STRATEGY 1
Develop a Rationale
Develop a compelling rationale for undertaking the community energy plan
Community energy planning can help mitigate risks and has the potential to lead to widespread economic, health, social, resilience and environmental benefits. While greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions are an important part of community energy planning, it is critical to define what other benefits the CEP can generate. A critical success factor for CEP implementation is defining how the CEP will enable the community to meet its economic, environmental, health, social and resilience objectives.
GTI Advice
The Getting to Implementation in Canada (GTI) Initiative, designed by QUEST Canada, is a tool to help communities move Community Energy Plans from a vision to implementation. Strategies in this framework were derived from the GTI Initiative.
Analyzing the Widespread Benefits of CEPs
Summary Of Benefits | What You Will Need | Resources To Get Started | |
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Environmental Benefits |
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Economic Benefits21 |
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Health and Social Benefits |
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Resilience Benefits |
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Methods for Measuring the Economic of Community Energy Plans
Table 6 illustrates a range of methods for measuring the economic impacts of CEPs.26
Table 6: Measuring the Economics of Community Energy Plans
Method | Purpose | Relevant CEP Approach* |
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Community Energy Cost | Discuss total community energy use in a metric everyone understands, in order to generate different conversations with elected officials and stakeholders. |
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Financial Feasibility | Screen and prioritize measures, programs, or portfolios to identify if the investment will break even. |
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Levelized unit energy cost | Compare the unit costs of different energy generating technologies across the expected lifetime of the asset, in real dollars per kWh. |
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Marginal Abatement Cost Curve | Compare GHG emission reduction options according to which will cost the least or deliver the most financial savings, and according to their potential impact on GHG reductions. |
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Community economic benefits | Inform the decision-making process, and stakeholders, on the total value to the local economy of a CEP, considering the how direct expenditures recirculate through local businesses, households, and tax revenue. |
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Cost effectiveness and cost benefits | Screen and prioritize measures, programs, or portfolios to identify if benefits over time exceed initial costs, and to identify a portfolio of measures that maximize the economic, environmental, and social benefits from CEP implementation. |
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Case Studies
Case Study 15
Net Zero Community in London, Ontario
West Five (www.west5.ca) is a 70 acre, mixed-use site located in London, Ontario. The site is being developed by Sifton Properties, in partnership with S2E Technologies. When completed, the neighbourhood will include 2,000 residential units, commercial and retail space, and parkland. The development will include a number of Smart Energy Community Principles,89 including energy efficient buildings (e.g. the use of enhanced insulation), the use of renewable energy resources (e.g. solar shingles) and matching land use needs and mobility options (e.g. siting services such as grocery stores at community terminals nodes). The site will include London’s first net-zero office building and net zero townhomes.
Read the Community Energy Knowledge Action Partnership case study here.
Case Study 17
Monitoring and Reporting on CEP Implementation in the City of London, Ontario
The City of London Community Energy Action Plan (CEAP) was adopted in 2014. Alongside the plan, the City of London developed a background document describing a methodology for monitoring and reporting on community energy use. The background document describes a methodology for developing annual energy and emissions inventories. The document describes how the City of London will also work with stakeholders to develop new Key Performance Indicators, including economic, transportation, and energy performance indicators. The results from energy and emissions inventories, and other Key Performance Indicators will be included in an annual progress report outlining implementation progress of the CEAP.90