CALP created the Illustrated Guide to Community Energy, which offers clear and compelling visuals of Metro Vancouver case studies, and new information on regional and local renewable energy resources. The Guide reveals how local involvement in community energy systems can promote more sustainable and secure energy futures, while reducing carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Its purpose is to assist municipal leaders and citizens in learning about energy options, stimulate discussion about energy choices and inspire using visual demonstrations of community energy scenarios.  

Click here to download the guide.  Coming soon: www.guidetocommunityenergy.com

The Illustrated Guide to Community Energy has been developed by CALP and the Elements Lab in partnership with Metro Vancouver, citizens and staff of the City of Richmond, and the City of Surrey and with support from the Neptis Foundation, Vancouver Foundation, the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and GEOIDE.  For more information on the Guide, please contact Rory Tooke at CALP.

(Production of this Guide was completed during the final phase of Visualising Urban Futures: Geomatics Decision Support For Canadian Urban Regions.  See below for more information on the initial project scope and research).

URBAN FUTURES: GEOMATICS DECISION SUPPORT FOR CANADIAN URBAN REGIONS

The need for Canada’s urban regions to become more sustainable in environmental, economic, and social terms has grown markedly over the past decade. In this light, a variety of provincial, metropolitan and local initiatives have been launched to address sector-specific, thematic dimensions of urban sustainability including urban sprawl (e.g. Ontario Places to Grow Act 2005), energy production and consumption (BC Bill 27 Green Communities 2007, Ontario Green Energy Act 2009) and transportation (e.g. Region of Waterloo Light Rapid Transit, Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan). Such initiatives are transformative in nature, demand substantial realignment of public priorities and resource allocations and, ultimately, are implemented, planned and managed at local and regional scales, with local implications for neighbourhood livability and functionality.

This project will address these needs by producing “digital stories based in data”, based on interactive scenario exploration tools and methods that link future land use choices, transportation infrastructure, energy and climate change (GHG) strategies. Specifically, the project proposes to develop and test a suite of prototype web-based “spatial dashboard” decision tools, coupled with immersive geovisualization environments, to foster information-rich and scenario-based exploration of land use and select urban sustainability issues. The tools will be applied to three interrelated problem domains highly relevant in the Canadian urban context: a) urban intensification and land use change, b) transportation systems, and c) urban energy demand, renewable energy potential, and GHG emissions reductions.

This project will seek to overcome this barrier in three key ways. First, a multi-scale approach will be adopted to permit neighbourhood level changes to land use, transportation and energy use / generation to be understood in light of regional land use/transportation systems. Second, development and evaluation of the tools and use protocols will be conducted across the urban regions of Toronto, Vancouver and Waterloo, with some variation for local concerns and expertise, in order to ensure transferability of research outputs. Finally, our research will be anchored in practice through deep involvement of key local and regional partners (e.g. Toronto and Regional Conservation Authority, Metro Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Waterloo Region, Toronto District School Board), working closely with NEPTIS on overall tool development and usability. Thus, end-user engagement is a cross-cutting dimension of this project, involving a spectrum of local decision makers, domain experts, and interested citizens, that will ensure the research is relevant to practice.

Read the 2011 GEOIDE Progress Report for this project TSII-201.  Please contact Rory Tooke at CALP for more information.

Funded by: GEOIDE Networks of Centres of Excellence/Neptis Foundation (2011 – 2013) (Phase IV Project:  TSII-201)
and supported by other funding partners:  Vancouver Foundation; MetroVancouver; and Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.
Project Leader: Dr. Stephen Sheppard
UBC Researchers (CALP):  Sara Barron and Shirlene Cote
UBC Researchers (Elements Lab) Dr. Ron Kellett and Dr. Cynthia Girling
UBC Students:  Rory Tooke, Lukas Holy, Kevin Zhang, Glenis Canete
CALP Affiliates: Ellen Pond and David Flanders