Watts NEXT? - Protect Your Industry

OSEA is launching an exciting new initiative to educate the public about the benefits of conservation, renewable energy and the important role played by the Green Energy Act in promoting renewables.

The Watts NEXT? contest will engage the wider public, especially young people, in the important debate about how their communities should be powered in the future. The contest offers the chance to do something locally that makes a different globally.

Grassroots public support is vital if the Green Energy Act is going survive the upcoming election intact. Your financial help is essential in this campaign. Consider your sponsorship or donation an investment in the future of your company, your community and the planet.

Ways to Contribute
Invest in your future and community today!

If you are an individual or entity that would like a charitable receipt please make cheques payable to Tides Canada Foundation with the name OSEA Education and Research Fund in the RE/Memo line.

For a corporate donation please make cheques payable to the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, or contribute online.

For further questions about membership, programming or sponsorship, please call 416-977-4441 or e-mail Ryan Manchee ryan@ontario-sea.org, or Kate Holloway kate@ontario-sea.org

Take Action - support the Green Energy Act

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak stated that if elected he will scrap North America's best renewable energy policy and send us backpeddling to the dark ages of dirty, dangerous electricity.

The Green Energy Act is our path to a cleaner, more prosperous province.

We need your help to protect it.

What can you do? Speak Out!
Please comment on blogs, utilize your own social media accounts, and reach out through your own networks to discuss green energy issues.
Say what you like. Use your own voice. But please weigh in.

Social media: simple + effective. 3 actions:

• On Twitter, if you search the #CleanEnergyON hashtag, you'll find lots of interesting discussion. Thanks to our Crew members who are helping to proliferate this clean energy discussion on Twitter.
  
  
• Blog! Do you have your own blog? Do you like to write? We're always looking for guest bloggers who are eager to talk about green energy issues. Write us. We just posted a great blog from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. Consider sharing it, and writing your own.
  
  
• Comment on the online news articles

If you would like to get more involved with the conversation going on let Steve Ireson, Communities & Communications Manager, OSEA, know at Steve@Ontario-SEA.org know and he'll add you to the Clean Energy Crew for occasionally responding to these important issues. The more voices the better!

Danish District Energy Solutions

Ron Ofer is a protege of Dr. Jose Etcheverry in renewable energy policies at York University and long-term volunteer of OSEA. Since April, Ron has had the rare opportunity to learn from Preben Maegaard, the foremost authority on Community Power, at the Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy in Denmark. Ron has shared with us his first report, in which he explores how district energy and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants help optimize the country's renewable energy portfolio. We thank Ron for his contribution and look forward to hearing more about his experiences in Denmark.

Visiting District Energy Stations in the Municipalities of Morsoe and Thisted
from Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy

Read full report (PDF)

WWEA highlights the importance of Community Power and publishes definition

The Fukushima tragedy has highlighted the urgent need to increase wind power and other renewable energy sources to transform the global energy system. In light of such prospects, Community Power is increasingly being viewed as an essential framework for developing such decentralized forms of energy. A working group working group created by the World Wind Energy Association developed a definition of Community Power to give clear guidance to policymakers as well as to others involved in renewable energy and the general public.

The WWEA Community Power working group agreed on the following definition:

A project can be defined as Community Power if at least two of the following three criteria are fulfilled:

1. Local stakeholders own the majority or all of a project
   A local individual or a group of local stakeholders, whether they are farmers, cooperatives, independent power producers, financial institutions, municipalities, schools, etc., own, immediately or eventually, the majority or all of a project.
   
   
2. Voting control rests with the community-based organization:
   The community-based organization made up of local stakeholders has the majority of the voting rights concerning the decisions taken on the project.
   
   
3. The majority of social and economic benefits are distributed locally:
   The major part or all of the social and economic benefits are returned to the local community.

Australia's first Community Wind farm, Mount Baker, started operating this month. Details at http://www.mtbarkerpower.com.au.

A summary of the study "Local acceptance of renewable energy – A case study from southeast Germany" can be found on the WWEA website.

Upcoming Events

OSEA FIT Webinar Series: OPA Feed-in Tariff Review

Discussing the Future of FIT

When: May 26, 2011, 10:00 - 11:30 am

More info >>

Our Greener Side Celebration

When: Saturday, May 28, 2011

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2nd Annual Greening Government Conference

When: May 31 - June 1, 2011

More info >>

VerdeXchange Toronto 2011

When: June 5 & 6, 2011

More info >>

OSEA and CanSIA Solar Drinks June

When: Tuesday, June 14, 2011

More info >>