1. Community Energy Planning (2005-present)
2. Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (2006-present)

Overview

In 2005, the City of Dawson Creek approached the Pembina Institute for assistance in identifying, understanding and addressing energy issues throughout its community.

The City was ultimately seeking to develop a community-wide energy plan, but before engaging the broader community it wanted to demonstrate its commitment to this work by improving the energy efficiency and reducing the operating costs and emissions of its own operations and facilities.

Consequently, the Pembina Institute began working with the City to complete an energy baseline of its municipal operations and facilities. We are now engaging on the community-wide energy baseline. After successfully completing the municipal energy baseline, the City approached the Pembina Institute once again and asked that we help them develop an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan that would provide a planning framework for addressing energy and other sustainability issues at the community level.

Project #1

Community Energy Planning

Municipal Operations Baseline (2005)

Objective

To help the City of Dawson Creek assess energy use in its municipal facilities and operations and identify related financial and environmental risks.

To determine energy use and potential risks to municipal facilities and operations, the Pembina Institute completed an energy baseline study that:

• assessed the amount of energy used by municipal buildings and operations

• determined the costs attributed to this energy use

• examined the sources of greenhouse gas emissions related to energy consumption

• recommended energy savings opportunities

• identified potential local renewable energy opportunities.

Outcomes

Based on the results of the baseline study, the City of Dawson Creek initiated three major projects:

1. Green Municipal Vehicle Purchasing Policy (2006): The City established a policy for purchasing and operating municipal vehicles in Dawson Creek that provides goals, objectives and guidelines to minimize energy consumption. To assist in the effective implementation of the policy, the Pembina Institute created a decision-making tool that allows the municipality to consider efficiency, emissions and operating cost, as well as initial capital cost, when deciding which new vehicles to add to their fleet.
2. Municipal Building Energy Efficiency Audits and Retrofits (2006): The City of Dawson Creek has completed energy audits on half of their municipal facilities with plans to complete audits on the remaining buildings in 2007. The audits revealed significant opportunities for cost and energy savings, with the most promising opportunities in City Hall and the local fire hall. Plans for 2007 include an upgraded heating and air conditioning system in City Hall, improved roof insulation in both buildings, and improved doors in the fire hall.
3. Solar Domestic Water Heating Systems (2006): The City of Dawson Creek installed solar water heating systems on two municipal buildings — the City Hall and fire hall — to reduce the amount of natural gas used to heat water. The two installations are expected to save almost $500 per year at current natural gas prices.

Community Energy Baseline (2006-present)

Objective

To help the City of Dawson Creek assess energy use across the community and identify related financial and environmental risks.

Similarly to the Municipal Operations Community Baseline, the Community Energy Baseline aims to identify community energy use and associated costs as well as greenhouse gas emissions, and to provide a series of recommended actions to reduce energy consumption.

Project #2

Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (2006)

Objective

To create a shared vision of Dawson Creek as a sustainable community and facilitate the development of an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan — including a set of sustainability targets, strategies, an implementation process and a system for monitoring progress towards the community's vision.

Outcomes

The Pembina Institute designed and facilitated a community-based process to develop Dawson Creek's Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP). The plan will ultimately establish a planning framework that will allow Dawson Creek to adopt an integrated approach to achieving its environmental, social and economic objectives.

To date, the process has allowed Dawson Creek to create a shared vision for a sustainable future based on input from community members, staff and council. To facilitate this process, our team organized training sessions on the Natural Step — a framework that provides guiding principles and analytical tools for understanding and integrating sustainability into decision-making processes — for community representatives including those involved in healthcare, arts, education, business, the energy sector, councilors and municipal staff and the mayor.

Dawson Creek's vision includes a set of shared goals that the community is now using as a planning tool to allow them to "back cast" from their future vision to determine the steps required to achieve these goals. To assist in this process, the Pembina Institute will help Dawson Creek establish a set of targets and strategies to guide their decision making and monitor the community's progress in advancing towards the community's shared vision for its future.

Dawson Creek is using the ICSP as a planning framework to ensure that all existing and future plans and actions are moving the city towards its vision. The ICSP will enable Dawson Creek to identify opportunities to implement sustainability measures across all sectors that will enhance the economic, social and economic well-being of the community.

For more information, contact

Jesse Row, P.Eng.

• Director, Sustainable Communities Group
• Email: jesser(at)pembina.org
  Phone: 403-269-3344 Ext. 110