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Dear Energy Futures Lab Fellows, Partners & Steering Committee Members, Recent events demonstrate the importance of acknowledging and actively addressing systemic racism. Knowing these traumas are a part of Canada’s social fabric, we invite our community to lean collectively into this grief, discomfort, and moment of witness. We encourage you to reflect on the importance of being open to new ways of being, thinking, and doing. We want to recognize the members of our community who are hurting right now. We deeply empathize with how this must be a very difficult time for many of you and our hearts go out to you and your loved ones. To those of us who are born into white privilege, how can we each learn from our discomfort during this time? How can we sit with it long enough to more viscerally hear, feel, see, and know how the system in which we exist within is inequitable and unjust? The Lab continuously references our Learning Journey in our collective and individual understanding of Canadian Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation. This is, ultimately, the discovery of the truth of how our societies are built upon systemic, generational injustice and racism. We believe this is an important moment in that journey to acknowledge the significance of this truth. The Energy Futures Lab is far from perfect, but as we come together to create the energy system the future requires, we will continue to build safer, inclusive spaces, to listen and to enhance our ability to elevate your voices. Sincerely, The Energy Futures Lab Team #Culture_Shift #Reconciliation_Journey #EFL_Vision #EFL_Platform #2020

An Open Letter to the EFL Community

Dear Energy Futures Lab Fellows, Partners & Steering Committee Members, Recent events demonstrate the importance of acknowledging and actively addressing systemic racism. Knowing these traumas are a part of Canada’s social fabric, we invite our community to lean collectively into this grief, discomfort, and moment of witness. We encourage you to reflect on the importance of being open to new ways of being, thinking, and doing. We want to recognize the members of our community who are hurting...

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In August of 2018 I had the good fortune to spend two weeks at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity for a Summer Writers Retreat. My project for that time was to write about the Energy Futures Lab. It was an intimidating program in the sense that I was there with people who were actual writers. I was one of only two non-fiction writers amidst a group of almost 20 very talented storytellers. At that time I had already made a shift in my role with the Energy Futures Lab to a part-time contract, having passed the mantle of leadership for the Lab to Alison Cretney at the outset of 2018 and set out for what would be the better part of a year in Costa Rica with my family. The idea with the retreat was that I would use the time to document the origin story of the EFL and some of the insights gathered along the way, perhaps one day to be compiled into a book. I mostly used the time well and did good work. A couple priority “EFL 2.0” fundraising proposals got in the way of the main objective, but time dedicated to writing those was surely well spent! I also produced some decent early drafts of the first few chapters and an outline for the rest of the book. It didn’t get any further than that, other than that one of the “vignette” stories I wrote at that time – about two of the original EFL Fellows Daniel Clarke and Alison Thompson – was eventually published in Corporate Knights magazine. I was reminded of that work as I sat down to write this newsletter article on the occasion of yet another shift in my relationship with the Lab, to more of a participant role, as I step into a new position as Vice President, Sustainability and Citizenship with The Co-operators. The EFL was a good idea back in 2014, and it is an indispensable platform for change now. That is being made more obvious with every passing week, as the narratives and initiatives cultivated in the Lab make their way into the mainstream of public consciousness and the EFL’s profile and influence grows. My words of encouragement at this moment can be boiled down to this statement that a wise mentor, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, once shared with me: “Hug the framework.” By that, I am referring to the science and systems-thinking framework that underpins the work of the EFL and its host organization The Natural Step. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) and the insights it offers about what the future requires of us was instrumental for those of us involved in the early days of the EFL. Its implications were at the root of our belief that common ground could actually be found amidst all the dissension and polarization on energy and climate issues. And though it doesn’t often show up visibly in the day to day interactions of the Lab, every now and then its continued relevance as a lens for understanding the complexity we face is made obvious again. Most recently for me it was when Michael Moore’s Planet of the Humans movie was released. That film and the various reactions it caused highlighted for me the importance of backcasting from sustainability principles as a way to manage trade-offs (instead of getting stuck in lose/lose conundrums), leveraging the assets and resources around us for a better future (instead of lamenting where it all came from), and most importantly engaging constructively with one another (instead of demonizing people and groups with different interests). If you haven’t spent time with the content of the FSSD recently – and I suspect most of us haven’t – I encourage you to revisit some of the core learning materials of The Natural Step and Sustainability Illustrated. Perhaps after having done that, you’ll even rewatch Planet of the Humans with a new lens to reconsider its content. Or maybe even more productively, you’ll use that lens to consider what’s happening around us – to recognize patterns, to spot opportunities for connections. That’s what I’ve been doing for five years in various roles with the EFL. It’s what I’ll be continuing to do in the EFL going forward in my new capacity and also in my new role with The Co-operators, where that very lens is built into the organization’s core approach to business. We’re on a roll with the EFL. The world needs what we’re doing more than ever, so let’s lean in, hug the framework, and then reach out even more broadly than we have so far to be positive agents of hope and change. #Culture_Shift #Radical_Middle #Framework_for_Strategic_Sustainable_Development #Backcasting #System_Sensing #Fellowship #2020

Chad Park reflects on his time with the EFL

In August of 2018 I had the good fortune to spend two weeks at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity for a Summer Writers Retreat. My project for that time was to write about the Energy Futures Lab. It was an intimidating program in the sense that I was there with people who were actual writers. I was one of only two non-fiction writers amidst a group of almost 20 very talented storytellers. At that time I had already made a shift in my role with the Energy Futures Lab to a part-time...

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A New Reality Our world is shifting towards a low-carbon economy and the Canadian and global energy marketplace is changing. Many will debate the pace of this shift, but one thing we are certain of is that the shift is happening. Much of this is driven by increasing concerns about our changing climate. A recent study by Canadian federal scientists and academics has warned that Canada’s climate is warming more rapidly than the global average. These shifts and uncertainties have left many communities in Alberta rethinking their future and exploring how to create resilient communities, building on their human capital while taking advantage of new economic opportunities. EFL Accelerator: Community Resilience The recent EFL Accelerator on Community Resilience centered around the question: How can communities enhance long-term resilience in light of the shifting energy landscape? EFL Accelerators focus on advancing initiatives to help Alberta achieve the EFL vision created by the Lab’s diverse Fellows and partners. The Accelerator brought together community leaders, funders, strategists, First Nations, and advisors – even four youth from Pincher Creek who brought their perspective on energy transition and hopes to learn how to shape the future of their community. “What’s great is that I was able to collaborate with people from different backgrounds: education, energy, business…you get different ideas about different topics. It is cool to see out of the box thinking,” said one of the youth Ayden Pitcher from Matthew Halton High School in Pincher Creek, Alberta This EFL Accelerator advanced four initiatives: Blockchain to Transact Carbon Offsets from Aggregated Micro-Solar Pilot, led by EFL Fellow and CEO of ReWatt Power Prageet Nibber Energy Efficiency Program for Small Rural Businesses Pilot, led by former EFL Fellow and Director of Energy Efficiency Alberta Financing Programs Justin Smith SouthWest Alberta Experiential Learning Lab (SWELL) Concept, led by EFL Fellow and Innovation Architect at Ventus Development Services James Van Leeuwen Louis Bull Renewable Schools Pilot, led by EFL Fellow and Executive Director of Iron and Earth Lliam Hildebrand More about these initiatives can be found below. Energy Transition in Southwest Alberta “Learning about the socio-economic impact predicted by the loss of the Shell gas plant near Pincher Creek hit home for me,” said Diandra (DJ) Bruised Head – one the new EFL Fellows and also Climate Change Coordinator at Blood Tribe Land Management. DJ participated in the SWELL Concept initiative, led by EFL Fellow James Van Leeuwen at the Southwest Alberta Sustainable Community Initiative, which is focused on energy systems, and building capacity to design and develop energy systems the future will require. At the Accelerator, SWELL’s initiative explored the implications of closing Shell Canada’s Waterton Gas Complex, which has been a major economic generator for southwest Alberta since the early 1960s. “My community is within the vicinity of the gas-plant; we can see the lights of the plant from the Blood Reserve some nights. While the socio-economic impact assessment was for Pincher Creek, it will impact Southern Alberta as a whole. My community prides itself on maintaining oil and gas as a prime industry, and there’s gratefulness in that statement: we’ve had the opportunity to elevate our Tribe economically and been successful in this area. The future challenges our historical success; however, the global economy for oil and gas is shifting, and is calling for investment into renewables.” In 2018, the Blood Tribe was awarded a contract in partnership with Électricité de France (EDF) to invest in windmills and contribute to the community’s economy, but DJ recognizes that “there is a space to fill to bring in community buy-in for renewable energies.” She acknowledges that in order to develop renewables, the community would need visible projects and continued engagement to build capacity within the community. New Digital Innovations and Community Resilience Another initiative focused on how a successful pilot might contribute towards creating a more interconnected, accessible, and adaptable electricity system in the province. The pilot used blockchain technology to verify and aggregate emission reductions across solar sites from rural Albertan micro-producers. While it demonstrated additional value to small producers in the form of emission credits, perhaps more importantly, it also showcased the potential of the technology and the value of different stakeholders agreeing on a shared architecture. Participants explored what is needed to deploy this and other newer technologies in support of increased transparency and accessibility in Alberta’s power system. Re-thinking Work, Re-training Workforce The main premise of the Louis Bull Solar Renewable Schools Pilot, led by Fellow Lliam Hildebrand at Iron & Earth, is to assist un- (or under) employed oil and gas workers and Indigenous community members in expanding their skill sets to include renewable energy projects. Nick Clark, Director at Utilities, Network and Partners, a Calgary-based organization affiliated with the Olds Institute also participated at the Iron & Earth session and shared a different perspective on community-based projects. He strongly encouraged community leaders to look at market-based approaches. “What you need to possibly think of is, if subsidies and government grants disappear, if the programs are not sustainable on their own, how do you achieve your objectives?” said Nick. The session focused on the potential for Iron and Earth to apply a social enterprise approach to its work, with experts from the TRICO Changemakers and ATB Financial. Ranice Macyk, Senior Manager, Entrepreneur Capital Business & Agriculture at ATB Financial participated and brought a wealth of knowledge on financing options for community-based organizations: “I loved to see some of the projects that everyone is working on and I think it is a great idea to bring individuals from different backgrounds and industries together to help solve problems,” said Ranice. Each session brought a different initiative, a different story, and a variety of experts to help initiatives advance at this EFL Accelerator. Moving forward Many Alberta community leaders and organizations are aware of the implications of energy transition and how it will continue to impact community resilience and the province’s future workforce. The EFL will continue to work with interested stakeholders to develop these initiatives. If you are interested in getting involved with the EFL, please check out the opportunities here. For those in rural Alberta, consider participating in an Energy Futures Roadshow near your community. Roadshows typically include a series of workshops over a few days with community members, businesses, governments, schools, economic and community developers and the general public, followed by support from the Energy Futures Lab team to enable action. So far, we have delivered four Roadshows in Alberta communities, namely Crowsnest Pass, Hinton, Devon, and Grande Prairie. These Roadshows have been praised and attracted a diversity of community and government leaders. Join us at Energy Futures Roadshows in Banff, Drayton Valley, and Red Deer in fall 2019. Stay tuned! #Regional_Pathways #Community_Resilience #Community_Resilience_Accelerator #EFL_Vision #Fellowship #Energy_Efficiency_Program_for_Small_Rural_Businesses_Pilot #SouthWest_Alberta_Experiential_Learning_Lab_SWELL_Concept #Louis_Bull_Renewable_Schools_Pilot #Crowsnest_Pass_Roadshow #Hinton_Roadshow #Devon_Roadshow #Grande_Prairie_Roadshow

Accelerating Community Resilience in light of Energy Transition

A New Reality Our world is shifting towards a low-carbon economy and the Canadian and global energy marketplace is changing. Many will debate the pace of this shift, but one thing we are certain of is that the shift is happening. Much of this is driven by increasing concerns about our changing climate. A recent study by Canadian federal scientists and academics has warned that Canada’s climate is warming more rapidly than the global average. These shifts and uncertainties have left many...

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“We can’t forecast our way to the future that we want,we really need to begin with the end in mind.” – Chad Park, Lead Animator with Energy Futures Lab For years, the work explored within Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has flown mostly under the radar. Our community has collaborated on initiatives aimed at building a thriving, future economy. Now, a global shift is occurring and the Lab is seeing opportunities to expand our community and engage more broadly. On April 16th, the EFL held its first public online event, drawing over 250 participants from across Canada. The event was based on an article co-written by the Lab’s Managing Director and Lead Animator, Alison Cretney and Chad Park, titled Five Big Ideas for Alberta’s Economic Recovery. The article was incredibly well-received, so the Lab hosted an event, further exploring each of the five ideas. Since these are only five of many Alberta-based initiatives, the EFL will also launch a virtual “Big Ideas” series to continue highlighting work being done within the Lab. Our presenters offered a dynamic range of voices and expertise, covering topics relating to geothermal energy, lithium, hydrogen, artificial intelligence and alternative uses for bitumen. Below, you will find recordings from each session. In listening, we invite you to contemplate the role each of these fields will play in not only recovering Alberta’s economy, but in building a new vision of the future. Learn more about our presenters: Sean Collins, Alison Thompson, Bryan Helfenbaum, Liz Lappin, Maggie Hanna, Hossein Shahandeh and Greg Bennett. Near the end of the event we concluded by asking our audience: What actions do you feel you can take to help facilitate this energy transition? We were flooded with thoughtful and constructive answers as participants expressed a desire to adopt new technologies, seek out learning or engage researchers in developing scalable pilot projects. So as we continue responding to challenges arising as a result of COVID-19, we also remember that breakdowns really can create breakthroughs. In these times of crisis, we look for moments of opportunity. #Future_Economy #Culture_Shift #Clean_Technologies #Virtual_Conference_Five_Big_Idea_for_Albertas_Economic_Recovery #2020

Virtual Conference: Five Big Ideas for Alberta’s Economic Recovery

“We can’t forecast our way to the future that we want,we really need to begin with the end in mind.” – Chad Park, Lead Animator with Energy Futures Lab For years, the work explored within Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has flown mostly under the radar. Our community has collaborated on initiatives aimed at building a thriving, future economy. Now, a global shift is occurring and the Lab is seeing opportunities to expand our community and engage more broadly. On April 16th, the EFL held its first...

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There’s never a bad time for the Energy Futures Lab to meet, but the gathering in February in Cochrane was particularly timely. In the wake of Teck Resources’s decision not to proceed with its Frontier Oil Sands project, and in the shadow of both a national conversation over Coastal GasLink and Indigenous rights and a growing provincial one about the merits of separation from Canada, the time was right to ask some tough questions. Things would get even crazier in the days that followed, as oil prices collapsed under the weight of a renewed price war between OPEC, Russia, and the US shale industry, and the provincial government scrambled to react. Winston Churchill famously said that you should never let a good crisis go to waste, and this one seems perfectly aligned with the EFL’s vision and purpose. If the EFL can’t ask the tough questions about our energy future now, when can we? That said, nobody should expect any easy answers to emerge — and they certainly didn’t from the session in Cochrane. That’s why, instead of a tidy summary of the clear-cut answers that were generated during that day, we’re left with a new list of questions that need to be grappled with. These questions get at the heart of our energy dialogue in Alberta, and they may be useful in both moving past partisanship and building a more productive dialogue in this province. If there’s a group that can ask them, it’s the EFL. First, though, there were some points of agreement to build on. Most importantly, there was consensus that polarization sucks — a belief that’s built into the Lab’s DNA. And there was agreement that it’s not enough to dismiss or decry polarization, given that there are people and organizations who both benefit from polarization and routinely seek to exploit and expand it. The challenge for the Lab is figuring out a way to operate in that environment. Second, there was agreement that partisanship is a problem. Some thought it was a problem worth looking past, or trying to work around, while others believed it was better to engage directly with the system. But everyone agreed that it was a force to be reckoned with — and that the failure to do so would inevitably get in the way of the EFL’s mission. And third, there was a consensus that language matters, and that the words we use and the way we frame things publicly has a major impact on how they’re understood and experienced by others. Using the word “transformation”, for example, in place of “transition” can make the concept more approachable for many people. The Alberta Narratives Project covered this subject in much greater detail, and it’s a resource that anyone who is in the habit of discussing energy and climate issues should keep handy at all times. There was also agreement that we need to find common ground on this issue, but what that common ground looks like is up for debate. After all, where and what that common ground is shifts based on the questions in play and the people involved. Some have common ground on economic security, for example, while others find it on health outcomes. And while concepts like “human flourishing” might sound and seem like they have universal appeal, even they can be problematic. After all, one person’s human flourishing may involve the oil and gas industry being more active and prosperous — and that directly impacts another’s concept of flourishing in a negative way. The search for common values is similarly challenging. After all, if efforts to find shared values activate our tribal identities as either progressives or conservatives, are they a pathway to a more productive conversation or a trigger that pushes people back to a partisan one? More than anything, what the day in Cochrane revealed is that for all the technical and wonkish aspects of this conversation, it’s really much deeper than that. It’s about our identities, our histories, and how those sit in the world, as well as the tensions those all create. As with many things in Alberta, the real value is beneath the surface. What do those tensions look like? Here are five that came to the fore. Tension 1: Fear vs. Opportunity Does the EFL speak to people on the basis of their fears — be it for their own economic interests or the futures of their children and grandchildren — or their sense of the opportunities that may lie ahead in the energy transition? Tension 2: Complexity vs. Simplicity Should the EFL lean into the complexity of the conversation, and focus on the nitty gritty of policy proposals and technical solutions, or try to engage people on the basis of broader themes and ideas? Tension 3: Needs vs. Wants Is it better to focus on aspirational targets for the future, or near-term concerns about employment and stability? This dovetails with number one, but it has its own dimensions that are worth exploring. Tension 4: Disrupt vs. Destroy Some people felt that it was important to work with what we have, and improve the system in which our choices are being made. But others said that the status quo is the problem — and that the only way to fix it is to break it. Tension 5: Today vs. Tomorrow Building a consensus around the kind of future we want to build isn’t that difficult, especially when you stay at the level of broad and positive objectives that don’t require compromise. After all, who wouldn’t want to live in a future defined by a robust economy, a thriving environment, and fairness and justice for all? Deciding how we get there, and who should pay the highest price along the way, is where it gets messy. Sadly, there’s no way to resolve these conflicts in a way that leaves everyone satisfied and secure. That’s why we need to embrace the messiness that’s inherent here, and try to encourage others to join us in this space. As one fellow noted, there’s a literal physical disconnect between progressives and conservatives, and nowhere is that more apparent than when it comes to conversations about energy and climate. They worship in different places, socialize in different places, and often get educated in different places. The EFL is one of the few places where they regularly come together and share competing ideas. One of the goals going forward should be to recreate this space in as many places and spaces as possible. It won’t automatically resolve those five tensions, but it would certainly go a long way towards understanding them better. #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #Radical_Middle #EFL_Platform #2020

Navigating Tensions at the EFL

There’s never a bad time for the Energy Futures Lab to meet, but the gathering in February in Cochrane was particularly timely. In the wake of Teck Resources’s decision not to proceed with its Frontier Oil Sands project, and in the shadow of both a national conversation over Coastal GasLink and Indigenous rights and a growing provincial one about the merits of separation from Canada, the time was right to ask some tough questions. Things would get even crazier in the days that followed, as...

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Since its inception, the EFL has had the intention to both include Indigenous people, partners, and perspectives as well as acknowledge and address, in its work, issues related to Indigenous people’s relationships to the energy system. As we step along our Truth and Reconciliation journey, we are embracing a knowing that this aspect of our work needs to be improved and deepened if we truly intend for the Lab to represent what is possible for today’s energy system in Alberta, and beyond. There have been many lessons along the way. Lessons that, I believe, pull us deeper into grasping the gravity of this journey, as opposed to lessons that form a clear sequence of steps or actions to take. But even while holding the highest intention for our work – to be genuinely collaborative and co-creative – we are learning and uncovering how the biases and beliefs we are personally and collectively rooted in ultimately shape the limits of our intentions. Our journey is more than tallying which efforts and initiatives have succeeded or not, but is the task of unlearning the limitations of what a Western mindset requires for success so that we can unlock true potential and innovation for a co-created future. And it’s far from “easy” or “solvable”. But what we are learning – or maybe remembering – is how to be in relationship again. Relationship with ourselves, each other, our communities, the land, and even re-consider our relationship with wealth, energy, and power. This journey has evolved into much more than we ever could have expected, which shouldn’t be (but, unfortunately is) surprising. What has been the most profound for me has been to witness the little moments when people are able to find common ground between a Western and Indigenous perspective. Sometimes it will be in the context of an initiative or social challenge that a small group is convening around, but often these moments are ignited within each person as something clicks and connects their head to their heart. And maybe, I would offer today, this simple bridging of a logical, task-oriented, goal-driven mindset with a holistic, compassionate, heart-first energy is the north star for our journey. With the north star being an invitation and a guide, not a mandate or responsibility. It then becomes the opportunity for each of us to recognize and respond to the importance of moving in this direction – and then choosing to, in our own time and own way. As a Lab, a large part of our collective commitment is to ongoing learning and adaptation. This work is not excluded from that dynamic. We certainly aren’t perfect, but we continuously strive to step into an awareness of our own personal work in tandem with respectfully strengthening the Lab’s capacity for authentically working in, across and between Western and Indigenous worldviews. 2020 promises to generate a lot of momentum for our Truth and Reconciliation journey. We have some exceptional new Fellows, new partners, and we truly believe that our hearts and minds are opening in ways that are both innovative and necessary for the future that is required of us. Looking forward to seeing you along the way. #Indigenous_Knowledge_Insight_and_Leadership #Culture_Shift #2020 #Reconciliation_Journey

Our Truth and Reconciliation Journey

Since its inception, the EFL has had the intention to both include Indigenous people, partners, and perspectives as well as acknowledge and address, in its work, issues related to Indigenous people’s relationships to the energy system. As we step along our Truth and Reconciliation journey, we are embracing a knowing that this aspect of our work needs to be improved and deepened if we truly intend for the Lab to represent what is possible for today’s energy system in Alberta, and beyond. There...

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For as long as the EFL has existed, its work has been creating productive and solutions-oriented conversations about energy and climate as well as expanding the dimensions of what we like to call the “radical middle.” But with political polarization on the rise, and the dialogue around the energy transition becoming more binary by the day, we thought it was time to expand our reach — and our ambitions. We’ve heard from many of our Fellows over the years that they wanted to see us engage much more with the public, share our stories, and what we value with them. We will be asking you and many Canadians to share what your energy future looks like to showcase the diversity of perspectives around energy. We want to exchange, listen, and have rich conversations about our energy future. And that’s exactly what will happen in 2020. The campaign, which encourages Albertans and Canadians to think about their energy future and the role they can play in it, will kick off with a video that frames the conversation in a productive way. It was edited by our own Fellow Rio Mitchell, and features some of the EFL’s own members sharing their vision of the energy future. But that video is just the beginning. It will be featured on a new website, and supported by Twitter and Facebook accounts dedicated to expanding its reach. That website will also feature new content about the technologies and ideas we explore in the Lab, and how they’ll create opportunities for us all to build a better future. Over the course of the spring and summer, we hope to take this campaign and the materials it will create on the road, whether to conferences and symposiums or town-hall style meetings with the public. We’ll be talking about it with the media, and we may ask you to do some talking of your own. And we’ll be doing everything we can to influence the national conversation and shift it in a more positive and productive direction. How can you help? First, by sharing the campaign and its content on your own social channels, and within your circles of friends, family, and colleagues. Encourage the people you know and love to think about what their energy future will look like, and talk about it with one another. Stay tuned for further developments as we build out the My Energy Future campaign. #Radical_Middle #Culture_Shift #My_Energy_Future_Campaign #2020

Introducing the “My Energy Future” Campaign

For as long as the EFL has existed, its work has been creating productive and solutions-oriented conversations about energy and climate as well as expanding the dimensions of what we like to call the “radical middle.” But with political polarization on the rise, and the dialogue around the energy transition becoming more binary by the day, we thought it was time to expand our reach — and our ambitions. We’ve heard from many of our Fellows over the years that they wanted to see us engage much...

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We are thrilled to share a number of connections to the recently announced Clean50 awards. David Hughes, President & CEO of The Natural Step Canada, host organization for the Energy Futures Lab, has been named as a member of Canada’s Clean50 for 2020. David played an instrumental role in co-founding the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition. He helped galvanize momentum and mobilize leading businesses, academics and NGOs towards achieving a prosperous, sustainable, closed-loop, zero-waste circular economy in Canada. Fellow Julia-Maria Becker from the Pembina Institute has won the Clean50 top project award for her role in leading The Alberta Narratives Project. In the current divisive and polarized environment around energy issues, this project involved more than 20 organizations and funders, and convened important climate and energy conversations with Albertans from all backgrounds. Fellow Alison Thompson, CEO of Borealis GeoPower, also won a top project award for her unique work on Geothermal Energy District between Kitselas Geothermal & Borealis GeoPower. This project takes an original approach to geothermal energy development for base-load electricity and renewable heating/cooling alternatives. According to Geothermal Energy District, this project not only opens avenues to ethical mining by dissolving rare minerals and metals in geothermal brines, but also each 15 MW of geothermal electricity developed is predicted to eliminate 70 kt of CO2 emissions each year. Every year, Canada’s Clean50 recognizes Canada’s leaders in sustainability for their contributions. There are 16 categories in the Clean50 Individual awards or “the Clean50” which go beyond numerous industries, academia, and various levels of government, and are based on accomplishments delivered over the prior two years. The EFL was awarded a Clean50 Project award in 2018 and we are proud of the continuous connections to this program through EFL Fellows and The Natural Step President & CEO David Hughes. “I’m deeply honoured and want to acknowledge that this wouldn’t have been possible without the leadership, expertise and investment of the many partners who make up this coalition,” says David. Meet the other 47 leaders on the Clean50 list! #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #Sustainaville_Geo_Park #2019

EFL Connections to Canada’s Clean50 in 2020

We are thrilled to share a number of connections to the recently announced Clean50 awards. David Hughes, President & CEO of The Natural Step Canada, host organization for the Energy Futures Lab, has been named as a member of Canada’s Clean50 for 2020. David played an instrumental role in co-founding the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition . He helped galvanize momentum and mobilize leading businesses, academics and NGOs towards achieving a prosperous, sustainable, closed-loop, zero-waste...

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In many ways, this has been the Year of Carbon at the EFL. We need to re-imagine carbon and re-imagine waste to make a substantial reduction in GHG emissions. We have been supporting carbon neutral and carbon positive initiatives as well as refreshing EFL’s portfolio of initiatives to solve interrelated climate, environmental and economic challenges. Reducing carbon emissions from oil and gas assets and leveraging Alberta’s legacy infrastructure are important areas for the Lab. For instance, current and emerging technologies for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) can play an important role in reducing carbon emissions in Alberta. We recently held a CCUS Workshop exploring how to increase momentum and political will while addressing barriers that slow its uptake, such as regulatory uncertainty, funding challenges, and public acceptance. We need to re-imagine carbon and re-imagine waste to make a substantial reduction in GHG emissions. At the end of this month, at SPARK 2019, the EFL will host a session on how to frame a carbon positive conversation while The Natural Step Canada’s President & CEO David Hughes will moderate the panel Leveraging Canada’s Rich Natural Resources to Lead in a Global Circular Economy, exploring the linkages between re-imagining carbon waste and the concept of circularity. There are many ways that EFL Fellows and partners are rethinking the role of oil and gas in a low carbon economy. For example, the work at Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) has been instrumental in developing a pathway for hydrogen produced from natural gas as a promising zero-emissions fuel. The Alberta Zero-Emissions Truck Electrification Collaboration (AZETEC), received $15 million earlier this year to pilot two hydrogen-fueled trucks that will move freight year-round between Edmonton and Calgary. The EFL is supporting these exciting developments by developing an engaged network of key players and enablers towards building a hydrogen economy in Alberta. In order to enable transition, we also need to look at advanced technologies and their intersection with climate and environmental solutions. Since 2018, the RBC Foundation has supported our Energy.AI series to create pilots and projects that employ machine learning and artificial intelligence applications for reducing GHG emissions and addressing climate change. We recently held our Energy.AI3 Accelerator, which advanced three initiatives around increasing efficiency in oil and gas operations through applying AI; improving power system data quality to enable AI applications; and exploring how advanced technologies can help depolarize public discourse on energy. There are many solutions to our environmental and climate challenges in Alberta. We are working to advance high-value initiatives that not only cut emissions, but can even be carbon positive solutions. We need to leverage legacy infrastructure, rethink carbon and waste, while making significant efficiency advancements in our current energy system. Learn more about EFL initiatives here. #Future_Economy #Clean_Technologies #Regional_Pathways #Fellowship #CCUS_Workshop #CCUS #Building_a_Hydrogen_Economy_in_Alberta #Hydrogen #Energy_AI #2019

Reimagining Carbon

In many ways, this has been the Year of Carbon at the EFL. We need to re-imagine carbon and re-imagine waste to make a substantial reduction in GHG emissions. We have been supporting carbon neutral and carbon positive initiatives as well as refreshing EFL’s portfolio of initiatives to solve interrelated climate, environmental and economic challenges. Reducing carbon emissions from oil and gas assets and leveraging Alberta’s legacy infrastructure are important areas for the Lab. For instance,...

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Chad Park’s remarks from the EFL 2.0 launch reception on February 12, 2019 Over the last month something notable happened here in Alberta that not everyone may have heard about. On December 11th, the Canyon Creek Hydro Development Act received Royal Assent, enabling the Alberta Utilities Commission to issue its final approval for the Canyon Creek Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Project near Hinton. Alberta can take the bull by the horns and adapt to these changes, get in front of them and reap the benefits that will flow. But only if we look forward and come together on the same level of scale and ambition. This time we will have to do it with a lot more speed. Canyon Creek is notable in that is the first hydro project to be approved by the Alberta Legislature in ten years as well as both the first ever pumped hydro and first ever large-scale energy storage project to be approved in Alberta. It makes use of an abandoned coal mine and incorporates two small off-stream water reservoirs that will be connected by a pipeline with pumps, turbines and generating equipment near the bottom reservoir in a powerhouse. The project will have the capacity to store 75MW for 37 hours of full capacity generation, helping the Alberta grid accommodate increasing production from renewable energy like large-scale wind. This project was led by one of the Fellows of the Energy Futures Lab, Kipp Horton, the President and CEO of Windriver Power Corporation. It exemplifies much of what the EFL stands for and many of the narratives we talked about at the EFL Summit. Perhaps even more notable is that the Canyon Creek Hydro Development Act was passed unanimously in the Alberta legislature. In this polarized environment. Months away from an election call. Congratulations to Kipp and his team and also kudos to the elected officials who saw the importance and opportunity in enabling this project. We need more of this. What it shows us – and what is shown by the attendance at this event by leaders from all four major parties in the Alberta Legislature at the EFL Summit – is that getting it right on these issues is of utmost importance for the future of Alberta. And it IS possible to find common ground and get things done. When the EFL was first conceived a few years ago, it was borne of a belief that despite the highly polarized nature of the public debates surrounding energy issues, there was a story from Alberta that wasn’t being heard and that Albertans would rise to the occasion if given the right opportunity. There were plenty of Albertans from diverse backgrounds – including the oil and gas industry – who not only believed in the science of climate change but who were actively working on solutions. Innovators. Entrepreneurs. Intrapraneurs. Technology experts and social innovators. People who would roll up their sleeves and work together to accelerate progress. These were not “either or” kind of people – pitting one group against another in a “with us or against us” attitude. These were “and” people – who knew we could leverage the many energy assets and talent in this province to become leaders in shaping the energy future. We found them. And it turns out, there are a LOT these kinds of people here. More than we thought. Three years since the first meeting of EFL Fellows, we know that there is a lot more to be done, but we can say that the EFL has exceeded our expectations. pumped hydro energy from an abandoned coal mine, geothermal from oil wells, technology to turn carbon dioxide into useful materials, a start-up IT company partnering with a rural energy coop to enable solar energy solutions on farms, An Albertan renewable energy company building projects in B.C. with First Nations as partners These are the kinds of initiatives being run by the participants in the EFL. The EFL feels like a snowball. From 30 to 60 Fellows From 5 to 16 Convening Partners From 0 to 10 Exemplar Initiatives From almost zero trust to something like 90% trust among Fellows And more than 5000 people engaged through engagements like the EFL Leadership Bootcamp and the Newtonian Shift energy transition simulation game, with the support of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation. Forty years ago, Alberta came together with industry and government to bring the oil sands dream into reality, for the economic benefit of all of Canada. The world is changing and some people are saying it is going to leave Alberta behind. The people in this room are not among them. Alberta can take the bull by the horns and adapt to these changes, get in front of them and reap the benefits that will flow. But only if we look forward and come together on the same level of scale and ambition. This time we will have to do it with a lot more speed. The EFL can be a key platform for making this happen. Thank you to all of you for being a part of the story so far and for joining us here today. The snowball is rolling. Let’s keep it going. #Energy_Storage_Pumped_Hydro #Repurposing_Coal_Mines #Pumped_Hydro #Geothermal_From_Oil_Wells #CCUS #Supporting_Albertas_Carbon_Utilization_Innovators #Commercial_Solar #Blockchain_for_Rural_Community_Power_Aggregation #Community_Solar #Geothermal_Energy #Advanced_Materials #Indigenous_Knowledge_Insight_and_Leadership #Leadership_Bootcamp #The_Newtonian_Shift #2019

The snowball is rolling. Let’s keep it going.

Chad Park’s remarks from the EFL 2.0 launch reception on February 12, 2019 Over the last month something notable happened here in Alberta that not everyone may have heard about. On December 11th, the Canyon Creek Hydro Development Act received Royal Assent, enabling the Alberta Utilities Commission to issue its final approval for the Canyon Creek Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Project near Hinton. Alberta can take the bull by the horns and adapt to these changes, get in front of them and reap...

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Since January 2019, the EFL has welcomed 25 new Fellows and 19 Convening Partners to advance EFL initiatives and launch EFL 2.0, in which we deepen our work in Alberta and explore how to extend the Lab’s lessons and learning at a national level. With the recent report that Canada’s climate is warming at roughly twice the rate of the rest of the world, more than ever, our country requires bold and collaborative leadership. The EFL has created a neutral platform to overcome divisiveness and to find common ground among divergent groups. We invited leading organizations in different sectors to join EFL 2.0. They responded and delivered. EFL 2.0 is proudly supported by the following Convening Partners: Alberta Innovates Alberta Real Estate Foundation Canada West Foundation Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) Capital Power Cenovus Energy Emissions Reduction Alberta Energy Efficiency Alberta Government of Alberta Indigenous Clean Energy JWN Energy Pembina Institute QUEST RBC Foundation Shell Canada Student Energy Suncor Energy Foundation The Natural Step Canada The leaders of these organizations have signed this inspiring joint letter confirming their support for EFL 2.0 and their commitment to helping advance the important initiatives stewarded by the EFL Fellowship. The EFL Fellows have demonstrated the power of shared leadership, co-creation, and experimentation. We are proud of our Fellows and are excited to announce this impressive group of 25 new Fellows who will contribute alongside the current cohort: Ariane Bourassa, Cenovus Energy Barend Dronkers, Energy Efficiency Alberta Brenda Barritt, Stettler Learning Centre Bryan Helfenbaum, Alberta Innovates Devin Beaton, Nutana Power Diandra Bruised Head, Blood Tribe Land Management Gareth Thomson, Alberta Council for Environmental Education Gordon Giles, Alberta Pacific Forest Industries Inc. Greg Bennett, AIRIA Cloud, Google Development Group YYC, Atheria Heather Lemon, Alberta Energy Regulator Jaeson Cardiff, CleanO2 Carbon Capture Technologies Jamie Bonham, NEI Investments Jeff Bell, Alberta Economic Development and Trade Jeff Zimmer, ATCO Gas JT Steenkamp, Shell Canada Julia-Maria Becker, Pembina Institute Julie Bunker, QUEST Marla Orenstein, Canada West Foundation Megan Lohmann, Community Energy Association Nneka Bowen, Royal Bank of Canada Olivia Reshetylo, Student Energy Peter Koning, ConocoPhillips Canada Saeed Nusri, ATB Financial Sandra Odendahl, CMC Research Institutes Shelagh Hayes, Western Economic Diversification Canada Welcome to the Energy Futures Lab! #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #EFL_Vision #EFL_Platform #2019

Demonstrating Leadership: New Fellows and Partners Join the EFL

Since January 2019, the EFL has welcomed 25 new Fellows and 19 Convening Partners to advance EFL initiatives and launch EFL 2.0, in which we deepen our work in Alberta and explore how to extend the Lab’s lessons and learning at a national level. With the recent report that Canada’s climate is warming at roughly twice the rate of the rest of the world, more than ever, our country requires bold and collaborative leadership. The EFL has created a neutral platform to overcome divisiveness and to...

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The Energy Futures Lab is an Alberta-based, multi-interest collaboration designed to accelerate the development of a “fit for the future” energy system. It brings together a cohort of influential leaders to address current and emerging energy challenges, and generate opportunities for new initiatives and collaborations. CALGARY, February 11, 2019 – A diverse group of energy innovators and partner organizations will gather at the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) Summit in Calgary on February 12 to officially launch EFL 2.0. The EFL Summit will explore the leadership role that the EFL can play in helping accelerate progress in the context of the urgent need for action and the growing polarization on energy issues in Alberta and Canada. Building on successes and learning from its first phase, EFL 2.0 will see oil and gas executives, cleantech and renewable energy companies, First Nations leaders, environmental groups, academics, and others working together to: Continue to identify, develop and pressure-test innovative solutions for accelerating the transition to the energy system the future requires of us; Strengthen the capacity of business and government to adopt and support such innovative solutions; Align a growing community of leaders and their organizations behind a bold and transformative vision for the future of energy in Canada and the possible transition pathways to achieve it; Inspire and share stories that help depolarize the public conversation about energy in Canada and accelerate progress toward a shared vision. “The energy and climate change debates of the past decade have left Canada polarized in a myriad of ways,” said The Natural Step Canada’s President & CEO David Hughes. “Meanwhile, much of the rest of the world – especially its technology innovators – is racing to a new energy future that will reshape politics, economics, and cultural dynamics around the world. It is a time that requires bold and collaborative leadership.” “Since its launch in 2015, the EFL has proven a unique forum for overcoming divisiveness and finding productive common ground among diverse stakeholders,” says Alison Cretney, EFL Managing Director. “With the launch of EFL 2.0, we are doubling down on this approach and planning to deepen and extend its impact. The Convening Partners of EFL 2.0 are committed to supporting EFL Fellows as they develop exemplar initiatives in response to the question: how can we leverage our leadership position in today’s energy system to create the energy system that the future requires of us? The EFL partners, Fellows, Steering Committee and broader community will mark the transition from EFL 1.0 to EFL 2.0 at the first EFL Summit, which will include a dialogue with federal Natural Resources Minister The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi. Minister Sohi and several Energy Futures Lab partners will be available for a short media scrum at 9:00 a.m. following the Minister’s remarks. Media is invited to the Minister’s dialogue starting at 8:30 a.m at the University of Calgary’s Red & White Club, North end McMahon Stadium. EFL 2.0 is proudly supported by the following Convening Partners: Alberta Innovates Alberta Real Estate Foundation Canada West Foundation Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) Capital Power Cenovus Energy Emissions Reduction Alberta Energy Efficiency Alberta Government of Alberta Indigenous Clean Energy JWN Energy Pembina Institute QUEST RBC Foundation Shell Canada Student Energy Suncor Energy Foundation The Natural Step Canada #Culture_Shift #Fellowship #EFL_Platform #2019

MEDIA RELEASE: Multi-Interest Show of Support as Energy Industry Leaders and Innovators Come Together to Launch Energy Futures Lab 2.0

The Energy Futures Lab is an Alberta-based, multi-interest collaboration designed to accelerate the development of a “fit for the future” energy system. It brings together a cohort of influential leaders to address current and emerging energy challenges, and generate opportunities for new initiatives and collaborations. CALGARY, February 11, 2019 – A diverse group of energy innovators and partner organizations will gather at the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) Summit in Calgary on February 12 to...

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2018: A Good Year Last year was a good year at the EFL. While our team is conscious that there is much to achieve in 2019, let me take a moment to acknowledge a number of accomplishments in 2018. The EFL was recognized as one of the Clean50’s Top 20 projects in Canada for 2018 for its outstanding contribution to clean capitalism. This recognition is grounds for pride in our work and evidence of the unique potential of The Natural Step Canada’s Sustainability Transition Labs overall. Even more impressive is the progress the EFL made in four areas: advancing exemplar initiatives; sharing EFL insight to influence policy; setting up for EFL 2.0; and galvanizing leadership in Alberta and Canada to provide leadership to overcome the growing polarization on energy issues. Advancing EFL Initiatives Significant progress was made on the dozen exemplar initiatives in the EFL portfolio of projects in 2018. Here are a few highlights: What began as an EFL initiative exploring how Canada’s airlines and airports could become a world leader in low-carbon air travel evolved into the WestJet Aviation Biofuel Challenge, delivered by Alberta Innovates. The challenge seeks existing or emerging technology combined with lower cost Alberta biomass to develop a viable, economic solution for producing aviation biofuel in the province. We also launched and piloted the Energy Futures Roadshow in two Albertan communities: Crowsnest Pass and Hinton. The Roadshow brings the combined knowledge, skills, and network of the EFL to support communities in exploring and understanding their unique challenges and opportunities in the face of energy transition. Each Roadshow sparked collaborative initiatives among community members, while developing relationships and a learning cohort across Roadshow communities. We look forward to expanding the Energy Futures Roadshow to four more Albertan communities in 2019. The EFL Accelerators were launched in 2018 as a new way of engaging the EFL community in accelerating the Lab’s exemplar initiatives alongside EFL Fellows. We attracted impressive expertise and talent to the first EFL Accelerator on Mobility in a Low Carbon Future, where we explored specific challenges facing innovators in order to unlock possibilities in four innovation areas: Biojet, Lithium, Hydrogen, and Smart Mobility. The Growing an Alberta Lithium Industry initiative applies oil and gas expertise to unlock the potential of Alberta’s significant lithium resource from oilfield wastewater. As a fundamental component in the batteries of electronics, electric vehicles, and large-scale energy storage, lithium is anticipated to be a key material in a low-carbon economy. The EFL Accelerator session identified what is required to accelerate the current pace of sustainable lithium resource development in order to position Alberta for maximum success in the global market in the coming years. Through the Energy.AI Workshop, we not only explored the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to enable Alberta thrive in a competitive low-carbon world, but we also succeeded in engaging the AI community to help find AI solutions to low-carbon and energy transition challenges. Learn about the Energy.AI Workshop findings and stay tuned for more accelerators that will advance EFL actions on community resilience, artificial intelligence, and Indigenous leadership in the energy sector. Helping Policy-makers Backcast from a Desired Future In 2018, the EFL also engaged with two critical stakeholders in the energy ecosystem – the Government of Alberta (GoA) and Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) – to help them take advantage of the diversity and expertise in the EFL Fellowship to test or refine policy ideas. For the GoA, the EFL provided technical feedback to the Department of Energy for its work in developing a strategic outlook for the energy sector – aimed to enable Alberta’s transition to a low-emission economy while ensuring responsible energy development. With ERA, the EFL applied the backcasting method to review the agency’s Technology Roadmap, which guides ERA’s investment strategy for its cleantech portfolio. In both strategic reviews, the EFL and its Fellows were seen as an important source of strategic thinking because of their diverse areas of expertise and the shared “future lens” that they have created together with the EFL vision. Setting up for EFL 2.0 We started the year without knowing for sure that the EFL would continue past 2018. We ended the year with a plan, funding, and partnerships to not only continue but deepen and extend our work together over the next three years (2019-2021). This will include changes in the program design to be able to engage more partners and people in the innovation work of the Lab, and exploring how EFL lessons and learnings might be used to extend our impact in other parts of Canada. To advance EFL 2.0’s ambitions, we have launched a third recruitment wave to attract exceptional leaders and influencers to join the EFL Fellowship. We will officially celebrate EFL 1.0 and mark the shift to EFL 2.0 at the first EFL Summit on Feb 12. At the Summit, we will explore the EFL’s leadership role in accelerating progress in the context of the urgent need for action and the growing polarization on energy issues in Alberta and Canada. While there is a lot to celebrate and be grateful for in 2018, there is no question that 2019 will be a challenging year. Provincial and federal elections mean heightened polarization and greater uncertainty. Regardless, the EFL is committed to continue working with all actors, governments, businesses, and communities to accelerate progress in building the energy system that the future requires of us. We ask you to join us in finding pragmatic and meaningful solutions that respond to the EFL 2.0 convening question: how can we leverage our leadership position in today’s energy system to create the energy system the future requires of us? Spread the word on the EFL Fellowship and apply before Jan 31. See you at the EFL Summit! #Future_Economy #Culture_Shift #Clean_Technologies #Regional_Pathways #Fellowship #Community_Resilience #Alberta_Energy_Narrative_Hearts_and_Minds #ERA_Technology_Roadmap #Bio_Jet #Hinton_Roadshow #Crowsnest_Pass_Roadshow #2019 #Lithium_from_Brine #Sustainable_Aviation_Fuels #Electric_Vehicles #EFL_Vision #Lithium_on_Tap #Energy_AI #Artificial_Intelligence #EFL_Platform #Backcasting

The EFL in 2019, and beyond

2018: A Good Year Last year was a good year at the EFL. While our team is conscious that there is much to achieve in 2019, let me take a moment to acknowledge a number of accomplishments in 2018. The EFL was recognized as one of the Clean50’s Top 20 projects in Canada for 2018 for its outstanding contribution to clean capitalism. This recognition is grounds for pride in our work and evidence of the unique potential of The Natural Step Canada’s Sustainability Transition Labs overall. Even...

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On Tuesday this week, I was interviewed by host Laura Lynch on CBC Radio One’s Vancouver morning show, the Early Edition, for a segment about Alberta. The experience of the interview has me thinking a lot about the challenges we need to overcome in Canada to address energy and climate issues together. The framing for the interview was the recent announcement by Premier Rachel Notley about Alberta temporarily curtailing oil production, set against the messages from this week’s COP meetings in Poland about the urgency to act on climate change and the need to “transition from fossil fuels”. There are a few things I wish I would have said and some questions I wish I would have been asked. I thought I’d write some reflections down in a blog post while they’re still fresh. The main message that I was trying to convey in the interview was that Alberta can be part of the solution on climate and energy issues. Furthermore, the oil and gas industry, where so much capital and talent is currently invested in this province, should be seen as a partner in the development and deployment of climate change solutions. I know that this message is counter-intuitive to most Canadians outside Alberta. And it is self-evident to the many Albertan innovators working in the energy sector. Therein lies one of the core difficulties we have in communicating on this topic. But if we share the view that this issue is urgent, then it follows that we need all hands on deck in the search for solutions. Yes, Alberta needs to diversify its economy both to ensure it is better prepared for a low-carbon emissions global economy and to reduce exposure to the ups and downs in the market of a global commodity over which we have no control. This is happening. Edmonton is becoming a world leading city for innovation in artificial intelligence and in healthcare technologies. Calgary is home to more than 200 renewable energy companies and 100 energy storage companies. Unfortunately, the provincial government’s continued over-reliance on revenues from the oil and gas resource masks the progress that is being made on diversification in the economy overall. Yes, we need to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy in Canada. Alberta knows this very well. Alberta has become a hotbed for renewable energy entrepreneurs and investors, as the province phases out coal and develops 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to fulfill its plan to generate 30% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, all of which is expected to generate at least $10.5 billion in new investment by 2030 and 7,000 new jobs, according to Calgary Economic Development. And yet, even if Alberta were to transition to 100% use of renewable energy for electricity, this would not replace the share of Alberta’s economic prosperity currently derived from exporting oil and gas. Our use of renewable energy as consumers is a quite different thing than our export of fossil fuels as producers. The public conversation about transition seems to largely miss this point, suggesting that it is a simple matter of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, as it might be in places where the main questions about energy are largely about consumption. I find it interesting that a message about the need for a transition from fossil fuels, such as the one coming out of COP this week, is often interpreted by many in Canada as a need to transition from the production of fossil fuels, for example in Alberta – with very little emphasis on the need to transition from the consumption or combustion of fossil fuels across the broader economy. This is not to say that Alberta doesn’t have important work to do in better preparing its economy for the future and to make its hydrocarbons cost and carbon competitive. But we must also face the fact that if customers of Alberta’s oil don’t get it from Alberta, that will not lead them to avoid buying oil at all. They will just get it from somewhere else. So curtailing Alberta’s oil and gas production does not address the biggest part of the problem. But stifling the Alberta economy does mean that all Canadians miss out on the economic resources that could be put to use in support of the transition, not to mention the cultural benefit of truly being unified as a country in how we tackle the challenge of climate change. On the other hand, in their frustration about the current situation, Albertans also can’t pretend that we can go back to how things were. The global transition to a low-carbon emissions economy is under way and accelerating. The world’s entrepreneurs and investors know there is big money to be made by those who bring solutions to market. The costs of new technologies are coming down as the scale of their deployment increases, and this is bound to continue. When we frame the issues in “with us or against us” terms about our oil and gas industry, without acknowledging the scale of the challenge we share together as global citizens, we prolong the mistaken view of Alberta being part of the problem instead of part of the solution. We make the situation worse. On top of accelerating the adoption of renewable energy and diversifying the economy in Alberta, let’s also look at major opportunities that exist because of Alberta’s oil and gas sector. Let’s radically reduce emissions in the production of Alberta’s oil and gas, and in so doing leverage the oil and gas industry as development ground for exportable clean technologies and services. Let’s get full value for the fossil fuels we are producing, and invest a big portion of the proceeds into the transition – as they have done in some other oil producing jurisdictions such as Norway. In my view, the polarization on these issues has gotten us into a position where unfortunately a rational discussion is very difficult. It sometimes seems as if our only choices are to phase out the production of fossil fuels as quickly as possible or to completely avoid the challenge of climate change. The difficulty in having a rational discussion on these issues makes me all the more grateful for the work of The Natural Step Canada and, in particular, the Energy Futures Lab (EFL), where people with widely differing points of view have entered gracefully into the uncomfortable, unpopular, and necessary space of the radical middle. The products of that openness and grace so far include tangible exemplar initiatives generated through collaboration among uncommon partners and a shared 2050 vision for Alberta’s energy system. Staying hopeful about the future is critical, and the EFL offers legitimate grounds for hope for anyone willing to pay attention. In the interview today, I would have rather been asked the question, “how can Alberta (and Canada) thrive as we and the rest of the world transition to a low-carbon emissions economy?” I would have answered that we can do so by working together to creatively develop solutions, and that that is far better than pitting us against one another. For inspiration on what that could look like, I might have shared the story of Ian MacGregor, the Albertan energy entrepreneur who recently inspired EFL Fellows with the scale of his vision and investments and the straightforward common sense that appears to guide his work. If I’d had time at the end of the interview, I would have loved to have taken the rare opportunity for an Albertan to address a B.C. audience directly on these issues. I would have been tempted to ask the the good citizens of B.C. not to shun a neighbour for being producers of a product that you yourselves consume. 🙂 But instead of a defensive comment like that and in the spirit of coming together, I would have simply said to the people of B.C. that your neighbour can also be your partner in building the energy system that the future requires of us. #Future_Economy #Culture_Shift #Clean_Technologies #Regional_Pathways #Fellowship #EFL_Platform #EFL_Vision #Artificial_Intelligence #Batteries #Provincial_Policy #Sustainable_Finance #Radical_Middle #2018

Reflections on an Interview with the CBC

On Tuesday this week, I was interviewed by host Laura Lynch on CBC Radio One’s Vancouver morning show, the Early Edition, for a segment about Alberta. The experience of the interview has me thinking a lot about the challenges we need to overcome in Canada to address energy and climate issues together. The framing for the interview was the recent announcement by Premier Rachel Notley about Alberta temporarily curtailing oil production, set against the messages from this week’s COP meetings in...

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The increasing drive towards a low-carbon future is demanding that we look differently at the way we live, eat, commute, and transport goods. Easy, convenient, and relatively affordable mobility is embedded in our lifestyle, which makes changes at scale challenging. This has opened the space for ideas across a range of innovation priorities, including 1) implementing new technologies and supporting cleaner fuels; 2) providing low-carbon mobility options; and 3) applying regulations such as market mechanisms to encourage shifts in consumer behaviours. So how does low-carbon mobility translate into actual actions, especially given that 68% of world population is projected to live in urban areas by 20501? And, perhaps more importantly, what does this mean for Alberta and our future? In Alberta, there have been several organizations engaged in work that explore these questions. For example: The Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) at the University of Calgary researches Canada’s freight sector and suggests that in order to achieve the 2030 and 2050 commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate change accord, “transformative – even disruptive – changes are required in the fueling of freight transport in this country and across North America2.” CESAR believes that the future of freight in Alberta will depend heavily on the use of hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks3. WestJet is another organization looking at low-carbon mobility and recently launched the WestJet Aviation Biofuel Challenge along with Alberta Innovates. This challenge intends to use/develop existing or emerging technologies, using lower cost Alberta biomass, coupled with other complimentary efficient technologies, to scale-up Alberta’s capacity as a leader in the aviation biofuel industry. Earlier this year, a Calgary-based company, E3 Metals, announced that it had reached an important technical milestone that moves it one step closer to being able to extract lithium from oilfield brine. Lithium is an important component in electrical vehicles, and “petro-lithium” represents an innovative approach to leveraging Alberta’s traditional energy assets as the basis for continued strength in a low-carbon future. These organizations are all part of the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) community. On November 20th, 2018 the EFL will convene an EFL Accelerator on Mobility in a Low Carbon Future in collaboration with Alberta Energy. This one-day workshop will examine Alberta’s positioning in relation to the movement of people and goods in a low-carbon future. EFL Accelerators explore unique opportunities with a select group of innovators from government, industry, civil society, and academia that can address challenges and prepare Alberta to thrive in the future. If you would like to participate in the upcoming EFL Accelerator on Mobility in a Low-Carbon Future, please contact Pong Leung at pleung@naturalstep.ca. ___________________ 1UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs: https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html 2CESAR: http://www.cesarnet.ca/blog/canada-s-freight-sector-addressing-climate-change-face-disruptive-change 3Truck News:https://www.trucknews.com/sustainability/research-points-to-hydrogen-electric-trucks-as-best-option-for-the-future/1003086938/ #Clean_Technologies #Regional_Pathways #Bio_Fuel #Hydrogen #Bio_Jet #Sustainable_Aviation_Fuels_Roadmap #Electric_Vehicles #Batteries #Lithium_from_Brine #Lithium_on_Tap #2018 #Accelerator_on_Mobility_in_a_Low_Carbon_Future

Mobility in a Low-Carbon Future

The increasing drive towards a low-carbon future is demanding that we look differently at the way we live, eat, commute, and transport goods. Easy, convenient, and relatively affordable mobility is embedded in our lifestyle, which makes changes at scale challenging. This has opened the space for ideas across a range of innovation priorities, including 1) implementing new technologies and supporting cleaner fuels; 2) providing low-carbon mobility options; and 3) applying regulations such as...

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The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has recently issued a press release to announce that the community of Crowsnest Pass will be the first of five municipalities to host the Energy Futures Roadshow, which will explore what energy transition could look like for Crowsnest Pass. We are excited about partnering with Crowsnest Pass and learning more about this community’s perspectives now and in the future. This initial pilot will involve a diversity of community members, including municipal government, local businesses and economic development authorities, schools, and the public. The Roadshow will take place on October 18 and 19, 2018. Oct 18 – Energy Transition Simulation Through a role-playing simulation, this session will provide an opportunity for participants to experience decades of energy transition in one day. Oct 19 – Community Resilience The second day will feature a guest speaker from the Town of Hinton who will share the town’s experience with community resilience followed by working sessions on economic diversification, technology, and cultural readiness. The Energy Futures Roadshow will conclude with a celebratory community gathering on October 19. We look forward to this engagement with Crowsnest Pass and to partnering with future communities! Registration closes October 5. Sign up today here. Check out the EFL’s press release below. Crowsnest Pass selected to host theEnergy Futures Roadshow The Energy Futures Lab announces Crowsnest Pass as the first of five municipalities to host the Energy Futures Roadshow, exploring what energy transition could look like for Crowsnest Pass. Calgary, AB, September 13, 2018 – The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) is proud to collaborate with the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass on piloting the Energy Futures Roadshow. This will involve a series of engagement activities in the Crowsnest Pass community, inviting municipal government, local businesses, economic development authorities, schools, and the public to join the conversation on energy transition and how it will affect the community. The main engagement session, a two-day workshop, will take place on October 18 and 19 and will provide a facilitated role-playing simulation allowing participants to experience decades of energy transition on the first day. The second day will feature a guest speaker from the Town of Hinton who will share the town’s experience with community resilience, followed by working sessions on economic diversification, technology, and cultural readiness. “There are big opportunities for communities motivated to be leaders in the energy transition. We are excited to collaborate with Crowsnest Pass on community resilience and exploring solutions. There is a lot of community interest in determining what long term success looks like, and I encourage others to join the conversation.” says Alison Cretney, Managing Director for the Energy Futures Lab. This unique engagement has been closely designed with the Crowsnest community, drawing on the tools, resources and networks of the Energy Futures Lab. Over time we hope to see a number of communities across the province connecting to each other and the work of the EFL to strengthen their capacity to seize the benefits of future shifts in our energy system. To register for the Energy Futures Roadshow on October 18 or 19, please sign up through the Roadshow event page. CONTACT INFORMATION For more information, please contact: The EFL at info@energyfutureslab.com; or· Peter Bubik, Vice President of the Crowsnest Pass Chamber of Commerce, at 403-703-1676 and e-mail: peterbubik@pbpower.ca. About the Energy Futures Lab The Energy Futures Lab is an award-winning, multi-stakeholder initiative to accelerate the transition to the energy system that the future requires of us. Initiated in the Fall of 2013, the lab is powered by The Natural Step Canada, in collaboration with the Suncor Energy Foundation, Energy Efficiency Alberta, Alberta Real Estate Foundation, Shell Canada, ATB Financial, RBC Foundation, JWN Energy, Government of Alberta and the Pembina Institute. The initiative also involves dozens more organizations in an unprecedented series of innovative partnerships and collaborations. To learn more, please visit www.energyfutureslab.com. Visit The Natural Step Canada at www.naturalstep.ca to learn about our national organization, its Sustainability Transition Labs and other initiatives. #Regional_Pathways #Crowsnest_Pass_Roadshow #Community_Resilience #2018

Crowsnest Pass selected to host the Energy Futures Roadshow

The Energy Futures Lab (EFL) has recently issued a press release to announce that the community of Crowsnest Pass will be the first of five municipalities to host the Energy Futures Roadshow , which will explore what energy transition could look like for Crowsnest Pass. We are excited about partnering with Crowsnest Pass and learning more about this community’s perspectives now and in the future. This initial pilot will involve a diversity of community members, including municipal government,...

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a rapidly developing area of technological advancement over the last 10 years and more, yet it is only very recently that the buzz about its implications and potential for Alberta’s energy sector has really escalated. Why is that? How can artificial intelligence enable Alberta to thrive in a competitive, low-carbon world? Three possible reasons come to mind. First, there is now a far better collection and recording of historical energy data. Harvesting data is essential for AI applications, and it requires planning ahead. Second, the potential for AI to help address critical challenges facing the sector has become more evident. For instance, reducing costs and taking action on climate change and other environmental issues have become vital to business viability in recent years. Third, there has been relatively slow adoption of AI in the energy sector, despite recognition of its potential. A study from consultancy Roland Berger “predicts that AI can reap efficiency gains of a fifth in utilities within five years, yet less than a quarter of industry respondents said their company had a plan to harness the technology.” Alberta is well positioned to be a leader in AI. Existing AI platforms such as the University of Alberta’s Artificial Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII) employ AI and machine learning to advance academic understanding and solve business problems. There have also been a few AI applications in Alberta’s energy system to increase efficiency, automation, and overall productivity. However, the potential of AI is much greater. The World Economic Forum published a full report on harnessing AI for the Earth and solving climate and environmental problems. AI applications range from climate modeling to weather and energy system forecasting to smart grid for electricity use to creating smart transport system as well as intelligent, connected and liveable cities, and much more. The list of opportunities is long. But before jumping to applications and solutions, let’s clarify what is AI and what are the actual possibilities within AI? In his blog post, professor Michael Jordan at UC Berkeley cautions about “the current public dialogue” that “too often uses AI as an intellectual wildcard, one that makes it difficult to reason about the scope and consequences of emerging technology.” He demystifies AI and categorizes it into three main areas: Human-Imitative Artificial Intelligence (HIAI): Technology referring to imitating human voice and cognitive characteristics – similar to Google’s recent voice-imitating personal assistant. Intelligence Augmentation (IA): Augmenting intelligence in machines to assist humans rather than replacing them. Examples include self-driving cars, search engines, and smart homes. Intelligent Infrastructure (II): This deals with connecting multiple devices such as Uber’s intelligent infrastructure of autonomous driving cars or even dating websites. The possibilities are immense in these categories. So how can Alberta’s energy sector take advantage? And, specifically, how can the sector strengthen its capacity to spot opportunities for AI to help solve business challenges? This is what the Energy Futures Lab (EFL) will explore on September 25 in its Energy.AI Workshop: How can artificial intelligence enable Alberta to thrive in a competitive, low-carbon world? Engaging AI innovators to solve Alberta’s energy challenges in a low-carbon world will be essential. So, too, will be engaging potential adopters of these innovations. This workshop will bring together AI innovators with representatives from the energy sector as well as academia and advisory services. The Energy.AI workshop is an invitation-only workshop. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Nagwan Al-Guneid at nalguneid@naturalstep.ca. #Future_Economy #Clean_Technologies #Energy_AI #Artificial_Intelligence #2018

How can artificial intelligence enable Alberta to thrive in a competitive, low-carbon world?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a rapidly developing area of technological advancement over the last 10 years and more, yet it is only very recently that the buzz about its implications and potential for Alberta’s energy sector has really escalated. Why is that? How can artificial intelligence enable Alberta to thrive in a competitive, low-carbon world? Three possible reasons come to mind. First, there is now a far better collection and recording of historical energy data. Harvesting...

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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 show the possibility of a less polarized path forward on energy issues. Since its design and launch, the Lab’s partners and Fellows have focused their work together on addressing the question: How can Alberta’s leadership position in today’s energy system serve as a platform for transition to the energy system the future requires of us? The EFL has established a platform that convenes diverse voices in the energy system. In our current polarized climate, the Lab has become a trusted bridge-builder, connecting innovators working in different areas of the energy system and taking advantage of their divergent perspectives. The EFL undertaking has been a deliberate, coordinated effort among leaders and influencers in Alberta to find common ground and create exemplar initiatives, showing the way for Alberta to thrive in the midst of shifts in the global energy system. That was the focus in EFL 1.0. Now it is time to build on the foundational work of EFL 1.0 and to work together to design EFL 2.0. While EFL 2.0 will maintain the EFL’s core elements of co-creation, experimentation, and social innovation, the design of EFL 2.0 over the next six months will address opportunities to deepen and extend the Lab’s impact. In EFL 2.0, our intention is to work with partners to continue and deepen the work in Alberta, support efforts to build a pan-Canadian conversation on energy, and explore how to leverage the tools, brand, and lessons from the EFL in other jurisdictions. As we dive deeper into the planning and design work for EFL 2.0. we will explore how best we can leverage what we have created in EFL 1.0 in a way that responds to the needs and opportunities facing us inside and outside of Alberta. Early thoughts about our objectives for EFL 2.0 are as follows and will be further refined with partners and Fellows through the rest of 2018: Continue to support innovators in identifying, developing and pressure-testing solutions for accelerating the transition to the energy system the future requires of us; Strengthen the capacity of business and government to adopt and support innovative solutions; Align a growing community of leaders and their organizations behind a bold and transformative vision for the future of energy in Canada and the possible transition pathways to achieve it; Inspire and share narratives in the public and communities that help depolarize the public conversation about energy in Canada and accelerate progress toward the shared vision developed through the EFL. Having established a shared direction among a diverse range of actors in the energy system in phase 1, our work will be increasingly focused on accelerating the transition. The implication of this is that our convening question for EFL 2.0 may evolve to address this. In any case, we anticipate that the EFL will evolve from: A source of ideas to an agent of market, public, and policy influence. This involves creating more pull for the solutions developed in the Lab, for example, by utilizing the Lab’s platform to explore solutions to partner-issued challenges, while continuing to nurture and support Fellow-driven initiatives. A proof of concept to a generative system. This involves building partnerships to help more Lab initiatives increase their reach and impact to achieve overarching outcomes such as GHG emission reductions, jobs, and investment attraction. A formative coalition to a partnership for deep leadership and learning. This involves focusing on deeper and multi-dimensional relationships with a broader network of organizations that have the expertise and resources to drive energy transition in Alberta and Canada. This is EFL 2.0: as exhilarating as EFL 1.0 yet deeper, broader, and more interconnected. We are excited to close the EFL 1.0 chapter, learn from its lessons, build on its successes, and work with Fellows and past and new convening partners to shape the transition into EFL 2.0 in 2019. This is a defining moment for Alberta and Canada as we grapple with the interconnected issues of energy and climate change. It is also a defining moment for the Energy Futures Lab as we move from one chapter to the next. We invite you all to be part of our EFL 2.0 journey. Follow our initiatives, attend our events and activities, and connect to our network. To help us gather perspective and input to shape the design of EFL 2.0, please consider filling out this quick survey. If your organization is interested in becoming a convening partner in EFL 2.0, please contact me at acretney@naturalstep.ca. #Culture_Shift #EFL_Platform #Electricity #2018

Switching Gears: from EFL 1.0 to EFL 2.0!

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 show the...

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Amidst the drama of recent pipeline and trade war news, you may be forgiven if you missed another announcement that will be important in shaping Alberta’s economic future. On May 29th, Calgary-based E3 Metals announced that it had reached an important technical milestone that moves it one step closer to being able to extract lithium from oilfield brine. Alberta could become a key supplier of this globally-relevant material on the strength of its petroleum industry. Instead of being perceived as an enemy of the low-carbon emissions economy, oil and gas could be an enabler of it. Those who have followed the Energy Futures Lab will likely be familiar with the story. The idea of Petro-lithium is featured as one of the EFL’s exemplar initiatives. EFL Fellow Liz Lappin is the Vice President, Project Development for E3 Metals and has engaged other EFL Fellows to help advance the idea. E3 Metals’ recent successes have turned heads partly because it makes for such a compelling “radical middle” story. Most of the news on energy these days is the opposite. Headlines and politicians often suggest that we must either be in favour of oil and gas or in favour of a low carbon economy. With us or against us. With that as backdrop, a story like petro-lithium breaks the narrative patterns. Lithium is anticipated to be a key material for a low-carbon emissions economy because it is a component in the batteries for electric vehicles. How powerful, then, that Alberta could become a key supplier of this globally-relevant material on the strength of its petroleum industry. Instead of being perceived as an enemy of the low-carbon emissions economy, oil and gas could be an enabler of it. This exemplifies the idea of leveraging Alberta’s traditional energy assets (not to mention its skilled human resources) to build the energy system that the future requires of us. Petro-lithium also exemplifies something else we have learned a lot about in the Energy Futures Lab: backcasting. Backcasting is a planning practice that starts with identifying the desirable future then works backwards from that point to explore the strategies, actions and investments to achieve that future from the current reality. Backcasting was central to a recent engagement between the EFL and Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), who engaged the EFL Fellowship to review its Technology Roadmap and provide recommendations for further refining it. The Technology Roadmap guides ERA’s investment strategy for its cleantech portfolio – the funds for which are generated through Alberta’s carbon levy that applies to Large Final Emitters under the Carbon Competitiveness Regulation (CICR). The EFL Fellows were seen as an important source of strategic thinking for this review, because of their diverse areas of expertise and also because of the shared “futures lens” that they have created together with the EFL vision. Among the recommendations that Fellows provided to ERA, one of their key suggestions was to “think from the future” i.e. to take a backcasting approach. Applied to investment strategy, backcasting suggests prioritizing investments based on the most effective pathways toward a desired end-state e.g. a vision of a successful Alberta in a low carbon emissions future. This may or may not always align with priorities that emerge based on Alberta’s current emissions profile. As important as reducing current emissions is, if we only shape our investment priorities based on reducing our current emissions, we could miss some of the greatest opportunities for supporting a low carbon emissions economy and for economic diversification. This would be forecasting instead of backcasting, which is unfortunately a far more common approach to planning. Petro-lithium demonstrates the distinction perfectly. Although important, an investment strategy focused exclusively on supporting innovations to reduce emissions associated with our current economy would risk missing the economic development opportunities associated with petro-lithium. Having Alberta become a major player in the burgeoning lithium resource industry could be vital to positioning Alberta for success in a low carbon emissions future. Petro-lithium won’t solve the pipeline or trade issues. But twenty years from now, it could end up being a much more significant part of Alberta’s economic development story. It is at least important to note that as polarization may be intensifying while those wars are waged, the seeds of a new way forward together are being developed right before our eyes. #Future_Economy #Clean_Technologies #Lithium_on_Tap #Lithium_from_Brine #Backcasting #ERA_Technology_Roadmap #Fellowship #2018 #Provincial_Policy #EFL_Vision

Backcasting Applied to Economic Development Strategy: The Petro-lithium Exemplar

Amidst the drama of recent pipeline and trade war news, you may be forgiven if you missed another announcement that will be important in shaping Alberta’s economic future. On May 29th, Calgary-based E3 Metals announced that it had reached an important technical milestone that moves it one step closer to being able to extract lithium from oilfield brine. Alberta could become a key supplier of this globally-relevant material on the strength of its petroleum industry. Instead of being perceived...

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The world is poised for a massive transition in energy production and use. Making this transition will be critical to ensure the long-term sustainability of our environment, economies, and communities. It will be a monumental challenge, but a challenge replete with opportunity. Alberta is ready to lead and Albertan communities are on the front lines As a global leader in energy innovation Alberta is perfectly positioned to lead the transition with a vision of prosperity that is appropriate for the 21st century. A number of initiatives are already underway in Alberta exemplifying the benefits of early engagement in municipal and community-scale energy transition programs. By reducing their carbon emissions, communities can simultaneously drive economic development, innovation, job creation, energy independence, and civic participation. Here are just a couple of examples: Township of Hinton – recently announced a pilot project that will utilize renewable geothermal energy to power the town’s municipal buildings. The project will significantly reduce Hinton’s carbon emissions, create dozens of jobs, and set the course for energy independence and further innovations in large-scale geothermal energy generation while diversifying economic opportunities and job prospects in a town traditionally reliant on the oil and gas industry. Learn more here. The small community of Beaver Lake Cree Nation – is reducing energy dependence and inspiring positive social change. In 2017, 94 solar panels were installed on the roof of the Amisk Community School. The project was paired with a food sovereignty project. A community garden and fruit orchard were also established, which will produce enough fruit to meet the demands of the entire community. Learn more here. The City of Brooks – is working on bringing a gasification plant to the community, which could involve incinerating a huge supply of stockpiled rail ties, to create energy for the southern Alberta city. The gasification process converts the toxic rail ties to syngas, which can be burned much more cleanly. Learn more here. The Energy Futures Lab, seeks to leverage and build on the momentum of Alberta’s leadership, by working directly with local communities to effectively adopt energy transition practices that are uniquely suited to their circumstances. The Lab has recently sought expressions of interest from community leaders in Alberta to have the Energy Futures Roadshow come to local communities and support them in exploring the opportunities and challenges arising from energy transition. Communities can thrive in a low carbon emissions economy, and have the opportunity to plan for resilience, energy independence, and stability in a future marked by uncertainty. Small towns and cities can be leaders, stakeholders, and innovators designing their own plan for the future. #Regional_Pathways #Clean_Technologies #Hinton_Roadshow #Brooks_Roadshow #Geothermal_Energy #Rooftop_Solar #Bio_Fuel #Future_Economy #2018

How can energy transition benefit Alberta communities? And how can your community take advantage?

The world is poised for a massive transition in energy production and use. Making this transition will be critical to ensure the long-term sustainability of our environment, economies, and communities. It will be a monumental challenge, but a challenge replete with opportunity. Alberta is ready to lead and Albertan communities are on the front lines As a global leader in energy innovation Alberta is perfectly positioned to lead the transition with a vision of prosperity that is appropriate...

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