Smart energy communities should be central to any climate strategies put forward by provincial governments across Canada, participants in QUEST’s October conference, Getting Smart About Energy in Our Communities, were told. And in that effort, all energy networks - electricity, natural gas, and thermal – have a role to play. Opportunities and challenges will need to be addressed in renewing infrastructure, integrating new technologies, working with regulators to recognize new markets and alternative delivery models, balancing business and conservation goals, and integrating networks for optimal energy service delivery to consumers.
Energy-efficient buildings in particular are a key component in Ontario’s Climate Change Strategy, said Environment Minister Glen Murray, alongside transportation and energy delivery. Such buildings can integrate either on-site energy systems or community energy systems, as well as sustainable transportation alternatives. But successful community energy planning needs to be aligned with and framed in terms of economic development.
Key policy tools in that strategy include incentivizing community energy planning, enhancing the building code, encouraging fuel switching in transportation, increasing targets for distributed energy, and carbon pricing.
Across the country, over 180 communities, representing 50 percent of the population, have a Community Energy Plan (CEP) that enables them to prioritize actions around energy with a view to improving efficiency, cutting emissions and driving economic development (see map).
Among multi-residential buildings, a growing element in Canada’s larger cities, “Net zero” as an energy consumption target is becoming better understood by residential developers and builders. There are increasing projects and pilots across Canada. At the small scale, in condominium and commercial buildings (under 1MW), combined heat & power is often effective to meet cost, resilience, and GHG reduction goals. Magnolia Generation, for example, extols the use of easily-installed microturbines for combined heat and emergency power, in dual mode – grid connected and islanded.
For its part, the Independent Electricity System Operator is facilitating an electricity system in Ontario that integrates distributed resources, conservation programs, storage procurements and renewable procurements, said President and CEO Bruce Campbell, and that increasingly works in tandem with communities to understand the impact of community energy planning on the grid.
There are opportunities and challenges related to: Renewing infrastructure, integrating new technologies, working with regulators to explore new markets and alternative delivery models, balancing business and conservation goals, integrating networks for optimal energy service delivery to consumers. Municipalities have a critical role to play in GHG reduction and Smart Energy Communities. Key levers for the FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) and for individual municipalities include: municipal asset management, the Partners in Climate Protection program, and the Green Municipal Fund.
Ottawa-based QUEST, Quality Energy Systems of Tomorrow, works through research and advocacy on improving the energy efficiency, reliability, and greenhouse gas profile of cities across Canada.