Engaging communities in the transition to low-carbon economy

How citizens and communities participate in energy initiatives is critical to the successful transition to a low-carbon economy. Meaningful participation in renewable and low-carbon energy initiatives is linked with enhanced citizen support. Community energy -- characterized by high levels of participation --  is also associated with wide ranging benefits for communities such as new social mechanisms for

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SNAP Caledon home energy retrofit program

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), along with the Town of Caledon and Region of Peel, is working closely with neighbourhood residents and businesses to develop the West Bolton Sustainable Neighborhood Action Program (SNAP): an on-the-ground demonstration of the town’s Community Climate Change Action Plan. The project is one of six SNAPs happening across the GTA; it focuses

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From Community Power to Community Conservation: Motivating and Measuring Conservation Actions of a Captive Audience

The project aimed to build, execute, and measure the effectiveness of a community-based energy conservation program targeted at current community power initiative participants, and to share those findings and subsequent recommendations with government, community and energy agencies, and organizations throughout southern Ontario. Through this Metcalf Green Prosperity Challenge, the outcome was for the community to

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Sustainable Energy Transitions: Linking Pro-Environmental Behaviour to System Innovation

The purpose of the research project is to explore the links between consumer adoption of innovations in energy services and sustainability transitions in Ontario's energy sector. It focuses on the question of how pro-environmental decisions and behaviours are conceptualized and encouraged, and how these relate to system innovation for a sustainability transition in Ontario's energy

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Evaluating low carbon technologies and best practices

The project demonstrated the greenhouse gas and electricity use savings of a range of low carbon heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) technologies in the multi-unit residential building (MURB) sector. It involved a qualitative study identifying barriers presented to the use of these technologies as well as strategies for mitigating them. Performance monitoring of the technologies

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Sustaining the Commons: Ideas and Actions for a Green Economy

The Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE) held its 2013 biennial conference from October 31-November 2, 2013 at York University. The theme of the conference was "Sustaining the Commons: Ideas and Actions for a Green Economy." The "commons" is homage to the late Elinor Ostrom, an ecological economist and Nobel Laureate who pioneered work on

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