How will we heat our buildings when we no longer use fossil fuels? It’s a really big and urgent question that is rarely discussed.
Last week I had to address the problem for Island Health, whose facilities managers are working hard to reduce the carbon footprint of their hospitals and other buildings on Vancouver Island, here in British Columbia.
How do you heat a hospital, if you are not using oil or natural gas?
Well, not quite. Calling all electrical and mechanical engineers….
If you were asked to visit a multi-unit building complex, analyze its efficiency and recommend the best energy efficiency upgrades, how confident would you be about doing so?
Energy issues featured prominently in the recent provincial election, with strong accents on both audacious development and sustainability. The new government faces immediate decisions on a couple of key energy issues: liquefied natural gas exports and BC Hydro’s planning. What do these look like from a sustainability perspective?
We know healthcare and education are important, and so are debt-repayment and many other things. But we’re all together on this one small planet, sharing our berths on the Good Ship Civilization, and as a direct result of the fuel we’ve been burning and other careless activities a god-almighty storm is bearing down on us, with the ability to toss our puny boat up in the air and down into the depths, wrecking everything we love and care about, from our children and grandchildren to our forests and food, our furry friends and our future.
In mid-March when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the Kamloops Chapter was planning on doing two Electric Vehicle shows but of course those had to be cancelled. We’ve been looking for other ways to advance our mandate during the pandemic and recently found one thing: offering recommendations to local decision-makers through writing letters.
Kamloops Sustainability Leaders Share Their Thoughts
When the team led by Kamloops resident and BCSEA local chapter volunteer James Gordon started working on the ‘Everyday Sustainable Energy Superheroes’ project, the expectation was that they would deliver a well-rounded exhibit of good sustainable deeds in the community. Pretty straightforward, right?
A culmination of all of the day’s sessions, Session Four will take an inspiring spin on addressing the barriers that are limiting the potential of many small communities across BC. Beginning with a pragmatic approach to the reality of limited finances and collective will, our panel of esteemed speakers will demonstrate the current avenues and opportunities to bring about change in your community.
With Session 1 focusing on the political landscape of renewable energy and Session 2 looking into renewable energy success stories, Session 3 of Energy Connections 2017 will dive into the realm of energy conservation and efficiency. In simple terms, the concepts of conservation and efficiency can be summed up as: “doing more with less”.
