Digby partners with Pollution Probe for pilot energy project
The Municipality of Digby has partnered with Pollution Probe, a Canadian environmental charity based out of Toronto, to help get communities involved when it comes to making decisions about energy.
The new pilot project called Energy Ambassadors is run by Energy Exchange, a division of Pollution Probe. The project is in the works nationwide to help increase awareness about the future of energy.
“I am pleased the Digby region is one of five communities nationwide hosting this event. Digby has and will continue to identify economic developments in energy planning and accept the challenges in doing so,” said Digby Mayor Ben Cleveland.
Richard Carlson, Director of Energy with Pollution Probe, said the goal of Energy Ambassadors is to help communities understand energy in their community and in Canada from a systems perspective.
“It’s important that the public can meaningfully participate when new energy infrastructure is proposed for their community, and that communities are able to help shape their own energy future,” he said.
On Oct. 11, an energy conference was held at the Digby Pines Hotel where local business representatives gathered to discuss future energy projects in Digby.
“This is a project financed by the energy industry. As such, did not cost the Municipality of Digby, apart from in-kind help in logistics, set up and promotion,” Carlson said in an email. “The municipality was very useful in helping us connect with the people we needed to connect with,”
Pollution Probe’s vision is to improve the health and well-being of Canadians by making positive environmental changes.
The Municipality of Digby sees much benefit from working together.
“The work we are undertaking with Pollution Probe highlights the need to address the socio-economic ‘elephant in the room’ in our region; inferior grid capacity,” said Warden Jimmy MacAlpine. “We are excited to be working with our partners, the Department of Energy, Nova Scotia Power and the broader business community in tackling these challenges head-on. The threat of not getting the narrative right far outweigh the socio-economic benefit for generations to come.”
The Energy Ambassadors approach is to define environmental problems through research and to promote understanding through education.
“The Province of Nova Scotia wants all of our communities to have the opportunity to participate in, and benefit from our cleaner energy future,” noted Derek Mombourquette, Minister of Energy and Mines, who spoke at the conference. “Efforts like this build on Nova Scotia’s reputation as a national leader in the fight against climate change, and we remain committed to supporting collaboration and fostering innovation and sustainable, inclusive growth.
For more information about the project, visit http://www.pollutionprobe.org/