Providing professional planners with the tools and strategies to effectively pursue community energy pathways will play a central role in energy conscious cities of the future.
Many Canadian communities are doing this already. The City of Guelph, for example, created the Guelph Community Energy Plan in 2007 – the first of its kind in North America.Since then, the development of community energy plans has evolved substantially across the country. Today, cities and towns across Ontario have initiated change. But the most effective community energy planning comes at the early stages of development.
Category: Blog
Will your next vehicle purchase be an electric vehicle?
According to Ontario provincial government reports in 2016, the transportation sector is the leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, emitting 35% of GHG emissions in the province. Electric vehicles are one of a range of strategies to lower carbon emissions, yet they currently make up less than 1% of new vehicle sales in Canada, compared to leaders such as Norway (30%). Further, how people make decisions about alternative vehicle purchases is relatively under-studied in the social sciences, particularly the social influences on purchasing behaviour.
USDN releases new Guidebook on Equitable Clean Energy Program Design for Local Governments and Partners
The guidebook introduces a process and principles that local governments and their partners can use to design equitable clean energy programs in their communities. Supported by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) Innovation Fund, the project’s intent was to develop actionable resources for local governments and partners to use to advance social equity in clean energy program design and implementation in their communities.
Retooling Community Energy Planning – Workshop Report
In the fall of 2017, CEKAP conducted a series of workshops across Canada aimed at facilitating conversation surrounding the use of analytical tools in the community energy planning process. The goal of the workshops – to share expertise across the CEKAP partnership in order to identify potential improvements to analytical tools – will better enable decision-makers in the energy planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes.
New Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk College
In a growing population where families are continuing to settle in urban areas, meeting residential energy needs is an issue that has not lost momentum. Cities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe are increasingly moving toward the adoption of municipal climate change action plans that align with provincial and federal frameworks on clean growth. Many of which carry a strong focus on meeting those energy needs.
