The Pembina Institute has been involved in assisting communities pursue alternative energy solutions for over a decade. There is a growing interest in Aboriginal and Northern communities to pursue alternative energy projects as a means of creating local economic development, reducing fossil fuel use, retaining energy dollars in the community and planning for long-term local sustainability.
This guide illustrates some of the technologies that are available, and the important steps needed to pursue these technologies. Other important aspects that communities need to bare in mind are ensuring buildings are designed for energy efficiency, efficient design and operation of a diesel plants in off-grid communities and looking for ways to avoid subsidizing wasteful behavior and rewarding conservation.
Energy efficiency technologies and policies have equal merit to the issues discussed in more detail in this document, and in many cases can be more cost effective and return quicker results and therefore ought to be considered seriously before time and money is invested in a renewable project.
