Bridgewater Community Energy Initiative

The Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, is launching the Bridgewater Community Energy Initiative (BCEI) that will help the community and surrounding area transition into a more sustainable energy future. The project addresses milestones 2 and 3 of the Partners for Climate Protection program (setting emission targets and developing a local action plan) for the community. Bridgewater has been a member of FCM’s Partners for Climate Protection Program since 2014 and has already completed milestones 1 to 4 in the corporate stream and milestone 1 (GHG emissions inventory) for the community. The Community Energy Plan (CEP) will combine best practices in community engagement, knowledge exchange and detailed energy analysis to create a robust and actionable roadmap towards sustainability. The sustainability development planning will take into account energy and economic modelling, and also undertake community engagement and the analysis of the most appropriate behavioural change approaches. The plan’s path towards energy sustainability hinges on multiple stakeholder engagement. A steering committee composed of municipal staff and energy and water utilities will provide oversight of the whole project and its targets. These targets include reduced GHG emissions with reduced energy consumption, increased renewable energy production, reduced waste generation, increased land use efficiency, and increased environmental performance in buildings. In addition, a “Management without Borders” Dalhousie University student research project will give recommendations for a proposed Energy Partnership program. This program will provide a forum for local businesses and organizations to engage in energy efficiency actions, as well as design a Living Energy Laboratory project, increase the public profile in the CEP process, and build capacity in community-wide monitoring and evaluation of energy reductions. The Living Energy Laboratory will offer benefits such as education, social mobilization, and new business ventures in the sustainable energy economy. Finally, an energy learning group consisting of neighbouring municipalities will feed into consultations by providing insight on experiences, lessons learned, and best practices. The output of this collaboration will produce a CEP that will be presented to Town Council and relevant stakeholders at a public validation event. After approval of the CEP, the long term community energy transition monitoring program will launch. Support for the CEP comes from the municipality’s Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (2010), and its Municipal Climate Change Action Plan (2013). In addition to the main GHG reduction targets, which feed into the long term goal of carbon neutrality or a minimum 80% energy reduction by 2050, economic targets include reduced resident and business spending on energy, increased job creation, increased economic activity and corresponding tax benefits for the municipality, increased energy security, and increased community appeal for green and clean tech sectors. (Project description from original funding application)