What will soon be the first community wind project in Vermont is generating a great deal of excitement and support. Mary Powell, president of Vermont utility, Green Mountain Power, said the project was “just the first of what we hope to be many Vermont-made community-scale wind turbines in our state.” Powell also stated that “distributed generation, where customers and communities produce their own electricity, is going to play an increasingly important role in our energy future. We want to help our customers realize this future in the easiest and most cost effective way possible.”

It is this type of community support and involvement that we need to work toward in Ontario, in order to see similar success stories.

It has been shown time and time again that communities will reject anything that is seemingly harmful to their health, lifestyle, or even their community vibe. While most people are supportive of renewable energy, this only holds true when it does not affect them personally.

This is why Pearl Street believes it is so important for renewable energy developers to anticipate the possibility of local opposition. In order for developers to successfully assess the situation they need to understand the origins and reasons for this opposition. Implementing community engagement (and starting with a community assessment) can help developers do this. From a bottom line standpoint, resolving conflict early will save time and money in the long run.

WCO has claimed victory in last week’s election, with Laforet stating “Our activism has blocked the approval of all but one project since the implementation of Ontario’s Green Energy Act regulation for over two years. There are more than sixty groups fighting the fight locally around Ontario and together we helped defeat eleven members of the Ontario Liberal caucus in last week’s election, including Environment Minister John Wilkinson”.

While the wind sector may have seen last week’s election as a win, apparently so did the opposition. Ironic that everyone thinks they are ‘the winner’. As we have commented before, we need to be sure not to fall into the winner/loser trap, and instead we need to look for ways to involve community in our projects more. As we saw before the election, and as we will continue to see, communities do have the power to change or even shut down projects. Regardless of who is leading the ‘opposition’ we need to think less about winning and more about listening to our development communities.

Pearl Street has the tools and knowledge to help you engage communities and mitigate the risks that come from insufficient community engagement. To find out how you can build a win-win, give us a call.

This article explains eight brilliant, yet achievable ways to communicate your strategy to employees more effectively. These steps will not only help you communicate better but will also help you encourage behaviours and ultimately the results you want to see.

1. Keep the message simple, but deep in meaning
2. Build behaviour based on market and customer insights
3. Use the discipline of a framework: Inspire, educate, reinforce
4. Think broader than the typical CEO-delivered message. And don’t disappear.
5. Put on your “real person” hat
6. Tell a story
7. Use 21st-century media and be unexpected
8. Make the necessary investments

While these steps may seem daunting at first, they are definitely achievable. Want a hand in starting this process at your organization? Give team Pearl Street a call.

Jill Goldsmith, town administrator, says that the experience has been remarkable, and that it is all happening because of everyone’s support for renewable energy. “It’s been very educational and an interesting exercise in how so many partners can collaborate towards one goal,” she said. “There are so many groups, but they reached consensus and want renewable energy.”

This is a great real life example of how collaboration and partnership can go a long way in this sector, and most importantly how it can help gain community support to make renewable energy a reality.

It is also an example of how good community engagement can keep projects on time and on budget. Good engagement isn’t just about making people feel good: it’s an investment in project success.

Pearl Street is in full agreement with Andy and his notion that story telling needs to be considered a best practice, and needs to be a fundamental part of your communications tool kit.

Not sure you have a story to tell? Not to worry: everyone does and it is closer than you think.  If you would like to start captivating your audiences with your story, give us a call. We would love to help you write it. Andy says your story is the “single most powerful communications tool you have, bar none.”  We couldn’t agree more.

Learn more about Friends of Wind here.

After an 18 month consultation and stakeholder engagement process, the City of Guelph’s Community Energy Plan was unanimously endorsed by City Council in April 2007. The Plan was widely heralded as a ground breaking example of community-based and integrated planning. However, it wasn’t until almost two years later that the Provincial legislature passed Bill 150 – the Green Energy and Economy Act – that the cooperative policies of two spheres of government, local and provincial, would begin to have a tangible positive impact on our local economy.

It was at this stage that the Community Energy Plan was relabeled the Community Energy Initiative to reflect the important step into an exciting implementation phase.

Bill 150 addresses energy and economy and what it means for them both to be “green”. The Community Energy Plan is no different. Its energy and environmental objectives are very clear. The Plan calls for a reduction of per capita energy and greenhouse gas emissions by 50% and 60%, respectively, by 2031 while growing by 50,000 more citizens. But the Plan is much more than that. Its economic objectives are forefront. The first two goals are economic in nature – “Guelph will be the place to invest, supported by its commitment to a sustainable energy future”. Investments will be made to ensure that “Guelph will have a variety of reliable, competitive energy, water, and transport services available to all”.

What does this look like on the ground? It’s pretty basic, really. The Province has created programs that are designed to deliver the promise of the Green Energy and Economy Act. These programs, such as the Ontario Power Authority’s Feed-In-Tariff for renewable energy, provide an incentive for renewable energy developers, manufacturers and suppliers. The programs apply across the entire province, so investors are looking for locations that will provide the best chance for the success of their ventures. This is where the Community Energy Initiative plays such an important role. Under the leadership of the City, the Task Force demonstrates that its members form the utility sector, business, academia and community groups all proactively support the goals of the CEI and have adopted similar goals for their own organizations.

As a result Guelph is seen as a place where investments in renewable energy and energy services are more likely to be successful. Perhaps this was best described by Milfred Hammerbacher, President of Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., when discussing his decision to locate CSSI’s manufacturing facility in Guelph. He referred to Guelph as a “progressive” city with “green mind-set” and said, ““It was almost an instant thing when we met the mayor and her team. The environment is a critical part of our [CSSI’s] future and they get that here. We make renewable energy and come with sustainable jobs.”

In the last year, the City of Guelph has seen remarkable progress towards the economic goals of the original Plan. Some examples include:

• Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. and Sustainable Energy Technologies have both chosen Guelph as the location for their major manufacturing. In the case of Canadian Solar we currently host the largest solar photovoltaic manufacturing concern in North America. The two companies represent over 500 new jobs to Guelph.
• Innovation Guelph has established a rapidly growing industry group called the “Solar Cluster” with dozens of local members.
• Two large (over 8 Megawatts total) solar energy projects have been announced that will be developed as cooperatives that will allow for local individual investors.
• Guelph Hydro has announced its intentions to develop up to 28 Megawatts of Cogeneration or Combined Heat and Power plants within the City boundaries.

These are but a few examples. Across the community, projects are underway that bring us to almost 50% of our 2031 targets for local green and clean energy generation.  Total investments to achieve the full goals of local generation infrastructure could exceed ½ a billion dollars.

In Guelph, we have clearly seen the effect that the Community Energy Initiative, in coordination with Provincial policy and programming, has had in growing our local economy. And we believe we are just at the beginning. It is our distinct hope that the province, in honouring its commitments to support the development of sustainable communities, will continue to create an environment where investors can align their business goals with local green economic objectives such as those found in the Community Energy Initiative.

Of course, in order for them to shut down nuclear power plants they will need other forms of energy to replace the generation, this is where renewable energy comes into play. Shaun Burnie, nuclear adviser for Greenpeace International, states that “the various studies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that renewable could deliver, basically, global electricity by 2050.” He continues on explaining that Germany is going to be ahead of the game and that the “message to Germany’s industrial competitors is that [they] can base [their] energy policy not on nuclear, not on coal, but on renewables.”

This competitive spirit might be just what is needed to make more countries as a whole embark on a renewable energy mission, including Canada. If all countries were to make similarly ambitious, yet realistic goals like Germany has, we could take huge strides globally towards a healthier planet.  

Learn more here.

Anderson hopes that these 10 simple rules will help to thin out overflowing inboxes. However, he is aware that the biggest challenge in getting people to adopt this new way of thinking is going to be getting past the perceptions that short or brief emails are rude (see rule #2). As we often tell clients, sometimes ‘plain language’ can seem abrupt but it is much more useful and effective.

Anderson feels the same way and he wants to spread the idea that shorter and more organized emails are easier to respond to and are actually more thoughtful. He believes that an important part of the Charter’s mission in changing peoples perceptions is placing emailcharter.org in the signature of your emails to explain “why you’re being a jerk.” He is hoping that “it will succeed if there is a critical mass of people out there who share this kind of frustration.”

Pearl Street is going to give it a go. So, please don’t think of us as jerks when we don’t reply with a ‘thank you!’ any more (see rule #9). We have learned our lesson!

Learn more here.