Man in a hard hat consults tablet while standing in front of a transmission line. By Marla Orenstein and Ashley Meller Originally published in Canada's National Observer , Jan. 27, 2026

By Keren Perla and Ailsa Popilian Originally published in The Hub , December 13, 2025

Think pipelines are the central feature of Alberta and Ottawa's MOU? Think again. There’s a deeper shift underway — one that could reshape Canada’s role in the global energy economy.

Originally published on LinkedIn  | July 3, 2025 Contributors: Keren Perla , Ailsa Popilian SERIES: PART 2 of 3 Driving competitiveness as markets shift In the first part  of this series, we made the case that in today’s landscape diversification into low-carbon opportunities is a no regret move for Alberta and identified three categories of opportunity where Alberta has a potential edge: clean energy enablers, exportable business solutions, and low-emission product plays. Bu

The Energy Futures Lab is kicking off a year-long celebration of its 10-year anniversary with the announcement of the tenth cohort of...

Electricity experts & community leaders will lead multi-stakeholder solution prototyping to accelerate vision-driven modernization of...

Accelerating Investment in Emerging Net-Zero Aligned Energy Industries a Clear Priority Budget 2023 offered a much-needed response to...

The Energy Futures Lab’s Grid Sandbox Innovation Platform  The evolving grid  In 2022 it’s easy to take the flip of a light switch for granted. For the most part, people are accustomed to a dependable grid, meaning the intricate systems that provide access to safe, uninterrupted, and affordable electricity are often obscured. But uninterrupted power isn’t a given; it’s the result of a careful balancing act that can be tipped off kilter by any number of different factors.  Tha

Planning for the future is complicated. We don’t know for sure what the future will look like. That means — and forgive me for being a little nerdy here — defining “future fitness” is a  probabilistic  question: we have to assess “fitness” across a range of possible futures. At the same time, the future also isn’t entirely out of our control. Policy choices we make now can influence which futures are more (or less) likely to come to pass. Sound complicated? A new report from

Sitting in his kitchen with a ballpoint pen and a small coiled notebook, Walter considers his expenses. With December looming around the corner, he laments the fact that his furnace, after all these years, has chosen to retire on the heels of winter. With his natural gas furnace no longer working, Walter has purchased two electric heaters to warm his home. These new additions leave him feeling unsure of how best to tackle his energy bills and this nervousness inspires him to

As governments and industry around the world work to jump-start their economies and restart their businesses without triggering a second wave of COVID-19 infections, they’re suddenly open to ambitious ideas and policies that were on a slow track before the virus struck. But in straining for the highest fruit on the tree, we need to be careful that we don’t miss one of the easiest pieces to pick: energy efficiency. It will deliver results — and deliver them quickly. Installati

Co-creation, experimentation, and social innovation have been the Energy Futures Lab’s (EFL) core foundational elements since its inception in 2015. Now it is time to build on the foundational work of EFL 1.0 and to work together to design EFL 2.0. Led by 59 Fellows from diverse backgrounds and industries in Alberta, we have outlined a vision for Alberta’s energy system, worked in areas of tension within the energy system, and developed a number of exemplar initiatives that

On December 5, 2016, approximately 170 people braved the cold to talk about the future of energy in Alberta at the University of Calgary’s downtown campus. Dr. David Layzell, Energy Futures Lab (EFL) Steering Committee Member and Director of the Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) project, argued that energy system transition is the “grand challenge for our society.” The EFL design team worked with Dr. David Layzell and his research group to help identify big ch

No one ever said the transition to a new energy economy would be easy. From the very beginning, The Natural Step Canada (TNSC) was under a great deal of pressure to describe the impacts and outcomes of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL). We resisted prescribing a solution. Our Fellowship – more diverse than we could have hoped – has created a shared vision and innovation pathways, generated new ideas, and brought existing initiatives into the lab to amplify and scale. Describing an