I have been working with municipal leaders across Canada for the last 15 years on different projects and ideas, and while I’m impressed with the advancement of some of them to become more sustainable, the vast majority are still dealing with the old paradigms.
For example, municipalities are large land owners by their own right, and have yet to maximize the real potential of their own rights of ways, lands, storm water ponds, lakes, buildings, etc…
If there is an image that can best describe what I’m talking about it’s this. While industrialization and urbanization have taken the farm out of those communities, these land owners today must continue to farm. There are unique ways of using storm water ponds, lakes and rivers for very cost effective thermal energy, but one needs to look at the value beyond the bricks of your building. We need nurture and harvest things like wind, solar, and in almost every case, the sun heats up your roofs your ground, and instead of harnessing it for our thermal needs, we ignore it and pay full freight for electricity or natural gas or other commodity fuels to heat and cool our buildings. Seems odd doesn’t it?
I could write a book on the complexity of selling an entire industry on the virtues of doing this but the industry cultural biases are to doing what they’ve always done, and leaves no room for change and the idea of customizing solutions for each property. You all have the ability to Farm Energy!
There are processes one could use to identify those opportunities on your land and how to maximize it, and in the era of siting peaking gas plants in dense communities, seems grossly unnecessary, since we have the knowledge on how to do things better.
My challenge is to get back to our roots as a society and learn to farm the value on your land.
I always appreciate comments, and in the meanwhile, you’ll find me teaching people to farm again.
Sincerely,
Frank Carnevale
Thought Leader
SustainCo Inc.
www.sustainco.ca