars are supporting 100 per cent clean, renewable power production instead of nuclear, gas, oil and coal. Bullfrog Power is actively supporting the development of new renewable power in Ontario the province we live in. New turbines on Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsula have been commissioned to serve the needs of bullfrog-powered customers in Ontario. 

That makes us feel good and know that when the smog hits Toronto this summer, we will have contributed just a little less CO2 which is a major greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, and NO and SO2 which are major causes of smog.

Bullfrog is only available to homes and businesses in the provinces of Ontario and Alberta, and hopefully that will change.  We are happy to know that we are in good company with many friends and businesses having signed up too. Some bullfrogpowered subscribers that might surprise you include: Walmart Canada Corp., Cadbury Adams and Virgin Mobile.

Photo credit: Flickr Ned Lyttleton’s Wind Turbine on the Lakeshore, Toronto

You may all have noticed that aviation is the “climate change whipping boy” in Europe at the moment. Everyday we hear calls for our air travel to be limited, for the industry to be taxed beyond recognition and for “binge-flying” to be targeted directly by laws and policies. In short, aviation is quickly becoming a “Big Carbon” sector.

How can the air travel industry be in this situation given the huge social and economic contribution it makes to our lives? From a Sustainability Communications perspective, this seems rather odd, especially given the fact that aviation actually makes a relatively small contribution to climate change.

The aviation industry seems to have lacked a collective voice around this issue (traditionally, it has seemed far more comfortable fighting each other!). Rather ironically then an industry which prides itself on being on time was late into the climate change debate.

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