Pacific Energy Innovation Association

Charting Our Energy Future

Breakfasts 2004-2005 - "Energy Crunch Issues"

1.     Wednesday, October 6^th, 2004 - PENNY COCHRANE, Willis Energy Services Ltd.

Who Is Leading, Who Is Following?

The Market Versus Regulation - An Update

Penny Cochrane is a consultant with broad experience in strategic planning, resource planning and demand-side energy management.  She worked formerly with BC Hydro in resource planning, strategy development and public consultation.  She has operations research experience, and has participated on teams developing models to simulate the impacts of environmental and public policy alternatives.  Penny is a Director of PEIA and is Chair of the BC Caucus of the Northwest Energy Coalition.

The mission of the Pacific Energy Innovation Association, as an association of independent energy professionals, is to promote discussion and action to advance energy technologies and policy development.  In this inaugural meeting of the PEIA Energy Breakfasts, the discussion will focus on the relationship that has evolved since 2001 between the energy market in North America and energy regulation.  The decision makers involved on both sides of this topic regularly make decisions which have impacts and “unintended consequences” far beyond their comprehension or accountability.  Wisdom may increasingly lie with consumers and the education they can provide to decision-makers. 

2.    Thursday, November 4^th, 2004 - SEAN PANDER, City of Vancouver

Vancouver’s Community Climate Change Action Plan

Mr. Pander has ten years of experience in the energy field.  This includes pipeline design and operational optimization;  green building development;  energy conservation program implementation;  and municipal climate change policy and program development.

A number of priority areas have been identified where action is required to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the City of Vancouver.  Before implementing such initiatives, the City wishes to take its draft Action Plan to the community for feedback, input, buy-in and commitment.  The City must also begin a communications and education process to get people from all sectors and communities thinking about how they can make the changes necessary to reach GHG reduction targets.

 Transportation alternatives (walking, cycling, transit), vehicle fuel technologies, and building and community energy systems offer ample opportunities to reduce existing GHG emissions and the impact of future population and economic growth within the City.  Sean will briefly describe the City’s Action Plan and lead the discussion and feedback session. 

3.    Thursday, December 2^nd, 2004 - STEPHEN HALL, Stephen F. Hall and Associates

Community Energy Storefronts: Building the Conservation Power Plant from the Bottom Up

Mr. Hall is a consultant with twenty-four years’ experience in sustainable energy implementation, climate change policy and green building design.  He currently works with the Yolo Energy Efficiency Project of Davis, California, designing a state-of-the-art energy/water retrofit of a multi-family building.  In addition, he acts as a policy analyst for the Center for Small Business and the Environment, working on innovative forms of financing energy efficiency projects for small businesses.

 As the energy/climate crisis deepens, existing residential and commercial buildings remain a large source of untapped potential for fossil fuel/greenhouse gas reduction.  Currently individual, market based approaches are promoted to respond to the long list of market barriers to energy and resource conservation in existing buildings.  

 Mr. Hall’s presentation offers an alternative delivery approach based on a community-based turnkey service, conceived as resource acquisition. This model draws upon the successful experience of numerous North American cities which achieve greater energy savings and higher levels of market penetration than conventional programs.

4.    Wednesday, February 2^nd, 2005 - MORAG CARTER, David Suzuki Foundation

A Sustainable Energy Plan for B.C.

Morag Carter is Director of the David Suzuki Foundation’s climate change program.  She has been actively involved in community and environmental work for more than 10 years, both in Canada and internationally.  Her experience has ranged from working as a political advisor to Jack Layton in the early 1990s on energy and social policy issues, to seven years’ campaigning with Greenpeace Canada on environmental health and toxics issues.  She has worked with the Council of Canadians on globalization issues, and with the City of Toronto Public Health Unit as a policy specialist.  As well, she was Coordinator of the International Persistent Organic Pollutant Elimination Network, a world-wide group of 350 non-profit environmental organizations.

 In July 2004, The David Suzuki Foundation released a report Running on Empty: Shifting to a Sustainable Energy Plan for BC, which outlines a more hopeful and sustainable future for the province’s energy industries than detailed in the provincial government’s 2002 energy plan. The Suzuki Foundation report shows how B.C. can meet its electricity needs during the next two decades entirely through conservation measures and renewable technologies.  It also calls for a new approach to the oil and gas sector, one that would see more in-province refining and value-added activity, rather than opening up fragile ecosystems to oil and gas development.  In return, the province would get a secure supply of energy, less air pollution, more jobs, and an improved quality of life.

 5.    Wednesday, March 2^nd, 2005 - RON MONK, BC Hydro

Going Green – What It Will Take

Ron Monk is Manager of Corporate Sustainability at BC Hydro.  He is responsible for its sustainability strategies and for the Corporate Research & Development Program.  He was Project Manager of BC Hydro’s 2004 Integrated Electricity Plan, and a co-creator of BC Hydro’s Hydrogen Program.  Ron is a Professional Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

The terms “green power” and “sustainability” are encountered frequently these days and are usually interpreted in a positive context.  What do they mean and how does a corporation integrate the associated principles into its business plans?  Ron will describe the related issues and explain how BC Hydro is responding to the challenges involved in sourcing new electricity supply, in operating its existing plants, and in meeting its social responsibility.

6.    Wednesday, April 13^th, 2005 - JOHN MacDONALD, Day4 Energy Inc.

The Business Case for Renewables

Dr. John MacDonald is Chairman & CEO of Day4 Energy Inc., a Burnaby-based solar energy company which he co-founded.  He was a founder of MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd. (MDA), an information and systems company which operates internationally and employs 2,600 people.  He served as President & CEO of MDA until 1982, and as Chairman until his retirement in 1998.  He led the design team for MDA’s first Landsat ground processing system.

John has served on many advisory committees in Canada and the USA.  He currently serves on the US Geological Survey’s National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Advisory Committee, and on the Defence Science Advisory Board of the Canadian Department of National Defence.  He is a director of Analytical Spectral Devices Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, of the British Columbia Discovery Fund, and of Day4 Energy Inc., and he is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

 The three key issues at the heart of today’s energy debate are: Energy Security, Supply/Demand and the Environment.  It is well known that the supply of our present fossil fuel dominated energy supply is limited.  This raises the question: “What will ultimately replace fossil fuel as civilization’s principal source of energy?”  Renewable energy sources clearly lie at the core of the answer to this question, and competitiveness is the key to opening the door for renewable energy into the mainstream of electrical energy generation.  John will discuss these issues, and describe the progress being made at Day4 Energy to commercialize technology that will enable cost-competitive solar energy production.

7.    Wednesday, May 11^th, 2005 -  CATHY MARR, APEGBC Sustainability Committee

Integrating Sustainability Into Professional Practice

Cathy Marr is an energy industry consultant with 25 years’ experience in the energy field.  She is a Professional Engineer and began her career as a petroleum reservoir engineer before moving on to manage the operations of a major BC natural gas marketing firm.  In recent years she has worked with a large natural gas utility in natural gas transportation and commodity unbundling.  She has a strong interest in promoting alternative energy and energy efficiency.

Cathy is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia’s Sustainability Committee, and has served on several other APEGBC committees.  She is Chair of the Canadian Institute of Energy (BC).  She believes that engineers and geoscientists are key to achieving sustainability, and that sustainability is key to the future of engineering and geoscience. 

The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia is charged with the authority to regulate the practice of 20,000 professional engineers and geoscientists in BC.  The Association’s primary responsibility is to protect the public.  Since the early 1990s, APEGBC’s Council has interpreted this to include sustainability, and it has supported and encouraged the work of the Sustainability Committee.  Cathy will describe APEGBC’s sustainability journey to date, the challenges it has faced in trying to influence how a large body of professionals practice their profession, its successes, and the lessons learned along the way.

8.    Wednesday, June 8^th, 2005

Panel of PEIA Directors

Moderator:  Alex Tunner – President, Pacific Energy Innovation Association;  Operations Management Consultant.

Electricity:  Penny Cochrane – Senior Consultant, Willis Energy Services Ltd.

Natural Gas: Bruce Vernon – Consultant, natural gas conservation & efficiency;  former Market Development Manager, Terasen Gas.

Renewables:  Conrad Guelke, Principal, CSP Enterprises; former Manager, Generation Planning, BC Hydro.

Strategic Responses to Global Oil Supply Uncertainties

Recent increases in the price of oil have resulted in a renewed focus on the future of the world’s oil resources.  Many variables involved in the supply and price of oil.  They include new exploration and extraction technology which will increase reserves, the "green" movement which will reduce demand due to the harmful environmental impact of greenhouse gases, and geopolitics which is a "wild card" and could result in supply interruptions for reasons unrelated to the availability of physical reserves.  The panelists will provide their views on appropriate Canadian strategic responses to the uncertainties likely to cause continued volatility in world oil supply and prices.