Themes:
Community Energy: Back to the Future
November 5, 2017
I am heading to the annual QUEST conference which brings together community energy leaders from across Canada. I will be leading a round table discussion with a colleague, Rob Kerr, on how new governance systems are crucial for implementing community energy plans. While energy decision making has occurred in isolation to urban planning and development for over a century,...
Failure to Launch
October 12, 2017
In the American romantic comedy, Failure to Launch, Matthew McConaughey’s character, Tripp, lives at home and shows no interest in leaving a comfortable life under his parents’ roof. In some respects, this is the tale of local government in Canada. In the movie, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Paula, is hired by Tripp’s parents to encourage him to leave the comfort...
Engaging for Positive Energy
October 9, 2017
Energy regulators, policy makers and academics recently met in Ottawa for the last of three workshops hosted by Positive Energy, an initiative of the University of Ottawa. These workshops have taken aim at the decline of public confidence in energy decision-making, from pipelines to wind turbines. Their work documents several social, value and technological changes that the current energy...
Community Energy in Centre Wellington Builds Resilience
October 3, 2017
Financing community energy projects was the focus of the September's QUEST Ontario Caucus meeting which was hosted by the Region of Waterloo. The Region presented preliminary results of their research into financing mechanisms. They provided a handy summary of mechanisms that included: capital reserves, revolving funds and trusts, loans, debentures, equipment leases, on-bill financing programs, soft loans, local improvement charges,...
Reflections on sustainability
September 23, 2017
I had the good fortune to attend a workshop to talk about the future of sustainability. People joined us from around the world. This naturally led to some personal reflections. Sustainability is about place. This theme came up frequently during a two-day workshop. This was intriquing to me because I haven’t known anything different. My sustainability work has always been...
Talking Sustainability
September 23, 2017
Sustainability is the topic of conversation for the next two days; I am attending a two-day think tank in Waterloo. The work of the Bruntland Commission in the late 1980s was my first formal introduction to the concept of sustainability. The Commission’s report, Our Common Future, catalysed many multi-stakeholder conversations around the world. National, regional, sectoral and local Round Tables...
Mainstreaming local energy
July 4, 2017
Mainstreaming local energy will come in many different shapes and sizes. Some will be far-reaching like recent changes to Ontario planning legislation which will require local governments to embrace climate and energy policies. Others will be small tweaks that bring familiarity. For instance, I have often wondered whether we should have used the term “Local Energy Master Plan” –...
On the path to net-zero communities
June 25, 2017
When some colleagues and I set out to better understand the path to net-zero communities, we quickly understood we were missing something – a clear definition of what net-zero meant. It wasn’t for a lack of definitions – quite the reverse. There were definitions for building and communities. While some definitions focused on carbon, others focused on energy. Sometimes it...
Towards First Principles of Community Energy Planning
June 23, 2017
Kirby Calvert is a leading thinker in how to support local governments and communities in the energy transition. His recent blog post – Towards First Principles of Community Energy Planning – is an important contribution to the practice. It draws from the legacy of past efforts to begin a conversation about a new model. He proposes three primary principles. Localization...
Green building: shifting from innovators to early adopters
June 7, 2017
Many systems must change in the transition to a low carbon economy. The way we plan and make decisions will look different. There will be new people at the table. Especially people we had never thought to include before. Already in the home building business, a transition is underway. The Canada Green Building Council recently launched Canada’s first zero carbon building...
Growth Plan 2017: accelerating the energy transition
May 19, 2017
This Ontario’s recently released four updated land use plans. They will help accelerate the transition to low carbon communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The four reports include the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan. Coordination ensured the plans worked together. Alignment with the Ontario...
Local governments as social innovators
May 15, 2017
We need more local governments and utilities acting as social innovators in community energy planning and implementation. This is a brand new role for local governments in many ways. For most of their existence, local government in Canada has served as a vehicle to deliver provincial services. That is why they are often called “creatures of the province”. Overall, this has not...
Culture important to achieving low carbon communities
May 4, 2017
When legislation and good intentions meet culture, unintended consequences can occur. As the saying goes, culture eats strategy for breakfast. I would add: it snacks on legislation for lunch. Legislation: The province requires all Ontario municipalities to report annually on their corporate energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. They must also approve a corporate energy management plan. The public has...
Clarity in Community Energy Planning
March 23, 2017
Several of my colleagues expressed concern about Ontario’s Municipal Energy Plan program when it was announced. Not about the funding to support municipal governments but the name of the program. Would there be confusion surrounding the choice of the word “municipal” over “community”? However, as the practice of community energy planning continues to improve in Canada and Ontario, we...
Building energy efficiency: cities upping ante
March 17, 2017
I recently shared a post – 8 ways cities are upping the ante on building efficiency. Citing a World Resources Institute report, the author summarized eight actions for urban leaders to accelerate energy efficiency in their cities. It is a helpful summary although the examples of innovation are all international. So, I thought I would put an Ontario lens on...
Energy Transition: Role for Local Electricity Utilities
February 6, 2017
The energy transition in Ontario is picking up speed. Distributed power generation and storage growing The Electricity Distributors Association has just released a report – The Power to Connect: Advancing Customer-Drive Electricity Solutions for Ontario. The report proposes a new way forward for Ontario’s electricity utilities as distributed energy resources including local, small-scale power generation and storage technologies continue to grow. The...
Home energy retrofits a climate change priority
January 25, 2017
Many governments in Canada are renewing their efforts to fight climate change. As they do, the renovation of existing homes emerges as a priority. Existing Canadian homes are a significant contributor to national emissions. Governments at all levels are dusting off old retrofit programs and ramping up new ones. Renovation is also one of the least expensive ways to reduce greenhouse...
Growth Plan: You're So Bad
January 3, 2017
The province is reviewing the Growth Plan for our region – the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This planned 10-year review is triggering a round of opposition that is ironically reminiscent of the debate that led to the Growth Plan in the first place. I was recently mystified by a comment suggesting the Growth Plan was making local governments greedy. The writer believed they were...
For the love of a warm, cozy home
January 2, 2017
We pay too much to keep our homes warm and cozy on a cold winter’s day. Why? Because our homes were built to waste energy. That has been our practice for decades. Yes, it is changing. New homes are less wasteful of energy. They come with energy efficiency features already built in – from insulation to windows. But that is cold...
Acts of leadership: change the channel
November 14, 2016
Donald Trump does not believe in climate change. Sadly, he won’t be the first or the last. But, as a head of state in 2016, he is the last man standing. At least for the time being. And that is discouraging. While it might be harder than he thinks to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the confusion and uncertainty he will...