Environmental Community Leaders

I am presently working on a research project in the City of London (Ontario) on community energy plans. The focus of my research is on the communities and interactions with the communities into tangible results in various areas. I am looking to find out first hand from community organizations and community leaders what initiatives worked and what did not work when attempting to engage citizens in communities and what actually has been proven in your city to stimulate behavioral change. Empirical data would also be helpful if it is available. I thank you in advance for your consideration. I appreciate your time.

Initiatives: We are looking mainly at environmental initiatives; specifically on energy conservation, sustainability, climate change mitigation.

Questions:

1) Initiatives that have worked and why you believe they worked.
2) Initiatives that have failed and why you believe they failed.
3) Your ideas for our shared natural environment and future how your ideas will engage citizens.

I hope you will consider sharing your insight and knowledge. You may also contact me via email: [email protected]

Sincerely,
Cory Morningstar
519.642.4890

Cities being Researched: Vancouver | Calgary | Edmonton | Greater Sudbury | Halifax | Guelph | Hamilton | Kingston | Victoria | Kamloops | Ottawa

Background: An emerging trend in Canada is the creation of community energy plans, where decisions that used to be left to regional level energy agencies or private individuals are now being considered at the community level. A desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to become more energy self-sufficient is driving this change. Theoretically, local level management is desirable because it achieves these goals through improvements in the three areas of energy efficiency, energy conservation and switching to renewable energy sources. September 2008 - The analysis of 10 of the first community energy plans in Canadian communities, ranging in population size from 500 to one million, found that that communities were choosing policies and programs centred on increasing energy efficiency and conservation while renewable energy received much less attention. (This should shift with the increased government rebates announced on March 31st 2009.) Municipal operations were called upon to set higher targets than the general community. Communities that recognized the substantial potential of renewable energy often focused on technologies that the municipal sector could implement, such as bio-fuels for their transportation fleet, wind, passive solar design, solar photovoltaics and solar thermal options. Calgary recommended implementing multiple renewable energy technologies while three of the five smaller communities proposed multiple renewable energy sources. The implication is that smaller municipalities and communities may be the most willing to lead in the planned introduction of renewable energy systems.

http://canadianclimateaction.wordpress.com/